No video (yet), but a great set of images from Stephen Versteegh at DesignKites.  Check the set out here, and don’t be too embarrassed if you drool just a bit, I know I did.

For quite a while, it’s been a question of when, not if, Avia would be closing.  Kurt’s been wanting to retire for some time now, and that time has finally arrived.  I wish the crew at Avia all the best in their future endeavours .

The good news is that the Avia name and product line will continue with the fine folks at Goodwinds Kites at the helm.   While I’ll miss being able to drive 20 miles and pick up my order, I look forward to a long-term business relationship with Leland, Amelia, and the expanding crew at Goodwinds.

The last day for new custom orders will be April 9th, and orders should resume around the middle of June.

While I won’t be accepting custom orders, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be kites coming out of the Blue Moon studio. Look for a new page in the next few days that will list kites in stock and available for sale. I expect most of the available kites over the next couple months to be single liners, but there might be a few stunt kites as I tweak existing designs and work on a couple that are already in the loop. Of course, I’ll be available to supply any parts or service you need.

I’m excited about this opportunity to have dedicated time for R&D and to “recharge the batteries.” I hope you’ll find something to be excited about too, on the other side.

For more information, or if you have a question, please join us on the our forum.

Ken@BMK

The first is the Smithsonian Kite Festival, which is March 27th in Washington, DC.  This will be my third time attending this event, and I’m looking forward to it.  I might even be able to get a kite in the air!  Two years ago, signed up as a volunteer and spent the whole day making kites with kids in the Drachen Foundation tent, and had a great time.

The second event on the schedule is the Otto M. Budig Family Foundation Kite Fest, aka “Airwaves”, April 10th & 11th in West Chester, OH.  This is their 6th annual event and it’s been getting bigger every year.  This will be my first time, but I’ve heard great things about this festival.

As always, Holly and I will be at the Blue Ridge Kite Festival, April 17th in Salem VA.  This is a very nice event that gets a lot of support from the community.

People have many reasons for sharing information or not in a public space like a forum. I may not agree or understand, by I must respect.  So, I’m reversing myself and have dropped the “real name” language from forum registration.

If you have questions or anything that you’d like to share about this, join us on the forum.

The Muse may return at some point in the future on a special order basis, but at a higher price with minor tweaks.

Somewhere around my 45th birthday, I began taking stock of all the things I never quite got around to. On my list was learning to play a musical instrument. I’d always regretted not picking up an instrument as a child, so I got the notion to buy a guitar.

I spent weeks surfing the ‘net to find just the right model. I wanted something that I would grow into, but not create too much of a dent in the wallet or evoke too much guilt if it sat in a corner for a while. I settled on a nice guitar made by a company in Canada known for building nice, reasonably priced instruments.

A phobia is often defined as a persistent and irrational fear, which you cling to despite the awareness that it’s neither dangerous or rational. Just as I’m sure that Mr. Newton was correct when he said that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, there must be a solid antonym for the word phobia. I’d like to think it’s dream, but delusion might just be closer.

Well, that guitar has spent most of its life hanging in the corner in my shop, a victim of the inflexibility of middle-aged fingers and another of Newton’s laws. You know the one, “a body at rest tends to stay at rest”. My dream delusion convinces me though, that with the right inspiration, and a little work, I could be the next Chet Atkins, or at least Robert Johnson. Hmm, maybe if I had a nicer guitar…

Which brings me to the real point of this post – While spending endless hours lurking on the guitar sites and forums, preparing to take the world by storm with my string-bending genius, I discovered the term GAS, which stands for Gear (or guitar) Acquisition Syndrome. It’s the need to have one of every cool or notable guitar ever made. Sometimes it’s a collector thing, but just as often, it seems to be a grass-is-greener kind of thing. It’s the sure-fired knowledge that the next guitar (or kite) will have you nailing that riff (or trick) that’s eluded you. You just know that if you have that next new kite, you’ll have everything you need to fly like Mayet or Graziano. The logical part of your mind knows that top-notch performance comes from a combination of reflexes, solid skills and thousands of hours of mind-numbing practice, but still, this kite just might be “the one”.

I guess my point is this (and I know it’s a dangerous thing for somebody in my line of work to say) – If your goal is to be a better flyer, G*A*S can get in your way. If you’re having trouble cracking a trick, practice is going to get you further than a new kite you saw in some video. You want to be a better light-wind flyer? Practice. That new high tech, whiz-bang SUL will not get you as far as spending time at the bottom end of the range with a good std.

There’s nothing wrong with a certain level of GAS, in fact, guys like me have a vested interest in making sure it’s never completely cured. I resigned myself to the fact fairly early in life that I’d probably never have that garage full of Porsches and Ferraris. But I could, however, own a few fine examples of a craftsman’s labor. My thing, like I’m guessing yours, just happened to become kites. As for the guitar, I’m still convinced that when the muse strikes, Clapton had better watch out for this old boy from the Blue Ridge Mountains.