The kids find it enjoyable. That’s what you want to see, too: get the kids away from their video games and outside to explore and accomplish things. It’s excellent,” remarked Tony Walker, a fan of kite flying.
Sept. 12, Sydney (Xinhua) — The Festival of the Winds came to Sydney, Australia, just in time on Sunday, biding adieu to a chilly winter and ushering in a fresh spring. A large number of tourists descended onto the crescent-shaped Bondi Beach, enthralled with the sight of kites soaring through a clear blue sky.
Sea creatures like octopuses, manta rays, and humpback whales drifted with land animals like zebras and husky dogs on the steady breeze at Australia’s biggest kiteflying carnival. Penguins flew for space instead of waddling in the realm of kites, fending off falcons, gulls, rainbow lorikeets, and even an extraterrestrial.
When skilled artisans showed off their imaginative designs and abilities, tourists also found happiness in purchasing a diamond-shaped kite on location, launching it into the air, and then savoring the warm atmosphere and sound of the waves lapping against the coast.
The Festival of the Winds is celebrating its 45th anniversary of being launched on September 10, 1978, and has grown to become one of the main events on Sydney’s calendar.
Four decades have passed since the festival was first held in the area, and generations of Australians have attended it as a family tradition. International kite enthusiasts also gather at Bondi Beach for this yearly get-together.
Making and flying kites is a pastime that many of them have enjoyed from childhood and will continue to bring them joy for the rest of their lives.
Australian Janis Lejins, 31, told Xinhua, “I’ve been coming to the Festival of the Winds, I guess, since I was born. I grew up here in Bondi.”
Lejins used to fly the kids’ kites when he was a child. He did, however, try “something with a little bit more energy” for the first time for this year’s event.
Lejins brought a kitesurfing training kite to the beach, which is not like the many single-thread kites that are usually seen. He kept the kite in the air with little modifications while holding a control bar that was tied with three lines.
Lejins’s father would hold up the kite and assist him in relaunching it whenever it reached the ground.
“I currently reside in Austria, but I recently returned to see my folks. Lejins remarked, “This kite is for kitesurfing; my dad is an avid windsurfer.
Even though Lejins had never gone kitesurfing, he discovered that his father’s pastime of paragliding and his own had some similarities. “It’s not so bad because it’s exactly like a paraglider,” remarked the man.
The fact that the entire community gets together for the festival is what makes it so amazing for an Aussie who was born and raised in Bondi.
“The winter is coming to an end. Thus, this is the first significant occasion that we have at Bondi. Lejins remarked, “It’s just lovely to see all of your family and friends coming from all across Sydney and Australia to come and view the kites.
“It’s not every day that you get to do something like this,” he said.
t the age of 58, Belgian kite artist Roger Stevens traveled to Australia for the first time to make his debut at the Festival of the Winds. There, he and his wife Karin proudly displayed four kites that they had designed and handcrafted together.
Their rectangle-shaped artworks, each measuring 12 meters long by 1.2 meters broad, showcased the same geometric designs in a modern and abstract style, but with a distinct color scheme.
“I started designing kites at the age of twelve. “I’m 58 years old already,” Stevens said to Xinhua as he raised his head to observe the kites that were suspended in midair.A
The Belgian recalled the moment of discovery he had with this tethered glider as if it had been love at first sight.
“While walking my dog in my hometown, I ran across a few young people. When I saw kites for the first time, I became intrigued. I was in love with kites, of course, and I never lost it again, so I asked her to hold them,” Stevens recalled.
According to him, kites spread like a virus across the 12-year-old teenager’s entire being. “You cannot lose it once infected with a virus. “And my spouse also contracted the same virus from kite flying,” he jokingly said.
According to Stevens, a kite is a canvas, and creating kites is the act of matching artwork to kites. He never prioritized size instead putting all of his effort into using his flying canvas to express art.
Stevens calculated that he had made almost 150 kites in all. Some of the kites were gifts to individuals who graciously housed the couple during their ongoing global trip to showcase their artwork.
“We met a lot of people and have a lot of kite friends all over the world,” Stevens added. “My favorite part of flying at kite festivals is, of course, constructing the kites.
Tony Walker, who is currently employed as a public servant, has been a member of the Australian Kiteflyers Society, a nonprofit organization that has been in charge of planning the Festival of the Winds since 1978, for thirty years.
“I began flying kites when I was a young child. Walker stated, “I just moved on after we constructed kites at school or when we were Cub Scouts and Scouts.
Walker made kites for his pals when they needed them, so the connection between him and kiteflying wasn’t severed.
“I developed a kite addiction. I started playing foil kites and two-line stunt kites after getting larger kites. Then it really took off when I learned about kite festivals.
Walker’s artistic talent has found a medium through kiteboarding that allows him to create, soar, and enjoy himself.
“I myself fly around 200 kites in my vehicle at various times, depending on the weather conditions. I therefore have a variety of medium, heavy, and light wind kites. No matter the day or the weather, I always have something to fly,” he said.
It’s a dynamic type of art that moves. A kite is merely a surface on which to exhibit your artwork. Therefore, we will fly it rather than create a painting that we use or apply symbol recruiting techniques on and place on a wall in an art gallery.”said Walker.
In the past 45 years, Bondi Beach has experienced both good and bad times.
We received eighteen inches of hail one year. We’ve experienced gales and tropical downpours. Since it’s an outside event, the weather will affect it,” Walker said.
With the exception of one year when it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian Kiteflyers Society has still been able to revive the Festival of the Winds virtually every year.
In addition to the yearly celebration, the group has started bringing little diamond kites into classrooms to inspire children to create their own kites and color them however they see fit.
Walker sold over 100 kites at the festival while overseeing the society’s booth and patiently instructing his young patrons on how to put together a kite from components.
Seeing more children participate made him happy because he saw them as the next wave of kite flyers.
“The kids find it enjoyable. That’s what you want to see, too: get the kids away from their video games and outside to explore and accomplish things. It’s excellent,” Walker remarked.
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