We had already seen many photos of this Festival and would like to participate. But despite the fact that we had already received an invitation, we had not been able to visit the festival.
In April we received another invitation and we gladly accepted it. The intention was to go by car and to visit the city of Gdansk as a tourist after the festival. But this changed after a few weeks because hereafter an invitation came from Australia for a weekend later. That is why the next 2 messages have common ground :-).
Instead of traveling by car, we flew by plane from Eindhoven airport to Gdansk, where we were brought together by bus to Leba. On arrival we were warmly welcomed by Wieslaw and Ria, the organization. We fell in love with it because on arrival the participants who were already there (we were the last one) were already barbecuing and we were personally introduced to many other well-known international pilots. We know most of them from FB so it was great that we finally meet ourselves in person.
After a pleasant evening we walk together with Bernhard Dingwehrt and Markus Munsterman in the direction of Wieslaws Hotel Latarnik. Here we received a bag with T-shirts, buttons and meals vouchers and we were shown the room. It looked very neat. A room with its own bathroom and balcony. Not that we had much time to sit here 🙂
Friday morning we had a well cared for breakfast and after that it went to the beach to fly a kite. We were looking for a nice spot at the back of the beach. We had enough space there to set up our things. The visit failed a bit, but that didn’t spoil the fun. Around 6 pm we went to the Leba schoo after dinner. The Polish pilot group had set up a small space here as a museum where pilots were offered that were offered by pilots. a museum that was focused in a school. After this, the traditional parade through Leba began. Led by representatives of the city and the organizers, we walked through the streets to the Kolpinghaus, where the official opening of the event took place. The city officials gave short speeches, the sponsors were introduced and some kites who could not be present this year sent very funny greetings via video.
Afterwards there was the possibility to go to a beach club with live music in the harbor. But we decided, together with a few other kites, to sit in the hotel “afterwards”, it was a nice end to the day.
Just like Friday, we were picked up by a bus on Saturday morning and taken to a restaurant for breakfast. Then quickly to the beach because it was a perfect day to fly a kite. Nice wind and the sky was quickly full. What we had taken was also in the air. Unfortunately we had to leave the beach again at 3 p.m. because we had to eat on time so that we were on time for the evening program. With the help of the kites, bags were filled in which a candle was placed. All bags were placed in such a way that it eventually became the logo of the kite party. Then we went back to take a nightcap together.
Sunday the weather was even better than Saturday. After a nice breakfast quickly to the beach, the wind came from the sea and we didn’t have to worry about the trees near the beach. It also didn’t take long and the sky was full of kites and wind games again. Herman was asked to form a jury with others to judge it 2-lines. Completely inexperienced in this, but this was not bad, it was about fun. After this the last things were unpacked and put in the air, the bags were empty.
Unfortunately it had to be packed again at 3.30 pm. As for us and many other participants, it could have taken a few more hours. After a nice shower it went to “De Taverne Rybacka” that stood at the harbor. To eat but also here was the official closing of the kite festival. After dinner we organized a “performance” with several pilots, it was not all pure but it was fun. The official closing ceremony started at 7 pm and the pilots became groups one by one and wze received a certificate and a handmade gift. Unfortunately this pleasant evening also ended, a quick sleep for a few hours before we were taken to the airport in Gdansk at 2.15 am with some German and Belgian pilots.
Together with the Dutch and Belgian hang-gliders we went to the airport in Gdansk at 2:15. Wieslaw was waiting for us at 2.00 am with a breakfast package for each of us and to wave us goodbye, great!
We want to thank Wieslaw and Ria and the team for these wonderful days and we will be happy to come back.
(Translated with “Google Translate”)
