CALENDAR OF EVENTS For Up Up & Away Kite Club & Other information:

Almost every Sunday someone from our kite club is flying kites in Seal Beach & having fun.

Up Up & Away Kite Club definitely meets on every - 2nd Sunday of Every Month - North of Seal Beach Pier or as listed below.

****San Diego Kite Club Meets - 2nd Saturday of Every Month - Tecolote Shores - www.sandiegokiteclub.com

October 5th, 2008 - 12th Annual - Japan American Kite Festival

Kite Festival (10AM - 5PM) *Oct. 5th, 2008

Seal Beach's 12th Annual Japan America Kite Festival ®

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
PLEASE CALL: Kim Weston AT THE STORE 562-596-7661

PLEASE COME TO THE PARKING LOT AT 6:30 AM MORNING OF THE EVENT

Everything is FREE By the Pier in Seal Beach

Program page 1 and 4

Program page 2 and 3

Flyer to hang and print out

November 9th, 2008 - Kite Club Sunday - (1 PM - 5 PM) - Seal Beach, CA

Kite Club Sunday right side of Seal Beach Pier.

P.S. If it is raining then kite club will meet at the store on Main Street.

December 14 , 2008 - Kite Club Sunday - (1 PM - 5 PM) - Seal Beach, CA

Kite Club Sunday right side of Seal Beach Pier.

P.S. If it is raining then kite club will meet at the store on Main Street.

Here is the link to the OC Register's Article Printed August 24, 2007

MONTICA LEE BONKO

(Monty Weston)

AKA – Mary Poppins

The Shinning Star of the Up Up & Away Kite Store – Seal Beach, CA

May 23, 1945 – August 22, 2007

Passed at 4:45 PM

Born: Ellensburg, WASurvived by:

Children: Randy, Kim, Heather, Joe, James

Grandchildren: Joshua, Christopher, Blythe, Peyton, Max, Hannah, ClaireBrother: Lee Bonko, Jr & Fran Henderson

Daughter in Laws: Monica Sabic, Kim Love, Beverly Bennett Son in Law: Eric Lenore

MONTY WESTON MEMORIAL BENCH -SEAL BEACH, CA

Information submitted by: JoAnn Adams Bogart's Coffee House & Seal Beach

Chamber

JoAnn spoke with Bob Eagle at the City to ask about having a memorial bench installed to commemorate Monty.  We located the perfect spot:  A 6 foot bench has been ordered to be placed on

the side of the pier across the street from Kinda

Lahaina.  It faces the side of the beach where the Kite Club flies the kites each month.  It takes 3 months for the bench to arrive. We will have a plaque with Monty's name and maybe kite images. 

An account had been opened at the Bank of America in Seal Beach.

"The Monty Weston Memorial Bench Fund" - We collected enough funds for the Bench - It should be installed in middle of December - We will let you know when

In lieu of flowers the family is asking that donations be made in loving memory of Montica Bonko (Monty Weston) to:

The Hoag Hospital Foundation
P.O. Box 6100
Newport Beach, CA  92658-6100
You can donate over the phone at 949-764-7216
Hoag Hospital was very good to her and we would like to see the level of care and compassion continue for others that are being treated for cancer.  Please make sure to specify that the donation is in memory of Montica Bonko.  Thank you. 

Cards and memories can be sent to:

Family of Monty Weston

c/o Up Up & Away Kite Store

139 1/2 Main St

Seal Beach, CA 90740

ATTENTION KITECLUB MEMBERS ALL OVER THE WORLD:

www.nationalkitemonth.org

Click here for Pictures of Gunnar Swansons' Dances with Vultures

See Gunnars story at the end of this page

View a video of the 2004 Kite Festival in Seal Beach, CA

Thank You Eric Allen

Go to : www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMjWJccLJxM

As always - I hope to see you all down at the beach flying - have a great 2005

Remember: "Imagination is the highest Kite One Can Fly" Lauren Bacall

Dances with Vultures

Written by

Gunnar Swanson

and

Robert Munn

Click on this link to see Gunnars Pictures

There is a line of eucalyptus trees along Culver Drive and fronting the William R. Mason Regional Park in the City of Irvine, CA. On most mornings one could see as many as a hundred turkey vultures (Cathartes aura} roosting on the tree limbs. They sit, ominous and motionless, as if they are brooding about the traffic that hurries below them. But in reality their body temperature drops at night and they just need a jump start to get going. To this end a slow exodus takes place as some of the vultures fly over to the Lutheran church across the street and perch on the ridge of the roof. There they hold their wings out in a heraldic display for the sun to dry their feathers of last nights dew, gather some warmth and wait for the first light breeze.

Gunnar Swanson is as patient as the birds waiting for those same light air currents and you could make a case either way for the birds following him or his following the birds to his preferred location. He flies his kites in Colonel Bill Barber Memorial Park which is close by the old Tustin Marine Corps Air Station where the giant blimp hangers of that bygone era can still be seen. Although the base is now being developed for residential and commercial uses there are still large tracts of fallow land providing an ideal hunting and scavenging ground. There are always several of these graceful birds soaring in the area looking for dead mice, squirrels, something left over from a coyote meal or an occasional road kill. It is probably inevitable that the birds will leave once the development is completed. At best, only a small flock would remain with so little of their natural habitat left to sustain them.

Usually a cool ocean breeze will come later in the morning and create a strong uplift which can raise a kite quickly to 1000 feet or more, and bringing with it the danger of a string breaking or kite damage. To avoid these hazards Gunnar prefers to fly his kite in the early morning when the sun has just started to warm the earth and create soft gentle breezes. In these conditions he flies his Delta kite which weighs a feather light fourteen ounces. His first kites were custom made fourteen years ago by a sail maker using spinnaker material, a 3/4 ounce Dacron, and five millimeter carbon fiber struts. The sail maker idea came naturally because Gunnar is a rag sailor of long experience which also gives him an intimate knowledge of the vagaries of wind and weather and kite flying flows naturally from that.

As the first puffs arrive he lays the kite on the ground facing into them and walking backwards he reels off about fifty yards of string. Then, with just a gentle tug, the kite rises slowly like a modern day pterodactyl and hovers above. With infinite patience and fingertip control the reel provides, Gunnar flies the kite through a series of maneuvers that take advantage of the fickle and variable winds. Walking briskly over the manicured lawn of the park, he lets the kite soar high on puffs or brings it down till it glides quietly above the many walkers and joggers that happen by. They often stop and gawk up in surprise at the red and black UFO floating over them and every once in a while this causes unintended consequences, such as running into light poles or trees while gazing upward.

Barnstorming, clocking around, skimming along the ground, flying away, skirting the many kite eating trees, using what each breath of wind gives this is Gunnar's passion and joy. Most people fly a kite in a stiff breeze but the artistry occurs in exploiting each small gust. Gunnar prefers a gentle wind in the three to six MPH range.

Sometimes real magic can happen. There was a day when several turkey vultures began circling on a thermal above Gunnar and he let the kite shoot up through them. The headless vultures, or so they appear from a distance, seemed to accept the kite as one of their own and continued on with their ponderous revolving dance, pirouetting wide about the kite. The moment was brief; but for a time the birds, the kite and Gunnar were in communication and he really felt he was dancing with vultures, those true masters of riding the thermal uplifts.

There are technical aspects to this type of kiting. The fifteen pound test line and connections are as small and light weight as fishing gear. The reel was designed and built by Gunnar to achieve maximum control and, should the occasion arise, the line can be reeled in at 750 feet per minute. Gunnar has purchased and is now flying a new fifteen foot kite which weighs the same fourteen ounces as his older Delta. It was made to his specifications by Windchasers , South Padre Island, Texas.

Gunnar is currently a member of the American Kiting Association and the Up, Up and Away Kite Club in Seal Beach. He would like to hear from anyone who would be interested in this kind of kiting. He can be reached at 24 Fuchsia, Irvine, CA 92604, (949) 653-0780 or through the kite club, www.kiteclub.org.

If you decide to join in on his fun just remember, because of the turkey vulture's keen eyesight and their unusual and well developed sense of smell it is probably a good idea to take a shower before flying kites with Gunnar and don't wear anything that looks like road kill.

Click here for a map to Seal Beach courtesy Mapquest

For additional info or questions email: Janis jay.janis@yahoo.com or Kim Weston kim@wellingtonsigns.com

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