Summertimes Tip Top Kite Day 28th January 2012 at New Brighton Beach.

The wind began as a gentle south easterly, moving to north east about midday and building during the afternoon to a fairly stiff wind by 4 pm.

People turned up in droves and it was estimated that about 8,000 people came along. At times the beach looked full of people - and the sky was certainly full of kites.

A huge thank you to the CCC Events team, for making it all possible; to Tip Top for their sponsorship, icecreams and big delta kite which flew all afternoon; Perrin Melchior, who brought his fabulous 3D and box kites down from Auckland; Craig and Jenny from Peter Lynn Kites, who brought the giant kites; George and Jackie Penney, who flew lots of small inflatable kites; Jim Nicholls, a New Brighton regular, and friends with a spectacular kite collection; all my helpers who rushed about flying and anchoring kites; and, of course, to all the kitefliers who dusted off their kites and came along and created the spectacle.

Lots of photos and videos from kite day have been posted to the KiteShop Facebook page.

Check out some links to photos and videos on You tube from kite fliers and the media:

Jim's Kites for his video and photos

Graeme Partridge's video

The Press photos

Flickr - Christchurch Cluster - photos

The kite day was the happy story to finish the TV3 news on Saturday.