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Pasir Gudang Kite Festival
International Guests
During the three days devoted to the Malaysian kite competition one large field was left open for the international guests to fly their kites. There were a total of 82 international guests (from 16 countries), the most ever for this wonderful festival. The breezes were very light the first few days, and the sky overcast, which helped moderate the temperatures. One afternoon it rained so hard it was difficult to see outside.
Set up on the flying field was the largest Wau kite ever made. We hoped the winds would permit the Malays to launch it. The kite was lifted into place for launching with a crane, and set against a scaffold built especially for the occasion. The kite was constructed with a background layer of Tyvek, layers of glued designs, and covered with glue and tape to secure it against rain and wind damage. The project was an attempt at the Guinness book of records for the largest Wau kite. Unfortunately the wind did not cooperate and it was either too light or too wild during the festival for a safe launching. On Saturday the kite was unveiled and with a balloon launch, fireworks and smoke for a spectacular unveiling.
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Saturday and Sunday were the official start and end of the kite festival, heralded with the appearance of the Sultan of Johor. Amid much fanfare the Sultan greeted all the international kite fliers and announced the start of the festival. The Sultan has long been a kiting enthusiast and a major supporter of the event. |
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The festival has a new permanent windmill on the field and the field was dedicated as Kite Hill, making it the permanent site of the kite festival. |
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| Saturday and Sunday were wonderful days with the wind gaining in strength and kite fliers from around the world all flying their kites. Team Indonesia put on a wonderful, with the most international guests of any team (represented by Sari Madjid, Pricilla, Nurhayati Cheriad, Agus Setiawan, Cecep Supriyadi, Supriyanto, Hj. Asran, Hjh. Rusmawati, Roeny Ibrahim, Sulian, Yassin, and Heidir). |
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Viet Nam showed up for the first time (Dang Mau Tuu, Nguyen Be, Nguyen Dang Hoang, and Dang Thanh Phu). |
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Ramlal Tien and Franquise Richard from France showed their innovative kites. (see their wonderful website at: Zoone.org) |
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| Germany was represented Olaf and Sabine Zabel, Juergen Ebbinghaus, Rolf Sturm, and Gerd Klaus-pictured is a dual line frog kite flown by Juergen |
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| A very large Cobra kite made by Alain Lalonde from Canada |
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From Holland were Wally Dalmolen and Menno Bos who brought their train of giant man lifting Cody's. But alas lifting a man did not happen. Their spars were damaged in transit from Holland, and after effecting repairs the wind did not cooperate. They did manage to fly several of the large red Cody kites. |
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| A Malaysian cellular kite made by Roger Tan |
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Malaysian rokkaku
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| Jennifer inside the tent of the international kite fliers |
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| New Zealand was very present with Peter Lynn's team. Peter's team was able to fly his giant MegaRay kite, the world's largest kite. It took large dump trucks filled with sand to hold it down as it pulls 13 tons of force. The kite is so large that it must be taken apart and shipped in pieces to accommodate the airlines weight limitations. One whole afternoon was taken up with zipping the pieces together on the field. Peter also flew his Octopus, Trilobite, Teddy bear, and several Geckos'. A ground inflatable was designed and built specifically for the festival. The scorpion was a project built for the Johor kite club by team Peter Lynn. Assisting Peter was his team of Clyde Cook, Mark Abernathy, and Peter Whitehead. |
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Shakib Gunn of Singapore and Michael Alvares of Australia clown it up as Hanuman and Ganesh from the Hindu mythology |
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| Among the other guests representing additional countries were: the Philippines (Merie Ongkingco and Percelyn Aquino), UK (Malcom and Jeanette Goodman, Australia (Michael Alvares and Jan Meyer, Baz and Gill Thrower, Bob Dawson, Michael Richards, and Roger Martin, USA (Nathan and Cathy Sendan), France (Roland and Michelle), Brunei (Haji Maidin bin Haji Ahmad, Haji Besar bin Bongsu, Haji Yahya bin Mahmud, and Haji Ali Akbar bin Kalushah Akbar), Singapore( Ng Thang Eng, Ong Chwee Kar, Polly Ching, Gadis Riyaldi, Robert Fong, Peter Theo, Tan See Liang, Tan Po Wah, Ivy Loo, ), Canada (Michelle Forget), Japan (Ohashi and his wife along with Shin Tsutmo and Suganama Yoshiharu), China (Sun Xueming, Cheng Wei, Yu Xiuzhen, Zheng Hong, and Sun Qing), and Thailand (Jiamjai Sae-ung, Suraphong Cheunchusri, and Boontham Himsgool). |
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From Friday to Sunday morning dual line championships were held for the Southeast Asian countries, assisted by the teams from Australia who helped with the judging.
On Saturday and Sunday the international fliers were able to fly their kites, putting on a spectacular display.
The Sixth International Pasir Gudang Festival was one of the best organized events we have ever attended. The field control was excellent, enabling the the kite fliers to fly in safety. The international fliers had one very large field all to themselves, and children and non-participants were kept off the field. In addition the people of Malaysia were very warm and open hearted.
At all times we were treated with friendliness and respect. Transportation to and from the field was excellent! Our special thanks to the organizers of Pasir Gudang Festival!
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Bob Harris and Jennifer Snyder of Dancing Frog Designs
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