WSIKF Fireside Chat: Colin Wilson - There and Back Again

A field report from the Sport Kite Camp Hampton Beach. Not quite on the field, more after, but there was some great discussions at the camp and I wanted to capture them here!

Fireside chat recorded live at the 2024 Washington State International Kite Festival with Ron Gibian about how to 'Get Exceptional'. What are some ways and inspiration that we can look to for really elevating our flying. www.Sportkite.org

Fireside chat recorded live at the Washington State International Kite Festival with Colin Wilson of the Canada Sport Kite Team and his journey 'There and Back Again': From newbie to the world stage in a short time.    Video of this talk is on our youtube channel.

Ever wonder what it is like to fly as a professional kite performer everyday and night for a month regardless of the weather? Join us as we kick off the new season chatting with Kiteman Group as they perform at the Boardwalk Nights Show!   To find out more about Worlds Greatest Kiting check them out on Youtube!

Over the weekend Sportkite.org and Kite Forge teamed up to host the first 'Comp and Skillcraft' an event focused on helping flyers get more out of their routines, whether they are a competitor or a performer, or just someone looking to do and get more out of their flying.  In this episode we talk about how we figured out the event format and give an example of some of the feedback given to the fliers. 

Following after the 'new era' discussion, we gathered a group of more experienced fliers and had them share their thoughts. In this one we discussed some important aspects about finding strength in believing yourself and in balancing the various priorities in your life. 

Over the weekend host Nic O'Neill was at an adventure motorcycle rally and had a chance to learn not only a few different techniques for handling a 500 pound bike, but also some insight into how to change up ways of training a for sport kite flying. Sometimes you need to shift gears, sometimes you need a mental shift! RIDE YOUR RIDE!

Following up on the previous conversation with the 'new era' of sport kite fliers, we bring you part 2

A recent conversation in a Sport Kite Facebook group highlighted a common theme that has been happening over the past few years. There is a big difference in the learning and approach of the folks that came up during the heyday of sport kite competition and those that have just taken to flying in the past few years. It's like there are two completely different eras of kiting, and thus two different kinds of understanding and approaches to learning. In this episode we start a conversation with a group of folks that are 'new' to sport kiting. In this episode they share not only who they are, but also what has been a piece of good advice, and a piece of not so good feedback. This is part one of a longer conversation, so stay tuned for more.

Interview with Team Taiwan during the World Kite Cup in Berck-sur-mer France. Taiwan was a new comer to the world kite cup stage and wanted to share some of their insight as first time competitors!