Ventura County Kite Flyers

Welcome to the VCKF Home Page. We're GLAD you dropped in. Within this site, you will come to understand why we do what we do. You can see more pictures of our activities and what we do by clicking HERE LAST UPDATE - 4/20/2008 DISCLAIMERS: 1) These pages are factual, not fancy. 2) No animals were run over by a kite buggy during the making of this webpage:

SEE...NO HURT ANIMALS!

We are a group of kite flyers with many different backgrounds, interests, & flying styles. Kites have evolved from single line, to 2,3 & 4 line versions. The way Indy cars get lighter, faster, & safer each year is a good analogy of what today's technology has brought to the kiting world. Whether you enjoy strolling down the beach with a Diamond on a string, being a light wind guru, or a POWER HUNGRY buggier or surfer, kites conjure up good things in all of us.. We fly Recreationally, Support Regional Festivals (including our own), & for Competitive Practice. COMPETITIVE KITE FLYING? YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING! NO, WE'RE NOT KIDDING! There are now 6 main types of competition (All with uniform international guidelines): 1) Precision...Preset compulsory manuevers - (figure 8's, tulips, starbursts, etc). You can see ALL of the figures we fly in a link below. 2) Ballet...Flying to music. The competitor is judged similar to figure skating where music, choreography, & continuity are the main focus. 3) Fighter...Single lined kites that dart around & bump or cut each other out of the sky. 4) Free Style...ANYTHING goes including Costumes, Props, Multiple Kites, etc. 5) Traction: a) Buggy...Pursuit races on closed courses using LARGER traction kites to pull you around in a 3-wheel contraption. www.buggythang.org b) Surf...Slide on the glass-like water or Catch Air! c) Snow/Ice...Skis, Snowboards, etc. you name it, just wear your gloves. 6) Indoor...YES, you can now fly a kite indoors with NO WIND, no fans, no nuttin :) Proof is in the pudding...You see the picture below. Below that is a link to our Pictures and Video archive. Check out the "Quicktime" movie files. There you will see videos depicting Indoor Flight from the Catalina Island Terminal in Los Angeles Harbor to the Main Gallery @ Cal Arts in Valencia. Yet another aspect of Kiting is what we call "KAP" - Kite Aerial Photography. This is where Kite Flyer meets Shutter Bug and the results are STUNNING photographs from the air of places you go everyday. The views are spectacular and it allows you to see life from "A Bird's Eye View". A special section on KAP is forthcoming on our site.

An Example of Indoor Flight:

Home Base - Oxnard State Beach

latitude & longitude: N 34 DEG. 10 MIN. 52.8 SEC. W 119 DEG. 14 MIN. 15.1 SEC GPS: 11 S 0293790 UTM 3784525 On a map, the address is 1601 W. Harbor Blvd, south of Wooley and north of Channel Islands Blvd. You'll find anyone of us up in the sky on any given day of the week. Saturday is when the field really starts rockin! Just after dawn, the first flyers drop kite bags, coolers, & travelling chairs (very important) on the grass. The following is a textbook example of how it goes: Light winds usually prevail in the morning. By noon, it's 6-12 from the west & there can be up to 7 of us flying at once. Thanks to Hector and the Pizza Slingers @ American Pizza in Oxnard - the ONLY pizza place that takes us seriously (cash helps too!) - we're munchin on DELIVERED PIZZA through the afternoon. High winds start to kick up around 2, and go til 4-4:30. As the sun starts a droppin, Mother Nature kicks it down to ultralight time again. Just after the sun sets, you'll find people dragging this webmaster (who's crying & wants to stay) over to Victoria Pub for Cider & good, live, no-cover music. If your lucky, MARTINI NATION is rockin the house that night. Of course, when they arrive, we switch to ABSOLUT Martinis!!! Stop by and Fly, Don't be Shy. We invite all Comers, Flying or Not. ***Post Fly Update*** The Pub has recently remodeled and continues to be one of our "Safe Havens". Sadly, Martini Nation is currently not touring. We support many other eateries in the Oxnard/Ventura area as well. Some Favorites are: Latte 101 - Telephone & Victoria Pepe's - South End of Victoria/Island View & Rossmore The Great Central Steak & Hoagie Company - Ventura Road & Pleasant Valley Oriental Buffet & Teppan Grill - Hill Road Off Telephone Pirate's - 5th & Victoria CJ's BBQ - 5th & Victoria More to Come, We're Full & Quenched Right Now.

***Public Service Section***

We're available for Parties !!! Well, Sort Of. We enjoy all aspects of Kite Flying and especially love to share. If you have a group (young or old) that would be interested in enjoying a "Day of Flying" or having us perform Indoor as "Halftime Entertainment", We'd love to hear from You! We are a Non-Commercial Entity, so odds are you can get us to show up for a Bottle of Water & Half a Sandwich. To find out where or when We'll be flying next, please zap an email to this humble webmaster via: Flyers@VCKF.ORG

Electrifying Schedule of Upcoming Events:

We travel near and far to fly our kites, or, to just "savor a moment" with other flyers. Besides our relaxing days & nights of "casual" flying @ Home Base, we are invited to participate in other events - Join Us If You Can:

Kiting will be great in 2008! REGULARLY SCHEDULED CLUB EVENTS: San Diego Kite Club - 2nd Saturday of Every Month - Tecolote Shores - www.sandiegokiteclub.com Seal Beach Kite Club - 2nd Sunday of Every Month - North of Seal Beach Pier - www.kiteclub.org And Now, The Rest of the Story............ 12/31 Annual New Year's Eve Fighter Kite Challenge - Tecolote Shores, San Diego - www.sandiegokiteclub.com 1/1 Annual SDKC New Year's Day Fly - Don't miss the BIG One! Mariner's Point, San Diego - www.sandiegokiteclub.com 2/23-24 Kite Party 2008 Huntington Beach Pier Huntington Beach, California - www.kiteconnection.com 3/9 34th Annual Festival Of The Kite Redondo Beach Pier, Redondo Beach, California - www.pierkites.com HERE COMES NATIONAL KITE MONTH!!! 3/29 - 3/31 Traction Galore! NABx Pre Event, El Mirage Dry Lake, El Mirage, CA - www.nabx.net 4/1 - 4/7 More Traction! NABx Main Event, Ivanpah Dry Lake, Primm, NV - www.nabx.net 4/5 Kites Over Yucca Valley, Saturday April 5th, noon - 4pm 4/13 23rd Annual Santa Barbara Kite Festival, Santa Barbara City College West Campus - www.sbkitefest.com 4/19 Annual VCKF Oxnard Takes Flight - Join us for a great day of flying and share with the Children of Oxnard - Download / view a flyer HERE! The flyer will open in a new window and is in Adobe Acrobat format.. You can get a FREE copy of the Acrobat reader HERE. Update 4/20: You can see some pix of Oxnard Takes Flight 2008 by clicking HERE. 5-31 - 6/1 Still More Traction! Buggy Boogie Sprang Thang, El Mirage Dry Lake, El Mirage, CA - www.buggythang.org More Events Coming Soon including our Annual Night Flys and More!

Better Times...

We would like to thank Monica & the "Liberty High Spirits of 14B" for sharing the above photo.

In Memorium...

On February 5th, 2003, a cherished member of our group passed away. Chuck Taylor was the kind of person you were glad to have as a friend. A man with a smile on his face and gold in his heart. He was also a core member of the Santa Monica "4th Saturday" Flyers. A memorial fly will be held at "Home Base" on Saturday, February 15th, 2003. At this time, a tribute page is in the works. Smooth Winds to you, Chuck...We are mournful of your passing and lucky to have known you.

Quotable Quotes: "In Gust We Trust" Rachel Hughes - Rehoboth Toy & Kite Company, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware "Remember, If the wind sucks, You're flying backwards" Lynn - Route 66 Kite Club "Takeoffs are Optional...Landings are Mandatory" Author Unknown "The Probability of Survival is Equal to the Angle of Arrival" - Great Aviation Quotes

This from a San Francisco newspaper - circa 3/2000:

Thanks to "Eagle Eye Scotty" for that one.

Past Year's Event Schedules & Recaps:

Last updated April 20, 2008

Thank you for stopping by!