Nelson Kite Festival had its ups and downs at Neale Park at the weekend, with wind “all over the compass” testing even the most experienced kitefliers from both sides of the Tasman.
Lauded as one of the top urban kite fields due to the smooth, northerly sea breezes, the fickle wind conditions meant some large kite displays couldn’t be in the air for more than 30 seconds.
Nelson Kite Club, with promotional support from the New Zealand Kitefliers Association, guided the two-day event, and the club’s secretary Ted Howard says a large gorilla, manta ray and blue and white spacemen, eight to 10 metres long, were up for a period on Saturday.
But Sunday’s south-easterly favoured smaller kites flown around the park by the general public.
“They seem to have enjoyed themselves because we’re still putting on a bit of a spectacle despite the fact that there are some frustrated kitefliers,” he acknowledged.
“Neale Park is a spectacular place to fly kites, and unfortunately, it hasn’t been the case this year… usually by this time in January, we have nice, steady, smooth sea breezes.”
‘Hootie’, the large pufferfish kite, split in two while in the air on Sunday after a violent gust, leaving “a lot of stitching” for its owners.
Ted will meet with Nelson Host Lions Club next month to discuss delegating the festival to the organisation, as Nelson Kite Club’s membership had significantly fallen, making organising the event difficult in the long term.
