Thirty international kite fliers were invited to Dubai in March for the first major kite festival held in the Middle East. It was hot! It was wonderful! It was completely different from what we expected.

Here are a few memories and a small taste of what life was like on the Persian Gulf.

Welcome to Dubai for the first-ever International Kite Festival on the Persian Gulf. Susie wasn't sure I should go with Saddam making noise just up 500 miles away, but it turned out to be just great.

Here I am! It's 40 degrees Celsius out there -- 104 for you non-metric types. But the desert wind is up and blowing right off the water. Perfect to anchor a kite and go find some shade...

Every day, we had a great sky. Guests were chosen to provide a variety of kite types. From trick flying and buggys, to big inflatables, to 4, 8, and 12 line maneuverables. It was as fine (and concentrated) a collection of talent as I've seen at an event anywhere.

Team No Limit brought a collection of big Bols and character kites. These two wheels are 8 meters, or about 28 feet tall.

This is a new creation from Pierre Fabre of France. We called it the "Spiked Toilet Plunger". Notice how people are using it for shade! Mid-way through the event, it broke loose and went bouncing down the beach. I understand it is back in France being repaired and equipped with a stronger swivel.

Here are some of the other hot guests at the event. This is Masaaki Modegi of Japan.

Sven Wiedhaus of No Limit is dressed for the occasion.

And finally, here's Zoe Harris of England (Anne's daughter). I'm sure Zoe will appreciate this close-up.

Two of the kites I brought were Giant Trilobites. We bridled them together into a giant Trilobite Train. That provided PLENTY of Shade. Peter Lynn (Jr.) also brought a Big Trilobite. But more about that later...

And here's another shot of my kites (Hey! it's *my* page -- I can talk about my kites if I want!!) This is a 252 in red-black-and white, of course.

The tube tails are 100 feet long. The color concept was based from a design Pierre made last year.

Here are a couple of No Limit's big inflatable Sesame Street characters.

The characters are really huge - as you can see when they are being readied for launch.

Kids always seem to enjoy big kites. Even in Dubai, we drew crowds of excited spectators -- all well behaved and all speaking excellent English.

Here's me and my new wives. Naw! Just kidding. Susie would give me a swift kick if she heard me say that.

Remember me mentioning that other Big Trilobite?? When the winds dropped off, it plopped into the surf. What a mess! It took a truck to pull it out, and when we did, what we got was a really big bag of water...

This wonderful inflated piece was created by Yvonne DeMille of New Zealand. Her unusual kites are a visual treat and flew well every day.

My Madonnas didn't fly every day, but when the breeze came up, they pulled *hard*.

What's it really like on an international kite junket?? Often the food is fantastic. Other days, it drags a bit. In this particular case, we were told a big batch of fries were cooked on Monday and used for two days.

Mmmm. Good stuff. That's Yvonne on the left and Janice Maddy on the right.

The restrooms were air conditioned, which was a big help on a really hot day. Sometimes we'd just go there to cool off. Of course, the fixtures were a bit different than home. Notice the water hose on the left. That's used instead of paper...

As I said before, kites ran the gamut. Here's a new item from Roger Maddy. It's a quad-line nerd Bird

And at the other end of the spectrum, here's a tyvek delta brought by Banu Shah of India. Deltas aren't exactly indigenous to Ahmenabad, but the artwork on this one is 100% traditional Indian.

The organizer of the event was Ms. Sonal Rawal of Classic Advertising and Events. She and her staff were wonderful hosts. One night they took us out into the desert for a safari, camel riding, and a Bedouin feast. We finished up with a fast four-wheel-drive run through the dunes. Locals call it "dune-bashing". It's like a roller-coaster in the dark without a track! Yiieee!!

Here is another amazing kite Ciro Sarti of Italy. Altogether, there were five Italians on the beach.

The festival was a huge hit with the local media. Here's the anchor on the evening news getting ready to talk about our kites. I would have shown you the event photos, but thought you'd like seeing this fellow better.

And that's it! Hope you liked my new digital camera. I had one picture left so thought I'd see how I looked from arm's length.

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