Heading south from Norway, Kjetil and Sven. Two happy Danes, Mirjam and Niels and all the way from Stockholm, Christian the afficionada. We were all in for a weekend filled with icarex, dacron, sewing machines, double sided tape, templates, mesh and carbon fiber rods. A kite makers definition of Heaven!

Early Friday night we were all pretty busy building accompanied by the humming of sewing machines doing their stuff. Anders had done an impressive job to prepare for efficiency by cutting out and taping all the icky-pieces for all kites, so we could jump straight into the sewing.

Anders also had prepared all the bridle lines and printed the kite bag fabric, cut all the bungees and gathered all the bits and pieces to speed up the process. Now it was all up to us to get the kites done.

It was a bunch of pretty concentrated people diving into the project and soon something resembling great looking A Quads started to emerge. All in different colour combos, purple, pink, yellow, red, blue and green.

Anders had hoped most of the sewing would be completed by Friday, but at about two o’clock in the night we decided to get some sleep even though there still was plenty of sewing left.

After a good night’s sleep (?) we got up, had a few cups of coffee, breakfast, and hit the road again. As the hours went by most of us got the sewing done and it was time for the framing.

Framing isn’t that difficult or time consuming and none of the rods needed to be cut. Just glue the ferrules in place and insert the LE-rods into the dacron pocket, making sure to fit the connectors as well. Bungee and endcaps in place and then only the bridling left.

Wow! What a bridle it was! Pretty intricate and active legs all the way. Plenty of ways to go wrong, but guided by Anders guided all kites were bridled!

The sun had set and the dark of the night was upon us, but we still had just enough daylight left to go out on one of the nearby piers to take one of the kites for a spin. The wind was really crap, turbulent and coming from all over the place, but despite the conditions the kite felt good.

I’m convinced this one’s gonna be a winner when we get to fly it more in better winds and I’m really looking forward to it!

After another long night chit chatting about kites and whatnot, it was time to hit the sack again and sleep well into the Sunday morning hours. Coffee and breakfast and time to clean up the location. At noon we all left heading back into our own neck of the woods with brand new kites and yet another memorable weekend under our belts.

Thank you all for making this weekend a really good one and I’m really looking forward to fly our new beauties with you again in June!

…and Anders…

I’m so grateful for all you have done preparing for this workshop and your guidance throughout the weekend. It surely wouldn’t have been the same without your admirable effort!

Thank you!

…and below you’ll find a bunch of memorable moments from the weekend!