Kites Over the Hot Roofs of Zagreb
The pandemic is slowly receding and two of KAP Jasa kite club members - fully vaccinated, of course - finally got the opportunity to fly kites abroad!
We were invited to Zagreb by the president of the Croatian Kite Association, and on a hot June weekend we packed some kites and drove to meet our dear friends, our guides in the world of kites (there probably would be no KAP Jasa kite club if we'd never met Žuža and Žare!) ...
We came just in time for a kite making workshop for kids at the Močvara club on the banks of Sava river, that was expertly managed by Žare ....
Kite workshop results
.... we made a kite ourselves (it flew!) ...
It flies!
... in extreme heat that killed the wind we flew our MASAG β rokkaku, and managed to coax the Trilobite into the air for a couple of minutes. And then it was beer time!
MASAG β rokkaku and the Trilobite flying in the hot Zagreb sky
Next day we went to Jarun sports and leisure center at Jarun lake in the southwestern part of Zagreb. The heat was relentless (36+ degrees) and the wind was almost nonexistent. Thermals and not much else.
Žare showing how to adjust the bridle for very very low wind conditions, and Grega flying the little R2-D2 sled.
But we used every gust, rode every thermal - and suddenly we realised we crossed an important threshold. There were three of us, we came from different countries, and there were at least three kites flying. So this relaxed kite flying afternoon was actually ...
... an International Kite Festival! IKF Zagreb 2021! :-)
To be true to the KAP part of the name of our kite flying club, we tried to make a kite aerial photography session happen ... MASAG β was doing its best, but the "wind" was just too low, and there was a distinct possibility for the kite and the camera to crash into the lake. Yet even a couple of low level KAP shots show how beautiful Jarun is!
To end this IKF Zagreb 2021 on a high note Žare pulled out his Revolution kite and showed us the moves:
It was a great kite flying weekend in Zagreb. Too hot, sure ... no wind, of course ... but it was nice and fun and crazy at times, and it was so good to be finally able to meet our dear friends that we haven't seen for so long.
International kite flying is back!
All kite aerial photos shot with Canon A810 on a MASAG β Rokkaku kite.