What A Difference A Decade Makes

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[chilese]

Got an email from (An)Drew Vassallo, designer of the Icarus. He has been out of kiting for about a decade and came back to find (in his words):
  Bilboquet wants 400 Euros for an R-Sky kite
  Blue Moon is out of business
  GWTW is out of business
  Kite Studio is closed
  No retailers for Icarex, Toray or Texlon

For me, 10 years ago, just looking at my 2003 photo album:
  I was living in Cupertino
  flying at Shoreline Kite Park
  using my son's 3MP Fuji 3800 for pictures
  we bought a rainbow E2 at the Berkeley Kite Festival
    John Welden and Steve Hall were there
  Steve LaPorte kicked my butt at OIF
  David Barnby flew kites with us in a suit in the rain
  taught my buddy Ross how to fly at Ocean Beach
  Kite Party 1 happened
    Dodd Gross, David Barnby, JimB, Ken McNeill, Jon Trennepohl, Mark Reed
    Steve Brown, Farmer Rob, Mickey McKay (Jim had that amazing Masquerade)
  Won the prototype C21 Extreme Prototype at the auction
  Made the first GWTW calendar (2004)
  David and Emmalee Kirk came to Shoreline to fly
  I was competing as an Intermediate at BASKL events with my Lithiums
  Won a Krystal in a contest
  The Opium was pretty popular
  Team AirZone was testing Level One kites
  Paul Shirey was making kites
  Gary Dromgold, Marty Sasaki, Shane Hill and OzoneJim were still alive
  Shivas were hanging in there
  went to the San Ramone festival
    Too Much Fun, Penny, Dave Sabilino, John Barresi, a slew of others
  JimB visited in California with his vented Impact
  flew to Kite Hill and met up with JohnW, RonG, Ari and geezer
  drove to Chico for a fun fly (Paul Horner in attendance)
  bought a 2nd generation Katana
  bought the Unicorn Rainbow Ronin on the Swap Meet
  flew my gifted mylar Mamba
  dressed as a giant bee to compete
  designed the Kite Addiction logo
  convinced Paul Shirey to split one of the panels on the Spica
    which he did (creating the Spica Pro)
  photographed many people who were 10 years younger

Wow, that was a lot.
Maybe kiting has slowed down.


https://picasaweb.google.com/chilesej/2003Kites

[Mauler]

Hi John, great to talk to you today.  Thanks for filling me in on the events of the last 10 years.

I can't believe your memory.  That's quite a list.  I am familiar with most of those "events" and it brings back some memories.  Funny thing is that I have really clear memories of going out of town to meet others and fly.  I only regret that I didn't get out more often.

I had completely forgotten about Paul Shirey closing up shop.  I met him and flew many of his designs at the Columbus gathering (he attended since he was from nearby PA).  I still have one of his fighter kites and not only does it fly amazingly well (even for a beginner like me), the workmanship is unreal.  Sadly, even Paul had resorted to auctioning off his kites for cash (saw a video from 2010).  And he's an Engineer like us!

I think it's been years since I posted, prompted by John's kitebag contents, which included my Icarus.  But before that, it was at least 6 or 7 years.  I probably won't take that long before checking in again.

[chilese]

My memory was based on looking at the photos in the 2003 Picasa album.

On my own, it would be a much shorter list. 

It was good to talk to you today. And, coincidentally, I had the Icarus out

just a few months ago. Good kite all around. And certainly not in the

"me too" design of most tricksters.

[eolemag]

For me, 10 years ago, just looking at my 2003 photo album:
  I was living in Cupertino
 

Yes, I remember and you received a gift for nothing  from an unknown named JPC, which had designed and adjusted the kite with his hands.
This pic was coming from a friend of Cupertino, named John. 

Do you remember ?

[chilese]

Jean-Paul,

Not only do I remember the gift, I fly it often.
So often that I have worn out the nose and standoff areas
and had them repaired.

It's an amazing kite.

It wasn't an omission. I thought the gift was in 2002, making it 11 years ago.
Which makes us friends for an even longer time. 

Ton ami,
John

[eolemag]

Sorry, John
It's true ... It was december 14 2002 
Not a year... Just 17 days 
Your friend
Jean-Paul

[chilese]

A kite worth remembering, regardless of a few weeks.

I thought it was earlier than that. But all this grey hair

could be the result of bad memory.

Your friend always, JPC.   

[John Welden]

The sail of that Icarus doesn't look as baggy as I remember....

Kidding.

[chilese]

I thought of you while I was talking to Andrew. 

Such fond memories.

[pyroflyer]

I still have several kites from that era including a few JPC kites that still to this day get flown.

[david barnby]

andrew and john posting in the same thread and it hasnt been locked yet

 

[pyroflyer]

andrew and john posting in the same thread and it hasnt been locked yet

 

Ahh yes, the good ole days. LOL!   

[brettgrant99]

  Gary Dromgold, Marty Sasaki, Shane Hill and OzoneJim were still alive

I missed that OzoneJim passed on.  Brian Todd was around back then, too.  I didn't realize so much has changed. 

I miss the flying, but I just can't bring my self to fly in a 100 blast furnace over cactus and rocks.  Too, too much breakage.

Brett

[Jannie]

He must still be really young to remember all of that stuff, I was okay with a lot of the names, many put a smile on my face as I'd completely forgotten, thank you for that.
Jannie