I never sleep well in Wildwood.

It isn’t that I’m up partying all night -- although there is a rumor I closed the Oceanic bar on Saturday night. But between the hot, claustrophobic rooms, the sound of squealing tires and oversized car stereos, the music in the bar thirty feet away, and the noise from the room three doors down, I find it hard to relax.

It’s probably all my own fault. I’m no longer an urban guy. I live in the country and can’t see the neighbor’s house. If a chipmunk passes gas fifty feet away in the middle of the night, the sound wakes me up.

Susie doesn’t come to Wildwood anymore. But she is a veteran of the Rio where the noise and smells were even worse. One year, my roommate and I got into a fight over who was stinking up the room. Then we came back from the field together and discovered the room smelled like that without us.

The first time I went to China, I sent a postcard home. “It’s hot, dirty, dusty, smelly and the food tastes bad. You can’t drink the water and no one speaks English. It’s pretty much like Wildwood….”

And yet, for roughly 20 years, I’ve spent every Memorial Weekend in New Jersey. The beach is enormous, the kitefliers are friendly, and the flying is great.

This year we enjoyed some of the best flying weather in recent memory. We didn’t loft the coordinated giant kite program that was a centerpiece last year. But we got plenty of fabric in the sky anyway and offered a fine show.

There have been ongoing problems with smaller kites and even a banner display infringing on the large kite arena. That creates serious safety issues. Next year, we’ve requested a designated large kite field. There shouldn’t be a problem given the large amount of space. And if we get our own arena, we can put together an amazing program!

If our giant Octopus were the highlight last year, the Rev show was the center of attention this time. IQuad flew constantly and at one point, the Rev-Line had 33 kites in the sky. Everyone, I mean everyone had a four-line kite up.