Oostduinkirke 2002

Oostduinkirke is one of those friendly beach festivals. Nest Leurnot and his team of organisers use a relaxed regime to ensure maximum enjoyment for both flyers and general public.

The first round of the UK Nationals was coming up next weekend. Crosslines intended to get some serious stick practice in during the mornings and fly in the afternoons.

Mark and Keith went over on a late afternoon ferry that glided across a mirror flat channel under a blue sky. They got to the Hotel and found Mike and Susanne Durie in the bar. The Duries' had spent the day in Belgium and were enthusing about the day's weather and looking forward to the weekend. We found a table for dinner and just as we were about to order noticed that the Linfords had just arrived in the car park, so we moved to a larger table and prepared for the gastronomic delights of the evening. Grilled Prawns, deep-fried Rockfort, Chateaubriand, Grilled Monkfish, Rack of Lambs Ribs were just some of the temptations on offer.

OK, this story is supposed to be about a kite festival. The last paragraph and probably the next have been quite influenced by recollections of the next two days weather and its effect on events.

A trip to Reubens' followed on from the restaurant. Any one who has been to Oostdenkirke will know that this café/bar is festival headquarters, general meeting place, suppliers of Belgium beer and its infamous Reubens coffee, apparently made with Baileys.

Several hours of drinking followed by a few hours of sleep and it was an early start Saturday morning. It was disappointing, grey skies and a strong on shore wind. In previous years most of the team have suffered sunburn at this festival. However, this year is going to be extra fleeces and rainwear, just like last week in Hardelot.

We spent a couple of hours Saturday morning sticking ballet and precision routines in hotel bedrooms trying not to surprise or be surprised by the chambermaids!

After a relatively quick lunch we spent a long afternoon on the beach practising routines and compulsory figures. We also did some arena demonstrations both on our own and with Kathy and Phil Jarvis and Ian Webb.

Which restaurant would we try tonight? The successful candidate had a specialist menu based on three courses containing asparagus plus a dessert. That just had to be tried by the majority of the team and got a "thumbs up" at the end. Reubens and more beer called, siren like, at the end of the evening.

Sunday morning arrived looking similar to yesterday but with stronger wind and a forecast of rain. More stick practice was the order for the morning.

This was interrupted by the arrival of a small fire engine to deal with an incident we experienced at breakfast time. A lady was cycling past the window of the hotel breakfast window when she appeared to go down some stairs and out of view. We knew there ware no stairs, so we and others investigated. The bike had fallen into a hole in a puddle on the pavement. A water main had burst, washing the sand away from under the pavement but the hole had not been obvious to the lady until the front wheel of her bike disappeared from view. She was shaken but not hurt. The fire engine arrived and a little later Hugh, Pugh, Barney, Macgrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub shambled around, laid out hoses and pumped out the water from the hole and the adjoining properties basement at the same time flooding the alternative pavement! Water, water everywhere and with the mains turned off not a drop to drink. Must be time for a beer at Reubens!

On the way there we were reminded that the traditional fliers fish lunch was available today. This is a special lunch provided by the local fishermen. it is usually pan fried flatfish cooked in spicy breadcrumbs. Very good. However today it was a warming fish soup and fish cakes. Undercover accommodation was available at the swimming pool as by now it was raining.

After lunch we were the only team to go out and fly in the rain. The wind was 30mph again and far from pleasant. After a few hours Nest came out and pleaded with us to stop, come in to the warm and attend the prize giving. At the prize giving we win a prize for being the wettest stunt kite team and Nest, the events organiser is presented with the prize of honour from the local council for putting on the festival, which is now in its 16th year, and bring it to an international audience.

Sunday evening is a different restaurant and a different menu. Fish seems to be the speciality of the house. The initial problem is getting the types of fish translated from Flemish into English or at least French. Fortunately, this was not a major problem. The product was fresh and the meal delicious, setting us up perfectly for, yes you've guessed it, more beer at Reubens. Disaster, it was shut, who would have thought the Belgium's have early closing on Sundays!

Monday was a Bank Holiday in England so we had planned a relaxing day before travelling back to UK in the late afternoon. The way the weather had been over the last few days we thought we might just have headed for the ferries in the morning. However Monday arrived warmer with a light wind and the promise of sunshine. So guess what we did? Yes, cutting the story short we bought food in market in a small town in France, found somewhere for an excellent lunch and drank some more beer.

Crosslines on tour! We will need to be a little more conservative next week at the Nationals.

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