Autumn 2007 Volume 29, Issue 3

Sharing The Joy!

Kitegang Brings Fun To Africa Miles of Fanø

Kiteflying Cars Coming Soon East vs. West: Wildwood and Berkeley CONTENTS 3 Convention Preview 22 Plan 34 Berkeley Get ready for Jon Burkhardt Hamamatsu by a XXX time in does pennants the Bay Ocean Shores

Step On It! Flying Blind Is the Audi A5 8 Newport 24 36 Two Oregonians ready for Mas- Rhode Island’s have a real feel ters Individual got big in a for kites Ballet? small state

Skydance Interview 9 Sakakawea 25 KAPtions 37 The Kite Run- It’s a party on Brad Barnes ner’s Khalid the prairie in looks down on Abdalla shares North Dakota California Hollywood secrets

K-Files 12 26 38 Normand Girard Fanø Standings shows us how it’s Eight kilometers The year-end done in Quebec of Danish competitive rankings

Voices From Kitegang 52 14 The Vault 28 Bringing smiles 2 AKA Directory Great kites. to the worst 4 President’s Page Delicious pizza. places in the 6 The Sporting Life It’s the Dermers! world 7 Empty Spaces In The Sky 11 AKA News 16 Event Calendar Interview 17 AI: Aerial Inquiry Kitegang’s Pat- Standings 15 30 17 FlySpots rick McGrann The final 2007 18 Member Merchants and Kim Birks results are in 40 Regional Reports tell all 52 People + Places + Things

On the cover: At the Wild- Fightin’ Words woods International Kite Fes- 20 31 Junction tival, Ben Dantonio teaches a A little book Fancy sewing in opens Tom new friend how to fly a quad- the Lone Star line. Photo by Phil Broder. Brailey’s eyes State

Building Your Next issue: got pictures of kite Show 21 Wildwood 32 holiday ornaments? Send them to A master show- Pirates invade [email protected] by October 15 man tells you the Jersey for a special holiday photo feature! how to get bang shore for your buck

Autumn ’07 | Kiting 1 AKA DIRECTORY Convention Preview by Maggie Vohs american kitefliers aka committees y the time this issue reaches you, ets are first-come, first-serve at the association it will be very close to convention theater (a short walk from the conven- Mel Hickman, Executive Director education & public service B Mailing: P.O. Box 1614, Walla Walla, WA 99362 time! If you haven’t made your plans tion center). Web/Internet Outreach Chuck Sigal 510/524-3459 Phone/Fax: 800/252-2550 to attend the convention in Ocean Don’t miss the Kite Art Gallery, Web: www.aka.kite.org National Kite Month Mike Dallmer 215/722-4092 E-mail: [email protected] Kite Records Ted Manekin 716/639-7679 Shores, WA, it’s not too late! If you featuring the extraordinary and time- Education Ronda Brewer 541/994-7556 don’t register by the close date of less work of Japanese kitemaster Teizo officers and festivals / competitions September 23, you may still register at Hashimoto. executive committee Fighter Kites Sharon Champie 707/545-6737 the door in Ocean Shores. Think about Friday afternoon, fly any kite Susan Skinner, President Kitemaking Barbara Meyer 763/424-2571 it; are you willing to miss the largest you’ve built at a workshop — any 2381 Nobili Ave., Santa Clara, CA 95051 Sport Kites Jim Barber 360/289-4915 gathering of kite enthusiasts in the workshop, anywhere, not just the AKA 408/554-8399 [email protected] World Championships David Gomberg 541/996-3083 What’s all the buzz: Traction Kiting Kite Art Paul Fieber 608/271-8265 nation? Receptions, workshops, field convention — at the MAKR Challenge. Blake Pelton and Dean Jordan Barbara Meyer, First Vice President events, raffles, the kite gallery, the Special pins will be given out, court- 10361 108th Place, Osseo, MN 55369 administration auction and a Fly Market filled with esty of the Midwest Area Kitemakers 763/424-2571 [email protected] Mini AKA Table Banner Ways & Means David Butler 503/524-3315 kite vendors! Retreat. Gayle Woodul, Second Vice President Contract Services Gayle Woodul 830/598-2414 Scott E. Spencer 106 Main Street, Marble Falls, TX 78654 Safety & Insurance Jerry McGuire 513/831-8379 If you have already registered, you All of the above plus all the kite 830/598-2414 [email protected] By-laws Ted Manekin 716/639-7679 are in for a fabulous week. We will friends you haven’t seen for over a How to fly big kites without killing Archives & Records Mel Hickman 800/252-2550 David Butler, Treasurer Elections Al Sparling 630/369-9682 have lodging, workshops and the bag year! Add to that two banquets, over yourself and others 14550 Chesterfield Lane, Tigard, OR 97224 Nominations Kathy Brinnehl 630/271-0765 raffle at the Shilo Inn Suites, right on thirty workshops and more fun events David & Susan Gomberg, Al Sparling 503/524-3315 [email protected] promotion & membership the beach and next to the flying fields. than you could ever pack into a week Kathy Brinnehl, Secretary Membership Russ Faulk 630/530-8690 The rest of our convention activities and you will see why Ocean Shores is a A First Timers Info Forum 60 W. Piers Drive, Westmont IL 60559 Renewal and Retention Mel Hickman 800/252-2550 will be at the Ocean Shores Conven- must attend event. Don’t miss out! 630/271-0765 [email protected] International Linda Sanders +61/885-562696 (How to get the most fun out of your tion Center, across the street from the first AKA convention) Ronda Brewer, Director at Large Shilo! 735 SE Jetty, P. O. Box 988, Lincoln City OR 97367 annual meeting Scott E. Spencer 541/994-7556 [email protected] Convention Barbara Meyer 763/424-2571 At 8:00 p.m. on Monday, October Convention Workshops Hospitality Susan Gomberg 541/996-3083 1, Dreamworks Pictures invites conven- How many sticks does a Parafoil have? Fly Market Ron Lindner 636/677-3029 Guatemala Mike Dallmer, Director at Large tion participants to Ocean Shores Rick Kinnaird 7204 Oakley Street, Philadelphia, PA 19111 Mass Ascensions Al Sparling 630/369-9682 Jose Sainz and Scott Skinner 215/722-4092 [email protected] Workshops Deb Lenzen 701/463-2661 Cinema to fill the theater for an Auction Dave Butler 503/524-3315 Introduction to Fighter Kite Flying advanced screening of The Kite Run- Fun, Fact and Follies: About Launching Russ Faulk, Director at Large Sharon Champie nerRosanna. Based Rosanova on the best-selling and Dennis novel, Smith getand ready Keeping to a Museum in the Air 177 W. Vallette Street, Elmhurst, IL 60126 fly at the Cape Henlopen Kite Festival in Delaware. 630/530-8690 [email protected] the film takes an emotional journey Kay Buesing Don’t Make Anything You Don’t Like through Afghanistan’s culture, from Make and Take Cascade Bridle Jose Sainz, Scott Skinner, Cliff Quinn, fighter kite flying through to the Tal- convention management Barry Poulter Ron Gibian, Deb Lenzen Maggie Vohs, Convention Manager iban occupation. Several AKA members Cameo Management Solutions, Inc. were involved with the filming. The Make and Take Fighter Kite Basic Classroom Kite: Sled Building 101 P.O. Box 410, Otis, OR 97368 film opens to the public in November, Steve Bateman Phone: 541/994-4252 Instructor TBA Fax: 541/994-3459 so this is a special opportunity for AKA Web: www.cameomanagement.com members to see it a month early. Tick- Introduction to Fighter Competi- E-mail: [email protected] Make a Miniature Kite Charlie Sotich tion...... Winning Tips and Strategies KITING magazine Steve Bateman Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada stars as “Hassan” and Fighter Kite Sym- Phil Broder, Publisher/Editor Zekiria Ebrahimi stars as “Amir” in The Kite Runner. Judging Handmade Kites: Before the Mailing: 904 Bayview Road, Rio Grande, NJ 08242 posium Phone: 609/465-6575 AKA National Competition E-mail: [email protected] Fighter Kite Com- Judging Handmade Kites: After the Winter issue deadline: October 15 mittee Competition Kiting is published quarterly by the American Kitefliers Spring issue deadline: January 15 Steve Ferrel, Barbara Meyer & Jon Association and distributed free to members. Please Summer issue deadline: April 15 Fly with iQuad: Burkhardt contact the editor for information on submissions, Autumn issue deadline: July 15 Team flying with advertising, and deadlines. Revs Sport Kite Symposium John Barresi Send address changes to Jim Barber [email protected] Kite Aerial Tell Me How: National Kite Month Photography Rick Hawkins Founded in 1964 by Robert M. Ingraham, the American Kitefliers Associa- Brooks Leffler Kitemaking Comprehensives: What do tion is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public in the All Rights Reserved Bray © 2007 DREAMWORKS PICTURES. Phil See it first in Ocean Shores! st the Judges Look For? art, history, technology, and practice of building and flying kites. Team Flying Special October 1 Cliff Quinn, Debbie VonBokern advance Jim Barber screening! Autumn ’07 | Kiting 3 2 Kiting | Autumn ’07 THE PRESIdENT’S PaGE years ago history was made in the kiting world and to Valerie giving the association a copy of the KiteLines 30 set in motion events that changed kiting for genera- mailing list. As the first elected leader of the American tions to come, events that have brought all of us together, Kitefliers Association, President Red Braswell reported that events that were directly responsible for you receiving this the “purpose of the AKA, as stated in the interim bylaws, magazine today. In September 1978 the first Annual Meet- is to advance kiting, its joys and its values, in all nations ing of the American Kitefliers Association was held in Ocean by: sharing avenues of communications among kiters; City, Maryland. promoting kiting as a rewarding form of art, sport, utility The American Kitefliers Association was founded in 1964 and scientific study for all ages; facilitating coordination by Robert “Bob” Ingraham It started simply as a mailing and planning of kiting activities; providing an interna- list distributing information to kite fliers via Kite Tales, the tional educational resource for the development of kiting; quarterly journal of the American Kitefliers Association. For maintaining historic records of kite studies, activities and 12 years Bob was the chief cook and bottle washer of the achievements; and seeking interchange with kite associa- American Kitefliers Association. In 1977 Valerie Govig took tions worldwide.” The wording of our mission statement over the AKA from Bob and started printing KiteLines, a has changed only slightly in 30 years. The essence has never full-featured magazine complete with a color glossy cover. changed — to share the joy of kiting, in all its aspects, with Valerie saw the potential for the “association” and in the the world. maiden issue of KiteLines printed the following: Bob, Valerie and all the members of the AKA who “Many members didn’t realize that Bob did it all; he showed up in Ocean City Maryland in 1978 left us a wonder- was the Association. Since most people are satisfied ful legacy. To date 190 individuals have served on the AKA not to be involved, it was possible, though increasingly board of directors in the last 30 years, including: difficult, for Bob and Hazel to hold the fragile craft Al Hargus 9 years David Gomberg 11 years steady in all winds. Through 12 years we have survived Chuck Sigal 9 years Suzanne Edison 11 years as a group, a nucleus, a community that can now be- Tom McAlister 9 years Kevin Shannon 12 years come responsible for assuring its own future. I believe Betty Hirschmann 10 years Alan Sparling 13 years Bob entrusted me to take over the quarterly because Jon Burkhardt 10 years Richard Dermer 15 years he knew I would care about the organization as much If you add Bob Ingraham’s original 12 years plus his three as about the magazine itself, and years on the AKA Board of Directors, that I would have the general wel- Bob also has 15 years of active service fare of all kiters -manufacturers, to the association. sellers, fliers and enthusiasts alike- Many of the 191 individuals (includ- at heart. I sincerely hope to live up ing Valerie), who have helped shape and to that faith. Bob was also aware guide the association, are still actively that the organization’s chance to involved in the AKA and kiting today. In flourish could be greatest based addition there are thousands of mem- in Baltimore, site of AKA’s largest bers out there who take a part in shap- chapter, the Maryland Kite Society. ing kiting in their local towns and cities. I recognize that I’ve taken on not It is all of these people who have and only a magazine but all the un- do make up the AKA. solved problems of the American We have a legacy to continue, joy Kitefliers Association. With help to share with coming generations. The from everyone, we can, I believe, next annual meeting of the American get it together — incorporate AKA, Kitefliers Association is shaping up in to elect a Board of Directors, shape a fantastic event that will kick-off with our goals.” KiteLines SPRING 1977 Madame President in a rare kiteflying a private preview of The Kite Runner (Vol. 1 No. 1) moment, with Jim Cosca at Wildwood. movie as well as include all the activi- In the Summer 1977 issue of ties that were started at the first An- KiteLines a survey was conducted, revealing AKA members nual Meeting. The AKA Convention is a special time for AKA were indeed interested in seeing the association develop. members, the only event that is just for AKA, just for each As a result of this survey the 1978 KiteLines Spring-Summer of you. I look forward to seeing each of you at this year’s issue announced the first annual AKA meeting. The purpose convention in Ocean Shores, Washington. would include forming a non-profit association with by- Share the joy of kiting. laws, a board of directors and mission statement; as well as sharing some “very good kiteflying together.” P.S. A very special thank Activities at the first Annual Meeting included defining you to .com for the association, a trade show, seminars, competition, fun making KiteLines available flying and the first AKA auction. Thirty years later these on the internet to every- activities still serve as the core for the AKA Convention. one. I encourage all of you to make use of this invaluable In January 1979 the first “Letter from the President” of resource that Kitelife.com has made freely available to the newly incorporated AKA was sent to “members,” thanks everyone.

4 Kiting | Autumn ’07

KITING MAGAZINE- THE KITE RUNNER PV1346 4C SP FINAL ISSUE: FALL ART DUE: AUG 1, 2007 8/1/07 2:00PM RMF

TRIM: 8.5"W x 11"H BLEED: 9.5”W x 12”H LIVE: 8”W x 10.5”H The Sporting Life Empty Spaces In The Sky In the last issue we mistakenly and ways he would improve it. were held to Robert’s Rule of Order, Practice, Practice, Practice by Jim Barber changed Jim West’s name to Jim King. In our kiting world there’s simply took care of contacting the press for KITING apologizes for the error. only one “Charlie.” us and created a budget for SJKF the — Ron Despojado past six years. Jim even tried his hand i, I’m Jim Barber from Team Cut- to turn as one kite instead at sewing at workshops. He also helped H ting Edge, 2005 and 2006 World of three separate kites, and Charlie M’Clary out with many kids kitemaking work- Champions. I’ve received lots of good routines. Often in our first Charlie. George Ham shops. responses and questions from folks year, to make sure everyone No last name was usually needed, George Ham, the “Mayor of the Jim will be greatly missed as he around the country from the original had the same rhythm for turn- one just had to say “Charlie” and the Marina Green” departed this earth in was one of those forces behind the article in the spring issue of Kiting, so ing, we would stand on the kiting world pretty much knew it was June after an extended illness. scenes that made SJKF what it is now. let’s continue on and break down how practice field and I would clap the self-proclaimed KYTE BUM (as his I was flying a Jalbert in the early — Mike Dallmer to have good quality team practices. my hands at a steady rhythm. I license plate stated). Charlie was 1970’s when he approached and asked In our first year together, we tried would call” turn” on one clap, one of the founding members of the if he could “make a kite like that.” I to practice every weekend. In our sec- the next clap signified the ac- San Diego Kite Club back in 1990. He showed it to him and he borrowed it. Henry Clark ond year, we took a couple of months tual turn. We’d do this for sev- held the position of Archivist since the He owned three commercial sewing Henry Clark was a kiter for all kit- off during the winter, and would oc- eral minutes before we even club’s inception. machines and was very good at sewing. ers. He loved making kites, going to casionally skip weekends during the launched a kite to make sure Charlie was a slight man who packed The result was not very good! I kite events and helping others. I first rest of the year. We also put together we all had the same rhythm a gravelly suggested he contact Domina Jalbert, met Henry in 1989. He expressed an our ballet, so we had a new routine to in our heads. As time went yet thun- which he did, and Domina allowed him interest in kites to me one day at work learn. Our third year, we took several by, our timing sped up more derous to make many different kites with the and that got me back into kiting. I months off and mostly practiced every and more until we turned very voice. He uinderstanding that he could not wanted other weekend. We had our timing, we quickly after the call. This may was quite sell his work. Some were very large! to im- able to really do it. Then we would knew our routines (though we did fine- sound tedious, but it is much the char- I spent many an hour in San Fran- press him start working on compulsories, paying tune both routines for France), we just easier to do it on the ground, than it acter of cisco at with my special attention to our lines and our needed to stay sharp. is to fight it with the kites in the air. kiting in the Marina skills and spacing. We would spend an hour at The first year was spent learning The kites you are flying will gener- Southern Green with showed least just hammering on compulsories, timing together, making sure everyone ally decide what style of turn you use Califor- George up with then we’d start working on our free- was using the same type of turn, how (with our Quantum Pros, we were 70% nia. He and his a Peter style routine. By this time, everyone push turn and 30% pull always had late wife, Powell was used to watching their spacing, turn). We used com- an opin- Marion, who stunt pulsories to develop lines, and turning together. As an were always Karen Gustavson ion about kite. He added note, whenever we practiced a timing, spacing, and anything supplying pulled out his Hawaiian Spin Off kite compulsory or the freestyle routine, all turning at exactly kite related. One of my first memories strawberries and showed me how a real stunt kite we always used in and out calls so the same time. of Charlie was at the 1990 California for pass- flew. He handed me the control lines each team member was used to hear- We started our Open Sport Kite Competition. It was ersby and and said to have a go at it. A friendship ing them, and I was used to calling practices at about my very first competition and I was flying his grew from there. Henry was always them. This cut down the chance that 10:00 am, and we so nervous and intimidated by the many kites. helping others. someone would “jump” on the in call always started by just collection of world class fliers that I — Martin P. Dowling During his last illness, I needed and execute a turn before they were having fun, working was shaking like a leaf. I remember 150 sled kite kits. Sick and weak as supposed to, or I would forget to make on new tricks, play- Charlie putting his hand on my shoul- he was, he still cut out the kite skins the in or out call. ing hangman by trying der and building my confidence by Jim Bossong for me. Henry, unknown to me, had Around 1:00 we’d break for lunch, something really hard stating “… now you and I both know It is with heavy heart that I tell also made more kite skins for a re- come back and warm up again with and having each flier that ‘so-and so’ is going to beat you, you that Jim Bossong, age 83, a South cent event in San Antonio. While I compulsories. During a practice, we’d try to repeat it. This right...?” I guess he wanted me to not Jersey Kite Flyers member for twelve was helping children build sled kites try to go through every compulsory warmed us up, had us have any false hopes about competing years, passed away in July. Jim and from Henry’s last effort, Henry was in the book if we could. Then it was all laughing before we against the big guys in my debut. Yes, wife Dot were major supporters of getting closer and closer to death. I time to work on ballet. If we weren’t even started, and we he always had an opinion, sometimes SJKF and helped whenever they could. now know a little bit more about how close to a competition time, we’d use knew nothing else was he just needed to work on his delivery. Jim liked flying sport kites mostly much effort he put into the many head phones for our music, but as we going to be as hard That’s Charlie. but gave kite workshops he did each year. He got closer to comp day, we’d put a as some of the things Just about everything in his life re- all types helped young and old to make over speaker on the field and try to repro- we were just trying. volved around kites. He had designed of kites two thousand kites each year. Henry duce the actual competition setting. Often something from a number of sport kites and fighter a try. He has touched a lot of people in his 76 This helped everyone with competition this time would get kites. Charlie saw himself as a kiting was very years. I know I will miss him and will day jitters, as we’d already practiced incorporated into a expert and made several attempts to instru- not be able to even come close to fill- under the conditions we were about to routine, something market his own kite. If he ever saw a mental ing his shoes. I just hope I can help a face. Once we started ballet practice, that we started out newbie struggling with a new kite he in mak- few new kiters get started in kiting. Rick Wolcott took over the team. The just playing with, would walk over and offer to help. ing sure — Donald Nichols ballet was his; we did not waste time not thinking that we Anytime a new kite was on the kite that SJKF meetings would actually be continued on page 10 field, Charlie would offer his opinion,

6 Kiting | Autumn ’07 Autumn ’07 | Kiting 7 Don’t Call “Out,” Just Honk The Horn 15th Skydance Sakakawea Festival May 26-28, 2007 Garrison, ND learly, a standard size competition field is going photos by Chris Dodson and Deb Lenzen C to present problems for the engineers at Audi. The Audi A5 was recently showcased in “Kite,” a TV ad in which two sports cars steer a stunt kite in the Rollie Mentz plays with Namibian desert. “This is not a trick, all the images Don Murphy’s trilobite. are real,” says Jagoda Becic, Head of Advertising at Audi. “Authenticity,” she says, “was the essential requirement. If it hadn’t been possible to navigate Don Murphy (in black) bridles the kite by car in reality, then we wouldn’t have Mike Gee’s cody as Gee walks implemented the idea.” out the flying line. Audi and Berlin ad agency Heimat came up with the idea of the kite stunt in autumn 2006. Initial tests were carried out with two Audi models towing a stunt kite on an airfield in Bavaria. “That’s when we realized that we could not just start driving and expect the kite to fly straight away,” says Audi film manager Gerhard Kiefer. The production team needed to consider and Hit the brakes, then gun it, and maybe it’ll axle! test speed, wind conditions, the size and material of the stunt kite, the can desert. “No mat- length and thickness ter what we did, the of the control ropes, kite crashed immedi- and find a professional ately — but we didn’t Rene Rustad of Prairie Winds Kite Com pilot. That was Ger- know why,” stated pany gives organizer Deb Lenzen a cake man champion Marcel Kiefer. Nerves were - Mike Shaw’s celebrating the festival’s 15th year. Mehler, whose kite- building because the Mike Shaw’s bird kite double butterfly. crazy parents drove day of the shoot was is over the moon. the cars during the drawing closer and filming. closer. The mystery The team famil- was solved on the iarized themselves evening before filming with local climate began. “It was the conditions by practic- final attempt before ing for three days on darkness fell,” he re- an airfield in Namibia calls. Wind conditions prior to the shoot. in the desert were They discovered that completely differ- what had worked well ent to what they had in Germany did not been during testing work at all in the Afri- in Germany. The wind was very strong and blew from all possible directions, which made it difficult to control the kite. In the end, the prob- lem was resolved by using a stronger tow rope and a heightened speed. The stunt kite stabilized at 70 kilometers per hour. The two Audi A5s got the stunt kite in the air and pulled it behind them for two kilometers. Had it not been for the direc- tor shouting “cut”, the kite would have flown further. The Thor’s Hammer kite, which has a wing- span of four meters, was manufactured by Olaf Frank. It was attached to a specially-constructed tubular support using two 100-meter ropes. The support was then attached to the two A5 coupés. For a video look at how Audi filmed the commercial go to www.youtube.com and search for “making audi kite video.”

Autumn ’07 | Kiting 9 8 Kiting | Autumn ’07 The Sporting Life continued from page 6 arguing with him over where we were supposed to be, or how something was supposed to work; he drew up the ballet, it was in his head, it was his call, as the precision was mine. Also, the setting of the kites was Jerry Cannon’s department; he made all the adjustments, we flew. No arguing. In our ballet, we flew to the music, there are no calls. Actually, over the years I’ve done both, flown ballet to calls and to music. Flying to the Don’t miss a special ad- music is much easier and looks better. When someone is calling, vance screening of The everyone is trying to predict when the call is going to be made, whereas with the music, it is exactly the same every time. Kite Runner, October 1 After many times through it, everyone knows when the beat is in Ocean Shores, WA! coming and it makes it even easier for all kites to turn at the same time. We always ended practice around 4:00 pm, and we’d end it by playing for awhile. Usually chasing each others kites around, trying to see who could drive who into the ground, trying to avoid one kite, and catch another one. Just fun stuff, AKA News Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes Shuffle Board Moving? Changed your address? New In July, director-at-large e-mail? Updating details on an event? Mike Shaw resigned from Now you can send all your updates and the Board of Directors for changes to one address: UpdateAKA@ personal reasons. aka.kite.org. Going Clubbing A Cool Christmas Present Due to limited space, this For an unforgettable holiday gift, or issue doesn’t feature the a great end-of-the-year club award, full list of AKA affiliated kite how about a custom Kiting cover? All clubs. If you’re looking for you need is a digital photo at least 9” info about clubs, you’ll find x 12” and $30, and the AKA can create it on the Regional Resources a one-of-a-kind framed color magazine page of www.aka.kite.org. cover for you. It will feature the Kiting masthead over your photo, as well as any text you choose. Isn’t there a kiter in your life who you think is a covergirl (or boy)? Contact Mel Hickman at xd@ Roger Chewning stars in ending a day of work with a lot of fun and laughs (and occa- aka.kite.org or 800/252-2550 to place “Pirates of the Caribbean: your order today. sional broken parts). Wildwood Nights” If the weather was particularly nasty, or we needed to work on a section of the routine and make changes or we were still learning some parts, then we’d stay indoors. We would go through the routines with stick kites. We practiced with the $35 $68 $101 sticks as close to possible at the same speed that we figured $5 $10 $15 the kites actually flew, always working on our timing and visual- $8 $15 $22 ization. Even with stick practice, we worked on maintaining our spacing, lines, and speed just like we had kites in the air. If we $100 $200 $300 were learning a section of the routine, we videotaped the stick practice so when we went home we could all practice. We did not use practice time on the field learning the routines; that was done on our own time. Now, there’s lots of things we can talk about from here. How to choose kites? Flying staggered or the same length lines, and how long should they be? How to decide who flies in what position, and who calls? There are many more areas that we can talk about in future articles. One of the things that I’d like to do is have you, the readers, send any questions you may have, and we can cover them as a large group so more people may benefit from the discussion. E- mail your questions to [email protected].

Autumn ’07 | Kiting 11 10 Kiting | Autumn ’07 For me, kites are more K-FILES Normand Girard than just kites, they are animated wind sculptures. I am a contempla- tive person, a little lunatic. I observe forms that surround us and stick in my subconscious. When I draw, I let loose with my instinct. This permits me not to think of what I have to draw. The results give interesting forms. Will it fly? This question is answered by the creative process of the work and flying studies. The process is full of surprises. The experience and the manipulation of the passionate kite flyer intervene to finish and adjust the work of art.

Today I have a small collection of one line kites that I love to fly and expose in the sky when I participate in festivals.

discovered kites in 1995 while I was on vacation in North Carolina. I bought my first kite, a stunt kite. This discovery I transformed it self into a passion, so in 1996, I decided to start up a little kite business in Montreal, Vent D’Équinox. At the same moment I started the fabrication of my first stunt kite model, the ino.K In 1997, I participated to my first festival, Rendez- vous Mondial du cerfs-volants in Verdun, Québec, Canada. There I discovered the single line kites with the works of Pierre Fabre, Robert Trépanier, Ron and Sandy Gibian and Mark Ricketts. I was charmed Clockwise from top by their works left: “Alien,” “Lodo,” and a passion “Assymetrique,” started and “Voltage,” untitled grew within me Ohashi, “Octo.” for creation and innovation of single line kites. I have studied architecture so I adore forms. When I cre- ate kites, it’s always the form that comes first. I try to express calm, serenity and peace while using harmony in the minimalist forms that are peaceful to look at. As you may notice the color white is very present on my creations.

Autumn ’07 | Kiting 13 12 Kiting | Autumn ’07 sky and we wowed them.” A hundred Voices From The Vault thousand spectators cheered and Marti 2007 Fighter Kite Richard and Marti Dermer by Patti Gibbons boasts that after that trip Richard photos courtesy of the Dermers “…knows what a rock star feels like.” Some combinations are simply perfect hood kite The smashing trip fuelled their Final Standings together. Take beer and pizza. How dabblers, interest in kites and, “gave us instant can that get any better? I suppose if Richard credibility.” They became “overnight West Coast Mid-States East Coast you’re on the AKA’s mailing list you and Marti experts” and a year later, in 1986, Novice Skills Novice Line Touch Novice Line Touch the Dermers officially joined the AKA 1 Elsie Alves 9 1 Rod Wickenheiser 15 1 Jim Davis 15 might improve the combo by tossing collec- 2 John Hall 13 2 Joe Wells 7 a kite into the mix. If that trio is your tively had and headed to Rhode Island for their Experienced Line Touch 2 Lynn Berry 13 2 Carol Minegram 7 idea of heaven, plan a trip to Okla- second convention. On their returning 1 Felix Durairaj 119 4 John M Arnold 12 4 Charles Stewart 2 a buck’s 2 Darrin Skinner 94 homa to visit Richard and Marti Dermer worth of flight, they met the AKA’s then south- 3 Sharon Champie 82 Novice Skills Experienced Line touch at their pizzeria to admire their kite western regional director. Richard was 4 Aaron Champie 63 1 John Hall 11 1 Andy Selzer 44 dime store 5 Francisco Navarro 40 2 Lynn Berry 8 2 Woody Woods 30 display over a beer and a slice of their kite experi- amused at the hot potato nature of 6 Ken Theilan 20 3 Jeremy Terpening 5 3 Rick Minegram 29 Paradise Pie. ence, get- leadership in the early AKA, especially 7 Paul Duncan 15 3 John M Arnold 5 4 Lisa Willoughby 24 after Al Hargus cajoled him into run- 7 Johnny Hsuing 15 5 Manny Alves 18 Before celebrating 50 years in the ting more 9 Steve Bateman 14 Experienced Line Touch 6 Jeremiah Alves 10 pizza business, high school sweet- air time on ning for that same regional director’s 10 John Gillespie 10 1 Tom Van Bruggen 41 7 Terry McPherson 5 hearts turned college newlyweds Rich- job. Richard accepted and participated 11 Bob Bellchambers 9 2 Carl Anderson 38 7 John Rose 5 recreational 11Woody Woods 9 3 Ken Blain 36 7 Jim Davis 5 ard and Marti Dermer started out in week- in the gradual organization of the 13 Andy Selzer 5 4 Bill Schumacher 31 7 John Smith 5 the red. Broke but hungry for success, club’s administration. Later assum- 13 Brian Johnsen 5 5 Terry McPherson 19 end sail- Experienced Skills ing the top post, Richard and Marti 13 Manny Alves 5 6 Jan Winkel 15 the Stillwater natives ventured into ing trips, 13 Arnold Stellema 5 7 Nelson Borelli 5 1 Woody Woods 15 the restaurant business in their early until 1984 crusade for their organization and are 7 Jeremy Terpening 5 2 Rick Minegram 14 twenties, financing a dream that pizza forever known to twist an arm or two Experienced Skills 7 Doug Isherwood 5 3 Terry McPherson 12 when kites 1 Felix Durairaj 45 4 Andy Selzer 5 would become king on the Oklahoma courted the to grow its membership roster. 2 Sharon Champie 33 Experienced Skills 4 Lisa Willoughby 5 The Dermers at the Tokyo Kite Museum, flanked by Maasaki 4 Manny Alves 5 State University campus. Persistent Dermers. 3 Jay Bell 28 1 Jan Winkel 29 Modegi, Teresa Hill, and Craig Dermer. 3 Francisco Navarro 28 2 Terry McPherson 27 4 Jeremiah Alves 5 visionaries, the hustling couple eked On a brisk 5 Aaron Champie 22 3 Carl Anderson 18 4 Jim Davis 5 through the early lean years and three day a friend showed up in Nashville very naïve.” 6 Darrin Skinner 19 4 Bill Schumacher 17 years later managed a small profit in The wind was light on competition 7 Ken Theilan 5 5 Nelson Borelli 14 nabbed Richard and passed him the 6 Ken Blain 9 a cheeseburger and milkshake kind of lines of a new Skynasaur dual-line kite. day and Richard recalls, “We didn’t world. Ultimately their persistence Richard vividly recalls the power he do worth beans.” In these early days, paid off, and the Hideaway pizza experienced as he grass surfed across stunt competition rules were still in restaurant flourished, feeding genera- the field that day. “We couldn’t hold their infancy, but the heavy Skynasaur tions of college students. Their once on to it in that kind of wind. IT WAS wasn’t as agile as lighter kites that small 12-seat restaurant grew into a INCREDIBLE!” Richard was hooked and racked up the points that day. Empty- chain crowned by a 300-seat anchor had his own stunt kite by nightfall. handed in the trophy department, the restaurant touting nation-wide express About four months later he and three Dermers certainly don’t look back on delivery service. The business is a others from Stillwater entered a radio that trip with long faces. Marti revels campus institution. station’s kite flying competition and in those memories, “We were wowed The hardworking Dermers grew the Skynasaur-packing team finished by all the kites, especially the one of their business over the years but didn’t 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th. They were thrilled a kind kites that made us realize kiting spend all their time in the kitchen. and called the Skynasaur Company to is a hobby sport.” Richard recalls, “We Kite strings eventually untied the rave about their product and broadcast were just wandering around wide-eyed apron strings and pulled them into their sweeping victory. The company the whole time. We didn’t know any- the world of organized kiting. Child- suits were impressed and invited them body.” Not knowing anyone didn’t stop to represent their firm the two from mingling. That trip they at the AKA’s upcoming met late Seattle architect Dave Check- The Dermer’s grew to love kites national convention in ley and learned that he was organizing but it’s the people they’ve met kiting Nashville. Headquarters a kite excursion to China. Richard, on that they adore. Marti likes looking picked up the tab, the the lookout for a memorable 25th an- “…other adults in the eyes and say- group just needed to niversary gift, asked Marti if she’d be ing ‘yeah I flew kites this weekend, it get themselves to Ten- interested in celebrating their silver was fun’” and having them nod back nessee for the festivi- jubilee flying kites at a festival in in agreement. Similarly, Richard has ties. China and Marti jumped at the oppor- found that, “The real beauty of kite At the time, the Derm- tunity. flying as a hobby is the people involved ers had “…no idea that The two traveled to the Orient because any adult who freely admits there was such a thing and Richard awed the crowds flying his to doing something as essentially as the American Kite- American stunt kites. “Of course (the frivolous as flying a kite tends to be a fliers Association and Chinese) invented the kite thousands pretty well adjusted, happy goodtime national conventions.” of years ago but I had a stack of 24 individual. You get a whole bunch of us Marti confesses, “We Skynasaurs with 60-foot tails on each together and it’s a party—every week- kite that made a glorious sight in the end.”

Autumn ’07 | Kiting 15 14 Kiting | Autumn ’07 AKA sanctioned events E-mail your answer (25 EVENT CaLENdaR are listed in BOLD words or less, please) to September 8-9 September 16 October 1-6 [email protected], or Aerial Inquiry post it to the KiteTalk Fo- New York Kite Festival DeKalb Kite Festival 30th AKA Convention rum, by November 1. We’ll Jacob Riis Park Northern Illinois University Ocean Shores, WA AI feature your answers in the Queens, NY DeKalb Area CVB Maggie Vohs What kite is next issue, and ask a new Beatrix Pelton 877/DeKalb1 541/994 4252 question. 732/822-4884 ALWAYS in your Seal Beach Kite Festival October 5-6 Next issue’s question is, Lewis & Clark Exposition Seal Beach, CA bag? Idaho State Kite Festival “What’s on your holiday Seaside, OR Kim Love ISU Bartz Field wish list?” Keli & Dave Colbert 562/596-7661 Pocatello, ID 360/635-5629 Micki Kawakami For me it’s a rokkaku. Whether when winds are so light noth- September 20-23 208/234-1654 ing else goes up, or so strong you dare put nothing else up, a September 15 SunFest rok can be quickly tuned to fly. Portland Family Kite Fest Ocean City, MD October 13-14 Randy Fox Blue Lake Park Jay Knerr 29th Fall Kite Festival Fairview,OR 410/289-7855 D River Wayside It has to be a fighter kite for me! I have several and can fly them in Mike Hale www.kiteloft.com Lincoln City, OR 1-10 mph winds. Too many times I have been to kite events where 503/282-1214 Maggie Conrad there is little of no wind, and I am able to still fly!!! Always pack a September 22 541/996-1274 November 1-20 fighter in my suitcase too on trips! KITEfest Santa Cruz Kite Festival Darfur Kite Festival George Weber Tulsa, OK Santa Cruz, CA October 13-24 Darfur, Chad Larry Stiles Tracy Erzin Jeddah Int’l Kite Festival www.kitegang.org/darfur I also always have my Rok. Flies in a wide variety of winds and well 918/630-9334 925-228-1983 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia behaved. www.baskl.org Fawaz Shahid Ali November 16-18 Vaino Raun [email protected] Camas Festival I can’t make up my mind so I take a Rok and a Flow Form. September 22-23 0096626575666 www.nwskl.org Whidbey Island Kite Fest Jerry Houk Coupeville, WA October 20-21 For me, it’s the double parasled. It may be the 5’ version for high Marjorie Taylor Cape Town Int’l Kite Festival winds, or the 6’ version to lift line laundry, or the 9’ version to really 360/678-9358 Cape Town, South Africa put on a show, but I don’t leave home without one or more shoved in Shameemah Wallace the bags. September 27-30 [email protected] Barbara Meyer Niagara Int’l Kite Festival +27 21 447 9040 Niagara Falls, NY I always have my half-size PL Pilot kite in the trunk. Except when it Meg Albers October 27-28 is in the air. 716/881-4436 Sunset Flyers Fall Festival Dave Ellis Sand Key Park Sept. 29 - October 2 Clearwater, FL Israel Int’l Kite Festival Sherri Pigeon Herzliya, Israel 727/319-3431 FLYSpOTS Check the event Ralph Resnik http://Sunsetflyers.com Delta Park, Portland, OR calendar at [email protected] by John Barresi www.aka.kite.org +972.52.2510276 For the past 25 years, one place has stood out for inland flying in for updated info! Oregon... West Delta Park in Portland. Long used by team Cyborg and Portland residents, this field offers AKA sanctioning is available for kite events within the United States and Canada. AKA sanctioning means that AKA members are involved in the ad- lots of room, all grass, and parking right up next to the field. On some ministration of the event, that the AKA endorses and approves the event and that those involved in staging and supervising the event qualify for limited days, the gates are left open and you can actually drive out onto the coverage under the AKA’s liability insurance policy. field itself. Or, if you’re visiting and don’t have a car with you, the Coverage limits: local and inexpensive light rail system (MAX) takes you right to the • $1,000,000 per occurrence ($100,000 for non-member claimants) • Fire legal liability: $300,000 Delta Park stop, a whopping 400 feet or so from where you’d unroll • Traction kiting activities such as, but not limited to, kite surfing, buggying, and kite skiing are excluded from coverage. your lines and fly. The best wind direction is generally coming from the AKA sanctioning is awarded for a kite event of a specific date and time or, through the club affiliation fee, for recurring club events for which the south or northeast. Chair and activities remain constant. A standard certificate of coverage is available upon request. Just this year, the Northwest Sport Kite Championships (www. Sanctioning is automatically nullified by an illegal action by the sponsor or Chair as regards the sanctioned event. News releases or announcements may not indicate that AKA approves or endorses an event unless and until sanctioning has been granted in writing. nwskc.net) moved to this field, securing their names in the history AKA strongly recommends that events have participants sign a waiver and release of liability. It will not affect the level of coverage, but will add books as the first major festival ever to be held there. Winds do vary another layer of protection for event organizers and participants. quite a bit, but there is enough to fly on most days, and it’s as good as AKA sanctioning costs $75. Find additional information at www.aka.kite.org/sanction.shtml or by calling 800/AKA-2550. you’ll find anywhere in inland Oregon.

Autumn ’07 Kiting 17 16 Kiting | Autumn ’07 | Stores in BOLD sell Kiting! Coolest Toys On Earth Wind Dancer Unlimited Family Fun Kites Cutting Edge Kites Unique Flying Objects 314 Main Street 3905 Hwy 101, #D-42 1419 N. Plaza Drive 676 Ocean Shores Bl. NW 2022 Washington Street MALASKAEmBERWind Wizard MGUAMERCHaMARYLANDNTS NEW JERSEY Milford, OH 45150 Gearhart, OR 97138 Granbury, TX 76049 Ocean Shores, WA 98569 Two Rivers, WI 54241 513/831-8697 503/738-5801 817/573-5483 360/289-0667 866/UFO-4FUN 771 Myrna Drive Chill Out The Kite Loft Cape May Beach and Kite Shop Northwind Kites www.coolesttoysonearth.com www.familyfunkites.com www.cuttingedgekites.com www.uniqueflyingobjects.com 320 W. Fifth Ave, #156 Port Hueneme, CA 93041 Unit 36 Chamorro Village 511 Boardwalk 1218 Route 109 805/271-4747 Agana, GU 96932 Ocean City, MD 21842 Cape May, NJ 08204 PENNSYLVANIA Anchorage, AK 99501 Flaggs U.S.A. Fly It Port A Flying Dragon Kites www.windwizard.com 671/472-4867 410/289-7855 609/898-2022 Air Affairs 888/291-4386 2088 Raeburn Avenue 405 Cut Off Road 7487 Leeside Drive AUSTRALIA www.chillout-guam.com www.kiteloft.com www.capemaykites.com 107 Chelsea Road www.alaskites.com Cincinnati, OH 45014 Port Aransas, TX 78373 Blaine, WA 98320 Kitepower Australia Wonders of the Wind Hatboro, PA 19040 513/939-3524 512/749-4190 360/933-4820 126 Beach Street 14821 Cheyenne Road Cobra Kites 215/672-1470 MASSACHUSETTS [email protected] www.flyingdragonkites.com Coogee, Sydney NSW 2034 ARIZONA Apple Valley, CA 92307 IDAHO 2608 Rt. 37E Sunrise Kites Fun with Wind New Tech Kites 293 157894 Two Links Enterprises 760/617-8293 Toms River, NJ 08753 B and C Creations 460 Cleveland Street 360 Merrimack Street Just Add Wind Kites 7208 McNeil Drive, #207 Four Winds Kite Shop www.kitepower.com.au 5630 East Roundup Street www.wondersofthewind.com 732/270-2112 215 Kerrick Road Idaho Falls, ID 83401 BLD #9, 2nd Floor 10019 Washington Church Rd. Austin, TX 78729 1911 Broadway Apache Jnct., AZ 85219 www.cobrakites.com Shillington, PA 19607 208/524-5551 Lawrence, MA 01843 Miamisburg, OH 45342 512/250-0485 Everett, WA 98201 Kitepower Australia 480/390-7461 610/796-1830 COLORADO [email protected] 866/37K-ITES 937/572-3252 www.newtechkites.com 425/339-9334 302 Grand Parade [email protected] Lighten Up Kites www.bandccreations.com Common Thread Kites www.funwithwind.com [email protected] www.fourwindskites.com Sans Souci 238 96th Street P. O. Box 2401 Pat ‘n Eddie’z Sydney, NSW 2219 Stone Harbor, NJ 08247 Burlesque Kites ARKANSAS Breckenridge, CO 80424 ILLINOIS Sea Side Kites The Potter House 8804 Colonial Drive Gasworks Park Kite Shop +61 02-95296894 Air Time Kites 800/679-5747 1670 Limeport Pike KaleidoKites 303/913-1749 293 Nantasket Avenue 108 South Main Street Austin, TX 78758 3420 Stone Way North 1719A Worden Avenue www.lightenuponline.com Coopersberg, PA 18036 1-C Spring Street www.commonthreadkites.com Hull, MA 02045 Celina, OH 45822 512/837-4371 Seattle, WA 98103 Kitepower Australia Alton, IL 62002 610/965-0867 Eureka Springs, AR 72632 781/925-3277 [email protected] www.patneddiez.com 206/633-4780 386 La Trobe Tce 618/465-3448 www.kitesonconsignment.com 888/836-6251 Into The Wind www.SeaSideKites.com NEW MEXICO www.goodwindkites.com Geelong VIC 3220 [email protected] [email protected] 1408 Pearl Street Dust Devil Aerial Toys What’s Up Rainbows 4 Sail +61 03-52295899 Celtic Winds Boulder, CO 80302 11200 Montgomery NE, #31 4500 Chagrin River Road 980 Gibb Rd. Great Winds Kite Company Chicago Kite/Kite Harbor MICHIGAN 36 W. North Street #1 800/541-0314 Chagrin Falls, OH 44022 Waxahachie, Texas 75167 312 N. 83rd Street Kite Lady CALIFORNIA 5445 N. Harlem Air-Fun Kites Albuquerque, NM 87111 Bethlehem, PA 18018 www.intothewind.com 440/247-4222 972/923-0119 Seattle, WA 98103 P. O. Box 758, Candy & Kites Chicago, IL 60656 167 S. Hancock Street [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.rainbows4sailkites.com www.greatwinds.com Willunga, SA 5172 1415 Coast Highway Sky Scraper Kites 773/467-1428 Pentwater, MI 49449 885-562681 PO Box 8, www.chicagokite.com 888/AIR-FUN1 Katika’s Casa KitesRUs 3198 N. Speer Blvd. Windchasers Kites Hi-Flyers www.kitelady.com.au Bodega Bay, CA 94923 Denver, CO 80211 www.air-fun.com 1919 Old Town Road, NW OKLAHOMA 1482 River Road 1514 Padre Blvd. 55 Main Street 707/875-3777 303/893-2933 Windfall Farm Albuquerque, NM 87104 Kinetic Kites New Hope, PA 18938 South Padre Island, TX 78597 Pacific Beach, WA 98571 www.candyandkites.com 6370 US Hwy 20 West Kiteman Jack’s 505/242-2111 6313 Willow Ridge 215/862-6272 CANADA 956/761-7028 360/276-8377 Galena, IL 61036-6041 Newman Street at The Pier www.katikascasa.com Bethany, OK 73008 www.kitesrus.com Boreal Kites/Gothic Design CONNECTICUT www.kiteshop.com [email protected] Coastalkites.com East Tawas, MI 48730 405/722-KITE 45960 Sparta Line Coriolis Kites 815/776-9075 877/544-KITE www.velocity-sports.com 989/362-4615 www.kinetickites.com Kite Studio Saint Thomas, ON N5P 3S8 59 Route 148 NEW YORK World Wind Kites Mariah Kites Windsports & Hobbies www.coastalkites.com [email protected] 5555 Hamilton Blvd. 519/775-2527 Killingsworth, CT 06419 Cabin Fever 7208 McNeil Drive #204 350 SE Pioneer Avenue #103 Wescosville, PA 18106 [email protected] 860/575-5745 345 Little East Neck road OREGON Austin, TX 78729 Oak Harbor, WA 98277 Farmer’s Kites INDIANA Kites & Fun Things 610/395-3560 www.coriolis.cc West Babylon, NY 11704 Catch The Wind – Lincoln City (800) 648-8680 360/240-8601 1108 Front Street Play With The Wind 1049 S. Main Street www.kitebuilder.com Boutique au Gre du Vent Morro Bay, CA 93442 17933 Williamsburg Drive Plymouth, MI 48170 631/893-9390 240 SE Highway 101 512/279-8454 www.mariahkites.com Place du Marche, LaCote PO Box 973 www.ikite.com 805/772-0133 FLORIDA Granger, IN 46530 734/454-3760 SETI Kites L’Etang-du-Nord Wonder Works Lincoln City, OR 97367 Ocean Kites [email protected] Grasping The Wind 574/315-6231 www.skyburner.com 21 Shirley Road Iles de la Madelaine, QC G4T 2W1 711 Harvest Drive 541/994-9500 511 Pacific Avenue South 819-1 E. Strawbridge Avenue [email protected] Narberth, PA 19072 VIRGINIA 418/986-5069 Rochester, NY 14626 www.catchthewind.com Long Beach, WA 98631 Gone With the Wind Kites Melbourne, FL 32901 Tropical Treasures 610/745-9484 Hang-em High Fabrics www.greduvent.com 585/227-5497 360/642-2229 530/894-2064 321/676-6926 34190 S. Gratiot www.setikites.com 1420 Yale Avenue IOWA www.goodthingsfly.com Columbia River Kites www.gwtw-kites.com www.graspingthewind.com Clinton Township, MI 48035 Richmond, VA 23224 Boutiques Coriolis Midwest Kites 270 NE 2nd Ocean Shores Kites 586/791-6595 Windstar Kites 804/233-6155 2021 Marie-Victorin 3566 Heatherton Drive Irrigon, OR 97844 172 W. Chance A La Mer Highline Kites Of Berkeley Hawaiian Kiteworks [email protected] NORTH CAROLINA 203 Ridgeway Drive www.citystar.com/ Varennes, QC J3X 1R3 Davenport, IA 52804 541/922-5739 Ocean Shores, WA 98569 6809 Del Monte Avenue 205 Hwy A1A, #310 Blowing In The Wind Baden, PA 15005-2423 hang-em-high 514/827-3163 563/823-8337 360/289-4103 Richmond View, CA 94805 Satellite Beach, FL 32937 312 Nutt Street 724/869-4488 www.coriolis.cc www.midwestkites.com MISSOURI Elmer’s Flag & Banner, Kites Too! [email protected] 510/235-5483 407/363-9050 Wilmington, NC 28401 www.windstarkites.com Flying High With Charon 1332 NE Broadway HQ Kites and Designs USA (formerly www.HighLineKites.com www.hawaiiankiteworks.com 910/763-1730 Nova Designs) Canadian Wind Rider 5633 Carlton Drive Portland, OR 97232 Pizazz Kiteworks KANSAS 317 Great Bridge Blvd, Suite C 26 Elfindale Crescent Kansas Kite Connection St. Louis, MO 63049 800/547-8795 P. O. Box 266 Into The Blue Kites Incorporated Blowing In The Wind Rhode Island Chesapeake, VA 23320 North York, ON M2J 1B5 1806 16th Street 636/376-6055 www.kitestoo.com Kitt Kites Coupeville, WA 98239 11101 S.R. 1 611 Ponte Vedra Lakes Bl. #2001 222 Causeway Drive 757/819-7951 416/497-9463 Great Bend, KS 67530-4110 [email protected] 28 Brown Street 360/678-6266 Pt. Reyes Station, CA 94956 Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082 Wrightsville Beach, NC 28480 www.hq-kites-usa.com www.canadianwindrider.com 415/663-1147 316/792-6549 Gomberg Kite Productions Int’l. Narragansett, RI 02882 www.pizazzkites.com 904/280-2226 Wind Wizards 910/509-9989 www.into-theblue.com P.O. Box 113 401/726-1626 www.kitesinc.com 673 State Hwy 165 www.blowinginthewind.com Jackite, Inc. Great Canadian Kite Company Wind Heaven Neotsu, OR 97364 www.kittkites.com The Kite Shoppe Building #30, Suite 4 2868 W. Landing Rd. 4517 Harvest Green Kite Flite Of San Diego 10939 East Harry 541/996-3083 2727 E. Evergreen Blvd, #D Kitesville USA South Branson, MO 65616 Cape Fear Virginia Beach, VA 23456 Taber, AB T1G 1A1 Seaport Village Wichita, KS 67207 www.gombergkites.com Vancouver, WA 98661 17477 Gulf Boulevard 417/334-4463 6402 E. Oak Island Drive SOUTH CAROLINA 877522-5483 877/382-3956 San Diego, CA 92101 877/604-WIND 866/ROK-KAKU Redington Shores, FL 33708 www.windwizards.com Oak Island, NC 28465 Kites Fly’n Hi www.jackite.com www.canadiankitecompany.com 619/234-KITE www.windheaven.com Inland Kites www.thekiteshoppe.com 800/445-6902 910/201-4002 The Rainbow Market www.kiteflitesd.com 499 Willamette Street www.kitesville.com www.capefearkiteboarding.com 40 N. Market Street Life’s A Breeze Kites Le Gite Du Cerf Volant Wind Wizards MONTANA Grants Pass, OR 97526 Charleston, SC 29401 2125 Staples Mill Road WISCONSIN 935 Rte De La Seigneurie Lou Lassabatere – 33525 W. 143rd Street Wagntale Kites 541/476-8299 Kite World Home Toys Company 843/577-3529 Richmond, VA 23230 Aerial Stunt Kites Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies Gardner, KS 66030 P. O. Box 365 [email protected] Kiting Accessories 109 S. Miramar Ave., Hwy A1A 312 Culbreth Avenue 804/358-7665 121 Wrigley Drive PQ G0R 4E0 913/856-5177 Choteau, MT 59422 73-315 Country Club Dr. #193 Indialantic, FL 32903 Thomasville, NC 27360 [email protected] Lake Geneva, WI 53147 418/354-2182 408/466-5483 kitelife.com Palm Desert, CA 92260 800/431-5170 www.windwizards.com 336/420-2032 TENNESSEE 262/249-0631 www.legiteducerfvolant.ca www.wagntalekites.com 1236 N. Killingsworth Street, #3 East Tennessee Kites 760/776-5807 www.kiteworld.com www.hometoysco.com Sky Jewels www.askites.com Portland, OR 97217 206 Woodman Street Louisiana 2906 Hideaway Road Old City Kites Kitty Hawk Kites of Florida 503/890-0280 Athens, TN 37303 JAPAN MeauxJo Kites NEBRASKA Kites Unlimited - Atlantic Beach Fairfax, VA 22031 Fish Creek Kite Company AGAIN 1017 Front Street, Suite B 1450 Miracle Strip Pkwy #101 www.kitelife.com 423745-2688 3425 Robert Street Breeze Chasers Online Kites Atlantic Station Shopping Center 703/280-5007 3903 Highway 42 Joyfull Tsurumai 1F Sacramento, CA 95814 Fort Walton Beach, FL 32548 402/477-0794 PO Box 2278 www.etkites.com Fish Creek, WI 54212 Zachary, LA 70791 Ocean Kites 3-14-16 Chiyoda Naka Ku 915/446-7575 850/796-0102 www.breezechasers.com Atlantic Beach, NC 28512 920/868-3769 300 Broadway Nagoya, Achi 460-0012 www.kitesatoldcity.com [email protected] 225-654-5180 252/247-7011 WASHINGTON www.fishcreekkites.com Seaside, OR 97138 TEXAS 7 Feathers Kites 52-339-3830 www.meauxjokites.com Picture Pretty Kites www.kitesunlimitednc.com 503/717-0796 About Kites 2504 E. 25th Street www.agagas.co.jp/again Second Wind Stuff 4 U 6512 N. 44th Street Gift of Wings Omaha, NE 68112 11615 Sagevale Lane Vancouver, WA 98661 1805 Hwy 1 993 NW 106th Avenue Circle Kitty Hawk Kites 9955 W. St. Martins Road MAINE 877/453-4970 Phantom Star Design Houston, TX 77089 360/213-7245 Bodega Bay, CA, 94923 Miami, FL 33172 Cricket’s Corner PO Box 1839 Franklin, WI 53132 NETHERLANDS www.pictureprettykites.com 2818 SE 23rd Drive #C-3 713/305-6777 www.7featherskites.com 707/875-WIND 786/325-7390 Nags Head, NC 27959 414/425-8002 Vliegersenco 41 Shore Road Lincoln City, OR 97367 [email protected] [email protected] http://stores.ebay.com/Stuff-x-U Ogunquit, ME 03907 NEVADA 800/334-4777 www.giftofwings.com veenweg 34-36 541/994-7556 Above It All Kites 207/646-2261 A Wind Of Change www.kittyhawk.com Deventer OV 7416BC www.phantomstardesign.com B & S Kites 312 Pacific Avenue South Sport Kites International [email protected] 3870 West Russell Road Gift of Wings - Veterans Park (570) 607946 GEORGIA 2812 Padre Blvd., Ste. B Long Beach, WA 98631 20505 Yorba Linda Blvd. #800 Las Vegas, NV 89118 1500 N. Lincoln Memorial Drive www.vliegersenco.nl Coastal Wind Sports OHIO Wind Dancer Unlimited South Padre Island, TX 78597 360/642-3541 Yorba Linda, CA 92886 Maine Discovery Museum 702/736-1476 Milwaukee, WI 53202 247 Wellington Place Amoka Windsurfing Kites 19 Broadway 956/761-1248 www.aboveitallkites.com 714/970-2833 74 Main Street www.awindofchange.com 414/273-5483 Brunswick, GA 31523 4703 Lose Road Seaside, OR 97138 www.bskites.com SCOTLAND [email protected] Bangor, ME 04401 912/265-1149 Monclova, OH 43542 503/717-0138 AKA Store Gentles Limited 207/262-7200 Windpower Sports GuildWorks Studio www.coastalwindsports.com 419/878-6009 Buck-N-Blue Outdoors P. O. Box 1614 11 Corbiehill Avenue Up, Up, & Away Kites www.maindiscoverymuseum.org 3111 S. Valley View #A-1116 2322 Atwood Avenue 1 www.amoka.com Wind Dancer Unlimited PO Box 2121 Walla Walla, WA 99362 Edinburgh, EH4 5DT 139 /2 Main Street Las Vegas, NV 89102 Madison, WI 53704 219 N. Hemlock #A Alvin, TX 77512-2121 800/AKA-2550 +44 131-3365472 Seal Beach, CA 90740 702/220-4340 608/49-2725 Cannon Beach, OR 97110 713/393-1100 [email protected] [email protected] 562/596-7661 www.windpowersports.com www.guildworks.com www.upupandawaykites.com 503/436-8612 www.jbrau.com/bnb-01.html

Autumn ’07 | Kiting 19 18 Kiting | Autumn ’07 Fightin’ Words by Tom Brailey Building Your Show by David Gomberg hose of us who have been around T for years have always taken the time to he secret to a great kite each day. And you don’t always fly introduce fighter kites to the new and curi- T show is really no secret at on the same field. So when you start ous, but have we forgotten the true roots of all. But it does require a bit of building a program, design it to work the sport? I was reminded of that myself when advanced planning. Here are in a variety of conditions. If you stick I found a little gem of a book at a local garage a few ideas to keep in mind as with a common color theme, you can sale. Like most people in kiting, I feel a need to you build your kite arsenal and easily mix, match, or substitute piec- snap up any book that relates to kiting in gen- develop your own kite identity. es as conditions change. Add laundry eral. While this book, A Golden Handbook Guide to the line when the wind comes up, to Kites, was written in 1971, it gives you an Think Long Term or anchor several lifters with differ- honest definition of fighter kites that still rings Occasionally I get e-mails from ent pieces in lighter breezes. Build true today. people concerned that they a line art program with a variety of Author Wyatt Bummit uses basic language in can’t afford to build a first class complimentary shapes and sizes. his description of all types of kites. This could kite show. My answer is that Make some rotate while other fly be the best way of explaining what many think the key to creating a show is static. The point is to fly a show that of as a very complex subject: not spending a lot of money, you can vary. Start with one or two Do not be fooled by the fighter kites of Ma- but rather, not wasting a lot of money. Some kites have a fun pieces and add to the collection. laya or India. It is not as simple as it appears. limited life span. Some are faddish. Some are useful only Also be prepared for different fields. A Sutton 252 with Actually, it is a sophisticated combination of in very limited flying conditions. And some, quite candidly, a 100’ streamer looks great on a big beach. But on a smaller lines, stresses, and subtle variations. Really aren’t made well enough to last long. If you are building a field bordered with trees or fences, that tail is an accident good fighter kites are made by profession- Felix Durairaj cements his show, build it with pieces that will last and that you enjoy looking to happen. So pack a drogue as well. That way you als who build into them clever refinements insurmountable lead in the flying. can still put your kite that are not obvious. The true fighter kite is BASKL fighter standings. in the air when there superfically a flat kite, but it flies without Coordinate isn’t room for longer a tail, which would be an impediment. The of you will find something that will fill your own special You can fly kites, tubes and streamers. fighter kite depends on it own exquisite balance and needs and skill levels. Kite plans for the beginner and first or you can fly a the skill of its flier to keep it in the air and under time kite builder, with a list of needed supplies, can be show. The differ- Don’t Forget the control. Structurally, the fighter kite is a two-stick- found on several sites. Some of these sites will also have a ence is that in a Ground Show er, with a sturdy keel and a delicately flexed spar. place where some of the big name fliers will sell some of show, the pieces A fully integrated show Fighter kites are generally 14 to 18 inches on a side. If their wares, if you’re not into making your own kites quite all fit together includes lifters up made larger they tend to lose some of their swift, darting yet. into a harmonized high, “liftees’’ lower quality. It’s an interesting fact; for all sorts of technical For those of us that have been around for awhile, this program. Perhaps on the line, laundry, reasons, some kite designs (such as the India fighter) resist article is for you too. It was written to refresh your memory the kites have a and an integrated enlargement. and bring into focus that the past is really today, just the common color. ground program. Does this sound a little bit technical and stuffy? Really verbiage has changed. We all tend to feel that if we make a Perhaps they have Your ground show can you just need to read between the lines. The article then change in a design and it flies just a bit better, then we’ve similar shapes. Or include any of the goes into the building techniques of the Seventies. We now re-invented the fighter kite. Well, later we just smile that maybe they have “Three B’s”: bols, have the more advanced materials: ripstop, carbon fiber, sheepish smile as we find our nemesis on the competi- a cohesive theme: bouncers, or banners. pre-formed bamboo, two-sided tape and such to help us tion field has recently re-invented it too. Remember all fish, animals, pa- Even when the wind is in our construction. For those of you that have an interest the questions you had in the beginning? Your willingness to triotic, movement light, a banner show in getting into this little corner of kiting, I’ll pass on one share that knowledge and some of your secrets will only or multiples of the same piece. If the pieces you buy fit still delights. And socks or streamers on a pole are just as word of advice. Do not be afraid to ask that guy or gal out help the sport continue to grow. See you on the field some- together in the sky, you can more easily maximize your in- much fun as those hanging from a kite. Some kiters focus there flying in the park or on the beach a few of the ques- where. vestment. And a coordinated show looks bigger than several on banners and pole-supported décor. Just remember to tions that are swirling around in your independent pieces. coordinate colors and sizes, and you can keep adding to mind. The one great thing about the collection little-by-little until one day you discover you fighter kite people is their willing- Invest in Dependable Lifters have an enormous show. ness to lend a hand to the newbies. Almost any good show will need We were all new at one time or an- sky anchors. They support larger Fly With Friends other, and we can identify with you show kites or carry laundry. So The biggest and best shows evolve and the fustrations of why I can’t get make sure you have a kite you can when friends get together to combine this darn thing to fly. depend on. Get the largest you resources. You don’t need to spend a While most have access to the are comfortable flying (and paying huge amount to be a part of a great Internet nowdays, many still need for). And when you are ready, add performance. So rather than try- a source to begin their search for another. Make it a similar color but ing to out-do the local kiters, think knowledge. I’d like to tell you that a different size. That way, you are about working together. Developing a places like Fighter Kite Central, staying flexible. coordinated theme with your kite pals Cyber Fighter and others will give helps. You’ll have more fun, learn you links to fighter kite websites that Stay Flexible from each other, and have help pack- will keep you busy for months. Each The wind doesn’t blow the same ing up at the end of the day.

Autumn ’07 | Kiting 21 20 Kiting | Autumn ’07 KITE PLaN Jon Burkhardt’s MKS Pennants all measurements in inches ou might have seen these banners if you’ve been anywhere the Maryland YKite Society was flying. Jon Burkhardt and Drake Smith taught this design at the 2007 MKS Retreat. These simple banners don’t require anything fancy. There are no French seams or hems. Just pick four colors of fabric, cut out the pieces according to the diagram, overlap each piece slightly, and use a zig-zag stitch to join them together. (Cut the checkerboard pieces slightly large, then trim them down after sewing them together.) After you’ve added edge binding, pick out four colors of ribbon to match the fabric. Cut lengths of ribbon as shown in the diagram. Finally, cut a dacron sleeve. As you sew the sleeve closed, insert the ends of the rib- bons and banners, making sure they’re in far enough to catch the stitches as you sew. Almost any type of pole will work for these pennants. Burkhardt uses a ferruled pole, others use telescoping banner poles. Whatever you choose, you’ll find that the pennants tend to blow off the top of the pole. If you sew a small loop into the bottom of the sleeve, you can attach a keeper line or zip-tie to hold the pennant on the pole. If you’re making more than one pennant, try using the same colors for different pieces of the banner. You’ll wind up with a set of banners that are similar looking, but slightly different.

graphics by Andy Burchfield

22 Kiting | Autumn ‘07 Autumn ’07 | Kiting 23 KAPTIONS Brad Barnes hotography and kiting have long been hobbies of mine, in fact since about the age A Rhode P of six or seven. As part of some Cub Scout projects, I built my own box kites and dia- mond kites using wooden dowels and newspaper and that infamous cotton that always broke sooner rather than later. Island Rave A few years ago, a friend and I attended the annual Berkeley Kite Festival. This re- ignited my interest in kiting. We had by Kyle Lemieux no idea about the variety of kites until we attended the festival. A while later I read an article in Smith- sonian about . This article was inspirational to me because it offered a way to merge a life-long love of photography with that of a newly rekindled interesting in kiting. apphire skies and steady breezes were the order of the day for the New- My Web search lead me to an port Kite Festival. Kyle Lemieux of Jamestown Kites, along with the help S online discussion forum about KAP of Forrest Cary of Kite Faire Productions, had something for everyone at the and the timing was perfect for me to July weekend festival at beautiful Brenton Point State Park in Newport, RI. Pacific Shores Center, attend KAPiCA-06 in Pacific Grove, California, organized by Brooks Lef- Joe “Photo” Perron started the day with his three kite routine cho- Redwood City, CA fler and Peter Bults. KAPiCA/06 was my first exposure to many of the reographed to the National Anthem, followed by a mass ascension of red, key highly-talented and dedicated individuals who engage not only in KAP, but also in the design, engineering, workman- white and blue kites. The crowds were “blown away” by dual-line sport ship, and implementation of using the tools and techniques they employed to create KAP gear. This included the design of kite ballet routines performed by Patty Tinkham, Shawn Tinkham, and Ron electronics to control KAP sessions automatically, the use of an airborne Graziano. Art St. Pierre and Beth Bowen flew a quad line pairs ballet, and KAP Web server that Santa Cruz cliffs also formed Team Quad Squad with Steve Santos and Dave Simpson. transmitted KAP Fighter kite demonstrations were ably performed by our own Region One images through the Director Bob” Woody” Woods along with Manny Alves, his son Jeremiah, and Web, and the highly Steve Letourneau. technical designs Our three area clubs — ConnectiKIT- of rigs and kites for ERS, KONE and NYKE — were well rep- special purposes. resented on the field. Rok battles and Also particularly Running of the Bols were organized noteworthy were by Glenn Davison of KONE, and were the skills and work- loads of fun for everyone. Ray Gruzas manship involved in of the ConnectiKITERS had center field building and modify- to launch his giant Manta Ray to the Salt pond, Redwood City, CA ing kites. amazement of the crowd. More mass Being a total newcomer to KAP, I had little to contribute during ascensions of box kites and hand made KAPiCA/06, but it inspired me to address a need to help other newcomers like myself to learn about KAP by starting a kites finished off the day. Jargon List on Wicherd Knetemann’s KAPwiki site. KAP heavily borrows terminology from sailing, aeronautics, and me- A special thanks to Jon and Karen Burkhardt for coming to fly and sup- teorology. The KAPwiki Jargon List provides a basis of standardizing, defining, and clarifying KAP jargon. Since the start of port us, and to Calvin Pilgrim from Antigua for flying his diver all day long! the Jargon List, many of the key experts of KAP have also contributed to the List. The KAPwiki Jargon List can be found at Sunday morning brought more sunshine and even steadier breezes. www.vogelblik.nl/index.php?title=Category:Jargon. Kites filled the skies and the crowds filled the parking lot. Kites were every- where! The day was highlighted by a beautiful quad ballet routine flown by Archie Stewart of Boston with his TC Ultra to “I Believe I Can Fly.” Another surprise was the dual line ballet routine performed by local flyers Maureen and Charlie Stimpson (formerly of Team Image) who have been on hiatus for the past 10 years to raise their family. It was also great to see Scott Weider relaxing on the field after suffering a major car accident on the way to the Wildwoods International Kite Festi- val. Welcome back Scotty! Paulie Berard broke out the play sail for some power flying, as well as demonstrations by Paul Law- rence on his buggy and mountain board. The crowd loved it! Mark your calendars for New- port 2008. It’ll be bigger, better and a festival you won’t want to miss! Berkeley Kite Festival Salt pond, Menlo Park, CA

Autumn ‘07 | Kiting 25 24 Kiting | Autumn ‘07 FANØ: Kites and Danish by Don Baggett

y wife Di and I were asked by Arthur M Dibble (Chairman of the White Horse Kite Flyers) last year if we wanted to go with him to the Fanø Kite Meeting in Den- mark. When I asked Di, her reply was that if I took her to Fort Worden this year then we could both go to Fanø with Arthur, so we went to Fort Worden back in February and had a really fantastic time. But that’s another story… back to Fanø. Arthur had organised the ferry from Harwich to Esberg, Denmark. It was overnight and took a total of 18 hours at sea, so no good for anyone who doesn’t have sea legs. From Esberg a smaller ferry takes you over to the Island of Fanø. When you first arrive on the beach the view of all the kites is just AWESOME, no pictures can do it justice, you have to be there to see it. This June was the 23rd Fanø Kite Meeting, which I believe was originally started as a birthday party set up by Rainer Kregovski and Wolfgang Schimmelpfenig with about 12 people attending. It has now grown to the extent that you can stand on one end of the beach and look down the eight kilometer long strand and not see where the kiteflying ends. The official event starts off with a welcoming speech by Rainer onThurs - day evening in a horse riding school arena. On Saturday evening there is an auction, run by Berlin’s Alfons Karsten. Alfons is not what I would call a youngster but he is all dressed in leather and it sounds like he makes a lot of jokes. Everything is conducted in German even though you are in Denmark; even the kite traders only take Euros and not the Danish Krone. It starts with small items that only the children are allowed to bid on, and then it goes on to the rest of the items. All the money that is raised goes to the poor and needy children in Colombia. The rest of the time was spent on the beach flying kites and missing the different types of weather that we encountered — thunder and lightning and heavy rain storms along with glorious sunshine — and meeting up with lots of old friends and making new friends. There were people from all over the world: America, Tasmania, New Zealand, Wales, Germany, Holland, Denmark, England and more. If you haven’t done Fanø yet I suggest that you try to put it down on your photos courtesy calendar some- of Fanø Online, time, because it Charmayne and is well worth it. Bob Umbowers, and Don Baggett

26 Kiting | Autumn ’07 Autumn ’07 | Kiting 27 itegang is, on the surface, a non-profit kite Most recently, Kitegang has been K company, which focuses primarily on giving expanding its partnerships beyond Af- Gang of Fun away as much inventory as it can get its hands rica, reaching out to orphanages in Haiti, by Patrick McGrann on, to those children overseas who can least as well as developing an environmental afford such diversions. Yet in essence, it’s also education program for rural children liv- more of a larger experiment, trying to confront ing within protected areas in Guatemala, the traditional status quo in regions of conflict with Defensores, a local and highly-re- and poverty, and inspire the next generation of spected NGO. Yet the biggest devel- their leaders to dream beyond what they’ve his- opments for Kitegang this fall revolve torically been led to expect. Or in other words, around organizing the Darfur Kite Festi- Kitegang is setting out to help children think val for this November. Partnering with differently about the consistently traumatized Right To Play and SOS Children’s Villages, regions they live in, where hardship and conflict Kitegang is having children’s groups from seem such grounded concepts, and raise their around the world send in kites to Darfur, thinking to a higher, more hopeful level. So be where, in concert with kites made by chil- it solely through flying large and colorful kites, dren locally in kite-making clinics, they or at times along with other like-minded educa- will be flown as a global demonstration of tional and inspirational tools, the organization hope and defiance in ten refugee camps wants to help catalyze new thinking and prob- straddling Chad and Sudan. With luck, and lem solving skills with the simple introduction a diverse array of supporters, Kitegang is of dramatic, fun, and educational approaches, optimistic it can increasingly bring hope typically unseen in regions of conflict. Be it with and inspiration to children, not just in making and flying large and diverse kites in refu- Darfur, but wherever kids could benefit gee camps in Darfur, HIV orphanages in southern from looking up. Africa, or over borders not crossable on land, the group is trying to help inspire those idle children to begin to invent a new future that the current For information on generation has failed to consider. Essentially, Kitegang, the Dar- Kitegang wants to help motivate the next gen- fur Kite Festival, eration of leaders to rise above local convention and donating kites, and “fly in the face of adversity,” by questioning please visit what is inherently possible. www.kitegang.org. To this end, Kitegang has over the first six months of operation distributed kites to more than 3,000 children, in some of the most mar- ginalized areas around the world. Its volunteers have spent time from Raising Malawi, a group of orphanages in southern Africa sheltering a generation hard-hit by HIV and AIDS, to the United Nations in Darfur, where idle time among refugees is a chronic problem. Likewise, the Boona Baana Center for Children’s Rights in Tanzania, the Tseregeda school in Ethiopia, and Light of Hope orphanage in Kenya have all partnered with and played host to Kitegang, as we’ve brought kites and kite-making activities to children in increasingly new and different ways. At the same time, Kitegang has also been training adolescents in urban slums to make commercial-grade kites, that hopefully will expand beyond the dozen working on the project now, and eventually bring a sustainable flow of income into a highly depressed area for many people, as well as encouraging whole new communities to experiment with kites on their own, free of Kite- gang involvement. (And it should be mentioned that Kitegang’s first com- mercial kite made by the adolescents of Kibera slum was sold — and tested successfully — to a 78-year-old South African mountain climber, who flew it while summiting Mount Everest in May.)

28 Kiting | Autumn ’07 Autumn ’07 | Kiting 29 Interview: Kitegang’s Junction Kite Makers’ May 25-28, 2007 Patrick McGrann and Kim Birks Retreat Junction, TX How much kiteflying had you done on the prowl. What does kite before starting Kitegang? safety mean to you? Kim Birks in Myanmar Between the two of us, we had only a Ha! That’s simple. Kite safety The finished product of Mary small collection of fond memories to me means never flying kites Gabby’s group arch project from our childhoods. It was Kim’s on the Prophet Muhammad’s grandfather who supplied the birthday! (That lesson courtesy inspiration, as an accomplished kite a rock thrown against the back enthusiast in Canada. Instead of of my head in the Sahara this personal experiences for the two of past spring.) But more seriously, us, it was more seeing the a medic with Doctors Without interaction children had with kites Borders in Darfur proclaimed that encouraged us to do what we that Kitegang spending time in could to share the experience with a the refugee camps without larger greater number of people. help or sponsorship was “Mad- ness, brilliant madness.” So Mark Twain said, “I don’t have yes, we take some risks, but when enough friends to talk about religion you see the courage and strength or politics.” You’re working in areas of the children living in the or- fraught with both. Do you try to Kevin Wolfe’s tyvek foil phanages and refugee camps, it stay neutral, or do you have to get seems like the least we can do. involved? As a rule, Kitegang stays neutral when What are your plans after the it comes to religion, trying to focus Darfur Kite Festival? What next? more on the things that unite human- Kitegang will still focus on teach- ity, rather than those that divide ing communities to manufacture us. But when you’re trying to help their own kites in East Africa children in some of the places where and Bob Josjor photos by George Weber throughout the fall, and do smaller we’ve been, it’s difficult to completely regional outreach with orphanages avoid getting involved in the politics. Bob Josjor Patrick McGrann and friends and schools. But if things go well I’d better leave it at that. in Darfur, and we could find some Jean Gore teaches woodblock printing Some of the kites you’ve been flying outside support, I would love to get I want to attend the Darfur Kite Fes- The Junction Gang will be familiar to KITING readers. Kitegang involved in the Basant kite tival. How do I do it? How did you come across them? festival in Pakistan this winter. Adding Call Air France and get a ticket into Jim Cosca at Premier Kites was kind another dimension to the impression N’Djamena. I’ll pick you up at the enough to answer one of our naive poor Pakistanis have of Westerners, airport. initial e-mails, pleading for help. especially with something they are so Since then, he’s been a huge help passionate about, would be a wonder- assisting Kitegang with guidance and ful chance to begin to bridge a very support, while we’ve been learning to serious divide. stand on our own. What sort of “day job” do you have that allows you to do something like Usually, Kitegang? kite safety I spend most of my time in internation- means not al development, so I’m able to to flying near devote a fair bit of my time to Kite- Jon West, Jean Gore, and power- gang without traveling too far out of instructor Janet Wolfe lines. my way. Kim is an internet commerce working on carp windsocks Kitegang consultant, which allows her to work flies in from various locations. But more than places sur- either of our careers, I think it’s simply rounded our desire to bridge divides that allows Just getting to Junction was the by barbed us to try and make the most of our hard part, as the South Llano Riv- wire, with free time. er flooded one side of the Texas gun-toting Tech University Extension campus militias

Autumn ‘07 | Kiting 31 30 Kiting | Autumn ’07 Pura Vida Wildwoods International Kite Festival East Coast Sport Kite Championships May 25-28, 2007 photos by Phil Broder and Lindsey Johnson atch the tram car.” That ubiquitous boardwalk warn- Wing took on new meaning after the 22nd Wildwoods International Kite Festival, as 20 kiters from three nations piled onto the tram car for an end-to-end boardwalk tour. The Jersey Shore may never be the same. Archie Stewart and Lisa Willoughby Flyers from across America and Canada, as well as Malaysia, the Netherlands, Belgium, and England hit the Another José Sainz beauty wide sands for another year of aerial mayhem. The iQuad Patti Tinkham flying indoors boys teased children on the boardwalk with their not- quite-in-reach Revs, while the manufacturer’s learn to fly field did a brisk business. The competition field was This is what happens when dominated by Ron Graziano, sweeping the Master’s dual- Charles Stewart launches Scott Skinner skips a meal line events. On the festival field, Roger Tan and Normand a train made by NYC kids Girard kept launching kites that were just a little differ- ent from anything anyone had seen before, while a solid wall of giant inflatable octopods, ducks, bears, trilobites, flowforms, and crown bols filled the lower altitudes. As always, there was plenty going on inside too. Ronda Brewer and Lindsey Johnson had beach-goers making tyvek rokkakus and trains of stars. Wally Dalmolen and Glenn Davison also led workshops. Monday’s indoor fly- John Barresi and Ron Gibian with the Gibian custom Rev ing included a surprise appearances by Tory Lindemann, although it was Paul Berard’s air guitar/kiting routine that brought the house down. Revolution unveiled a new series of custom Revs, with graphics in patterns made famous by master kitemakers like Ron Gibian, Jose Sainz, and Scott Skinner. The Skinner kite was auctioned for $600. And finally, it all wrapped up with a banquet... pirate style. Parrots rode The pirate crew prepares to pillage shoulders, swords were waved, and a few comely wenches — led by Sky Festi- vals’ Beatrix Pelton — nearly stole the show. For a video view at Wildwood and iQuad, look for Kurtis Jones’ Alive Ar- chive movies at www.youtube.com. Monica Orso competes in quadline A young participant in Ronda José Sainz with an exquisitely Brewer’s and Lindsey John- fragile creation son’s workshop

José Sainz and Scott Skinner worked several long, hard minutes on this ground display iQuad’s John Baressi Lindsey Johnson finishes a WIKF logo rok and Todd Rudolph

Roger Tan’s delta Malaysia’s Roger Tan Only Normand Girard Patrick Callahan multitasking Steve Santos and knows if this is a cow Sue Moscowitz 32 Kiting | Autumn ’07 The roks are ready.

The Berkeley Kite Wranglers bring one down. Rokkin’ The Bay

rnold Stellema is a rock star. And a rok star. In Berkeley, hordes of A adoring fans clamor to be near him. At the BKF, Arnold and part- ner Nathan Sendan unpacked a do-it-yourself rokkaku battle, and the masses responded joyfully. After hauling more than 30 roks across the bumpy ground of Cesar Chavez Park (“More and more, I think that [mini kite specialist] Char- lie Sotich is the most intelligent man alive,” a winded Arnold opined), Bayside Berserkeley Stellema assembles the kites, stakes them down, and attaches small nd spools of line. When he posts a sign-up list for the day’s three battles, 22 Berkeley Kite Festival people literally run to get their name on it. Arnold escorts flyers to their kites, has them test the kites on a few feet of line, and gives a West Coast Sport Kite Championships short, shouted lesson in battle tactics. And then it’s “game on!” July 28-29, 2007 Flyers race across the field, weave around one another, and saw their lines madly. Kites smash into each other, knots form and then he wind always blows in the Republic of Berkeley. It comes over the hill from San Francisco Bay, sweeping down across vanish, kites dive at the TCesar Chavez Park toward the freeway. At the Berkeley Kite Festival, the first to take advantage of it are the Berkeley ground only to loop up- Kite Wranglers, lining up a dozen octopus kites so that everything else happens in the shadow of 96 tentacles. ward at the last instant, Next to them flies a team from Hamamatsu, joined by dozens of local Japanese-Americans.The kite masters super- and flyers chase downwind vise the set-up and launch of several bamboo and washi paper works of art, with buglers drummers, and crowds chanting as their cut-loose kites “Washoi! Washoi!” providing a cacaphonous soundtrack. Flowforms, geckos, lobsters, and caterpillars brought by Brian sail away. The crowd, as Champie and the Gombergs anchor the end of the field. in Roman days, roars ap- Below them, the sport kite field is active. Aaron Champie sweeps the individual Masters dual-line events, John Barresi proval. Stellema bounces does the same in quad-line, and the six-man iQuad team keeps the large crowd entertained. At the end of the weekend, around the field, yelling iQuad is joined by Team Too Much Fun for a nine Rev megafly. instructions and rescuing Prism and Rev factory flyers give lessons to the south, kids leave the kitemaking tables with their new kites, and the kites. Get organized during our Highline Kites truck keeps everyone well stocked with new toys. BASKL’s fighter kite competition secures the bottom of the Finally a winner hill, at water’s edge, and Ray Bethell flies near the park’s entrance. emerges. A middle-aged & When it’s all over, Tom McAlister welcomes everyone aboard a cruise ship for a sail past Alcatraz, San Francisco, and father high-fives every- the Golden Gate Bridge. The wind is still blowing when the boat returns to the shores of the Republic of Berkeley. one in sight, strips off his Big Bag Kite Which has more legs, iQuad or the The Hamamatsu team makes a battlefield repair. gloves, then doubles over Berkeley Kite Wranglers’ octopile? as he realizes just how Sale close to a heart attack he’s come. Dejected — The rok battle rages on. but laughing — flyers walk their kites back to the sidelines, sharing battle stories. Stellema examines See our selection of new bags from broken spars and cut lines New Tech, Prism he’ll have to repair. Designs and In this show, it’s only Premier. an hour until the second 503-282-1214 • 800-547-8795 act. And the next set of elmersflag.com flyers is already lined up, more than a kite store… America’s largest flag store! ready to rok. Visit our kite blog! kitestoo.com

34 Kiting | Autumn ’07 Autumn ‘07 | Kiting 35 Elmers.Kiting.bags.indd 1 3/22/07 11:17:17 AM Flying Interview: Khalid Abdalla In Marc Forster’s film The Kite Runner, Khalid Abdalla plays the adult Amir — the older version of the story’s main char- Blind acter. This is only his second American film, after appearing in United 93. We asked him a few questions about kitefly- by Mike Hale ing, Asian culture, and the film’s director. teve Cook and Bruce Parker are Sjust two buddies flying kites In Pakistan, the courts have banned kite flying be- together. They started flying about cause there have been so many fatal accidents. In one year ago with big 9’ single line Afghanistan, of course, kite flying is allowed again deltas, a 30’ long Pyro Fish, and after the Taliban had outlawed it. Any comment? bright yellow kites. After a few There are very few things that I think should be months they took up dual-line stunt banned, and kite flying isn’t one of them. There’s a kites. Again, bright yellows and very justifiable anger felt towards Basant flyers who high contrast. Seems pretty normal. Just two guys flying legally blind, except for Steve’s white cane or Bruce search- use metal strings that result in people dying and kites. One might suppose that they wanted big bright kites ing the field for a dropped winder or top spreader. So how power outages. But I will never forget the sight in so they could see them in the sky. But these two fellows did they learn to fly dual-line kites? They depend upon feel Afghanistan around four or five in the afternoon, just wanted big kites to find them on the ground. These guys are and sound, vibrations, and angle of the lines and kite pull. as the weather was cooling, when the Kabul sky would blind! Steve says, “I can’t suddenly become filled with kites. No one should be Steve says, “I fished every lake and river in Oregon, till see it, but I can feel deprived of that. It’s as criminal as censorship or deny- I lost my eye sight.” Bruce adds, “We used to sit around it.” They replace a few ing people music, art, or storytelling.

in the house. Now we have a new hobby.” Between them, more lost and broken All Rights Reserved Bray © 2007 DREAMWORKS PICTURES. Phil they own two dozen kites. They buy a kite a month, and as- parts than the rest of Khalid Abdalla (left) stars as “Amir” and Ali Danish Bakhtyari Alexander Graham Bell flew kites and invented the semble their kites at home to practice assembling them out us. But to fly next to (right) stars as “Sohrab” in Marc Forster’s The Kite Runner. telephone. Ben Franklin flew kites and “discov- of the wind. They hang their kites on the walls and ceiling them is humbling. ered” electricity. Guglielmo Marconi flew kites and to show them off to visitors and keep them out from under In Corey Jensen’s The Asian subcontinent has a rich kite flying tradition. invented radio. Who’s your favorite kite flier? foot. column in the sum- Prior to your work on The Kite Runner, what did you This little kid I saw come out of his house holding a kite he On the field, you would not know that these guys are mer issue of Kiting, he know about kites? had made himself out of plastic bags. He can’t have been asks us to learn not to Nothing, I missed out. Though I grew up in London mainly, I more than seven and he’d obviously just woken up because Steve Cook and Bruce Parker depend entirely on our have memories of trying to fly kites as a child on the beach his eyes were outside Alexandria in Egypt. They were cheap kites that you still puffy. eyes, and to learn to photos by Jim Our Bag and Kite Sale has been expanded!! experience kiteflying held by a plastic grip that me and my cousins would play It was about Bruce sets up a All Designer Kites on Sale! with all of our other stack of stunters., with. Whenever the kite was in my hands it would Martindrive in -Jr. andseven in the senses. One day on the evitably into the ground. It took me quite a few kitesJerry while McGuire morning and One of a kinds, Art Kites kite field while flying with Steve and Bruce I began to close I was learning in Afghanistan [during the movie’s filming] he was the first and Limited Editions my eyes. I could better sense the vibrations, the line twists, to break that habit. The kids there found it ridiculous that one out, imme- and subtle nuances that had escaped me before. I packed an adult couldn’t fly a kite. For them it was as normal as diately trying up as it got late. Steve and Bruce just kept flying. For throwing a ball. I can proudly say that I learned my lesson to get his kite All on Sale Now! them, there is no urgency to leave before nightfall. the hard way, with a few little scars on my fingers to prove in the air with Steve likes to fly sitting in a portable chair, his white it. no wind. His cane lying by his side. Bruce stands in one place. He keeps friends started the line in his hand when following it to a downed kite. The book — and presumably the film — has opened peo- joining him hav- Their level of profi- ple’s eyes to Afghan culture, and to kite flying culture, ing been woken ciency is very good, which most people knew very little about. This isn’t just up by the sound and they seldom crash another cop movie or romantic comedy or big explosions of his kite ris- a kite. This comes from blockbuster. So as an actor, how do you deal with a sub- ing. He was many hours of practice ject area that the audience has no preconceptions of? cool. I think and intense concentra- Sadly I think there are very strong preconceptions about Af- the big three tion. They ride Port- ghanistan which are often negative and misrepresentative. you mentioned Give the Gift of Kite Flying! land’s Light Rail Train The Taliban’s work has been so awful that still we associate would have Kites make great to the edge of the West Afghanistan with them before we even hear about the mil- liked him. gifts for Christmas, Delta Park Kite field and lions they and others oppressed, normal people who have Valentines, Birthdays, spend the whole day suffered thirty years of war, and at one point the biggest Can director Graduations, Weddings, and Anniversaries there. They fly with pas- refugee population in the world. The book tells a beautiful Marc Forster sion! Steve and Bruce human story before it tells a violent one and I’m proud to fly a kite? See our selection on the web at: are true masters of the be part of something that continues on the book’s tracks. He keeps it a elmersflag.com sky. Even if that sky, for This country is brimming with stories that need to be told, mystery. 503-282-1214 • 800-547-8795 them, is always dark. not least because they’re so good. That’s help enough for more than a kite store… America’s Largest Flag Store! an actor. Visit our kite blog for news and reviews! Steve is ready to launch. kitestoo.com

36 Kiting | Autumn ’07 Autumn ‘07 | Kiting 37 2007 Sport Kite Conference Final Standings

Experienced Multiline Precision Open Team Train Open Individual Indoor Unlimited Masters Individual Ballet Novice Individual Precision Masters Individual Ballet Experienced Multiline Precision Central 1 Newman, Alison 9 1 02 3 1 Tinkham, Shawn 8 1 Haigh, Daniel 52 1 Underwood, Tristan 45 1 Champie, Aaron 21 1 Shook, Cath 12 Experienced Individual Ballet 2 Moore, Michael 7 2 Davis, Egan 39 2 Underwood, Shannon 35 2 Gillespie, John 19 2 Charleville, Norman “Doug” 9 1 Houchins, Donna 9 Experienced Pairs Ballet 3 Tinkham, Patty 6 3 Barresi, John 34 3 Doran, Amy 33 3 Fu, Wayne 10 3 Ashworth, David M. 3 2 Blatnik, Guy 6 1 Expletive Deleted 9 Northeast 4 Coates, Douglas 5 4 Turner, Wayne 32 4 Brown, Mike 26 4 Quirmbach, Mark 3 3 Oliver, Dallas 4 2 Blues Brothers 8 Experienced Individual Ballet 5 Berard, Pauly 3 5 Root, Lisa 30 5 Bachel, Steve 26 4 Rodriguez, Miguel A. 3 Experienced Pairs Ballet 3 Sky Jesters 7 1 Coates, Douglas 26 6 Weider, Scott A. 9 6 Cannon, Jerry 24 6 Flanagan, Adrian 13 6 Herzog, Alexander 5 1 Airborne Virus 22 Experienced Individual Precision 4 Flying Egos 4 7 Yuen, Cal 22 7 Dirk, Michael 10 2 Wing Nuts 18 1 Houchins, Donna 9 Experienced Individual Precision 8 Hoac, Lam 16 8 Farrell, John 9 Masters Individual Precision 3 Flight Risk 15 2 Blatnik, Guy 6 Experienced Pairs Precision 1 Coates, Douglas 29 Northwest 9 Thompson, James L. 16 9 Rudolph, Todd 8 1 Champie, Aaron 27 4 OldenBads 3 3 Oliver, Dallas 4 1 Blues Brothers 9 Experienced Individual Ballet 10 Davis, Scott J. 10 10 Wolters, Rick 5 2 Gillespie, John 20 2 Sky Jesters 6 Experienced Multiline Ballet 1 Hendrickson, William 48 11 Cimburek, Andrew 10 11 Cooper, Delia M. 3 3 Quirmbach, Mark 13 Experienced Pairs Precision Experienced Multiline Ballet 1 St. Pierre, Arthur F. 4 2 Brown, Jennifer 47 1 Wing Nuts 17 1 Seward, William C. 6 3 Expletive Deleted 4 12 Hayes, Bud 7 4 Fu, Wayne 10 3 Flying Egos 4 2 Quinton, Gary 3 3 Landers, Jim 43 13 Ostey, Donald 4 Open Individual Indoor Unlimited 5 Skinner, Darrin 5 2 Airborne Virus 16 4 Underwood, Ray 41 3 Flight Risk 15 Experienced Multiline Precision 1 Underwood, Tristan 70 6 Rodriguez, Miguel A. 4 Experienced Pairs Ballet 5 Fry, Gordon 39 4 OldenBads 3 1 Seward, William C. 6 Experienced Team Ballet Masters Individual Precision 2 Turner, Wayne 69 1 Team Showdown 3 1 Odyssey 7 6 Fabich, J. D. 32 1 Haigh, Daniel 49 3 Barresi, John 66 Masters Multiline Ballet 2 A Nice Pear 4 7 Lommel, Doug 32 Experienced Team Ballet Experienced Pairs Ballet 2 Turner, Wayne 33 3 Hayes, Bud 66 1 Maranta, Vincent 4 8 Redington, Justin Patrick 31 1 Team Wing Nuts 4 1 Boswell Boys 3 Masters Individual Ballet 3 Barresi, John 29 5 Hoac, Lam 65 2 Fu, Wayne 3 1 Gordon, Zachary 20 Masters Individual Ballet 9 Di Lucca, Mario 23 4 Yuen, Cal 27 6 Cunningham, Alan 61 1 Windchasers 3 Experienced Team Precision 2 Gordon, Joshua 14 1 Tinkham, Shawn 40 10 Perceval, Jeremy 21 5 Davis, Egan 24 7 Cannon, Jerry M. 58 Masters Multiline Precision 2 Tinkham, Patty 30 11 Hayes, Linda 12 1 Team Wing Nuts 10 Experienced Pairs Precision 3 Newman, Dan 14 6 Cannon, Jerry M 16 8 Davis, Scott J. 56 1 Maranta, Vincent 4 4 Schubbe, Spencer 12 3 Graziano, Ron 28 12 Taylor, Marjorie 10 7 Thompson, James L. 15 9 Hathaway, David 52 2 Fu, Wayne 3 1 The Boswell Boys 3 Masters Individual Ballet 5 Faulk, Russ 7 4 Contzius, Ari 15 13 Hilliard, Robert 8 8 Hayes, Bud 9 10 Davis, Egan 45 1 Windchasers 3 1 DeBakker, Paul 22 6 Alleshouse, Bruce 5 4 Willoughby, Lisa 15 14 Cunningham, Alan 5 8 Hoac, Lam 9 11 Underwood, Ray 41 Masters Team Ballet 2 Haymans, Todd 20 7 Trennepohl, Jon 4 6 Moore, Michael 11 14 Ralston, Scott 5 8 Cimburek, Andrew 9 12 Doran, Amy 35 1 AirZone Flight Team 9 Masters Individual Ballet 3 Goodman, Ted A. 9 7 Santos, Steve 3 11 Davis, Scott J. 8 13 Brown, Jennifer 29 1 McCown, Jeff 4 4 Greenway, Randy 5 Masters Individual Precision 7 Smith, David 3 Experienced Individual Precision 14 Rudolph, Todd 24 Masters Team Precision 2 McCown, Donna 3 5 Autrey, Rob 4 1 Gordon, Zachary 20 9 Rosanova, Rosanna 2 1 Brown, Jennifer 51 Masters Multiline Ballet 15 Di Lucca, Mario 11 1 AirZone Flight Team 15 9 Smith, Dennis R. 2 2 Underwood, Ray 48 Masters Individual Precision 2 Gordon, Joshua 14 1 Barresi, John 32 16 Redington, Justin Patrick 6 Masters Individual Precision 3 Newman, Dan 13 3 Hendrickson, William 44 2 Hathaway, David 29 17 Arndt, Toby 3 Novice Individual Ballet 1 McCown, Jeff 4 Masters Individual Precision 3 Lommel, Doug 44 1 Haymans, Todd 23 2 McCown, Donna 3 4 Schubbe, Spencer 11 3 Yuen, Cal 24 1 Randall-Ricci, Cara 4 2 DeBakker, Paul 12 5 Faulk, Russ 8 1 Tinkham, Shawn 35 5 Landers, Jim 35 4 Davis, Egan 21 Open Individual Outdoor Unlimited 2 Laurino, Joan H. 3 2 Graziano, Ron 33 6 Redington, Justin Patrick 31 3 Goodman, Ted A. 11 Masters Pairs Ballet 6 Alleshouse, Bruce 5 4 Turner, Wayne 21 1 Doran, Amy 16 2 McCall, Sandra 3 4 Greenway, Randy 6 6 Brinnehl, Kathy 5 3 Tinkham, Patty 30 7 Fabich, J. D. 27 6 Hoac, Lam 12 2 Brown, Jennifer 10 1 Wind Junkies 3 4 Contzius, Ari 16 8 Fry, Gordon 25 5 Autrey, Rob 4 7 Rudolph, Todd 1 3 Di Lucca, Mario 9 Open Individual Indoor Unlimited 5 Galeano, Keith 4 Masters Multiline Ballet 5 Willoughby, Lisa 12 9 Taylor, Marjorie 17 4 Hoac, Lam 4 1 Burnham, Dan 14 Masters Pairs Precision 6 Moore, Michael 10 10 Di Lucca, Mario 16 1 Gordon, Zachary 9 Masters Multiline Precision 5 Cloinger, Kevin 1 1 Champie, Aaron 14 Masters Multiline Ballet 1 Wind Junkies 3 7 Smith, David 3 11 Ralston, Scott 9 1 Barresi, John 33 3 Navarro, Francisco 9 1 LaMasters, Paul R. 13 12 Hilliard, Robert 7 Masters Team Ballet Masters Multiline Precision 2 Yuen, Cal 28 4 Carter, Allen 8 2 Cosca, Jim 2 1 Gordon, Zachary 3 6 0 9 Masters Multiline Ballet 13 Perceval, Jeremy 6 3 Hathaway, David 25 Pacific 5 Quirmbach, Mark 7 1 Austin End Of The Line 6 1 Tinkham, Shawn 28 14 Cunningham, Alan 3 4 Turner, Wayne 24 Experienced Individual Ballet 6 Gillespie, John 5 Masters Pairs Ballet 2 Team SPI 4 2 Coates, Douglas 19 Masters Pairs Ballet 5 Davis, Egan 22 1 Navarro, Francisco 15 7 Erzin, Jeffry 4 1 Rainman Forrest 7 1 EOS 14 3 Berg, Karl 13 Experienced Multiline Ballet 6 Hoac, Lam 11 2 Gemberling, Dennis 9 8 Jones, Stacey 3 Masters Team Precision 4 Orso, Monica 7 1 Landers, Jim 37 3 Bell, Robert J 5 1 Austin End Of The Line 6 2 02 10 7 Rudolph, Todd 1 Masters Pairs Precision 3 Fire And Ice 9 5 Santos, Steve 3 2 Flanagan, Adrian 32 4 Stellema, Arnold 4 1 Rainman Forrest 6 2 Team SPI 4 6 Smith, Dennis R. 2 3 Redington, Justin Patrick 28 5 Burnham, Dan 3 Southeast 4 Pyro 4 Masters Pairs Ballet 4 Brown, Jennifer 27 Experienced Individual Ballet Novice Individual Ballet 1 Wing’N It 21 Novice Individual Ballet Masters Multiline Precision 5 Doran, Amy 25 Experienced Individual Precision 1 Boerth, Robbie 40 1 Seward, William C. 7 Masters Pairs Precision 2 Fly By Nite 11 1 Hood, Doug 27 1 Tinkham, Shawn 16 6 Di Lucca, Mario 24 1 Navarro, Francisco 15 2 Mervine, Richard 31 2 Gray, Ben 6 1 EOS 17 3 Verve 8 2 Meeks, David 26 2 Berg, Karl 11 7 Fabich, J. D. 22 2 Gemberling, Dennis 11 3 Conklin, Marc A. 30 3 Boswell, Deontae 5 2 02 14 4 Evidence 7 3 Rossbach, Evelyn 20 3 Coates, Douglas 8 7 Underwood, Tristan 22 3 Stellema, Arnold 6 4 Charleville, Norman “Doug” 25 4 Gray, Katie 4 3 Fire And Ice 10 4 McEvoy, James L. 9 9 Lommel, Doug 17 4 Bell, Robert J 4 5 Meeks, Spencer 18 5 Kitchens, Henry 3 4 Pyro 7 Masters Pairs Precision 5 Manette, Laure 8 Masters Pairs Ballet 10 Rudolph, Todd 12 1 Fly By Nite 23 5 Burnham, Dan 3 6 Cornell, Terry D. 7 6 Rose, Michael 6 1 Full Throttle 17 11 Underwood, Ray 12 5 Johnson, Walter OGI 3 7 Smoot, William S 6 Novice Individual Precision Masters Team Ballet 2 Wing’N It 19 7 Sturdy, William 5 2 Skywalkers 8 12 Cunningham, Alan 8 8 Burchfield, Andy 5 1 Gray, Ben 7 1 Chicago Fire 9 3 Evidence 12 7 Thomas, Don 5 3 KFAN Revisited 3 Experienced Multiline Ballet 9 Stonestreet, Laura 4 1 Seward, William C. 7 4 Verve 9 9 May, Jeff 4 4 Sure, Why Not 1 Experienced Multiline Precision 1 Champie, Aaron 26 10 Backus, Chris 3 3 Gray, Katie 3 Masters Team Precision 9 Mayhew, Kelly 4 1 Flanagan, Adrian 27 1 Quirmbach, Mark 26 3 Kitchens, Henry 3 1 Chicago Fire 9 Masters Team Ballet 11 Rose, Emily 3 Masters Pairs Precision 2 Landers, Jim 26 1 6th Sense 26 3 Navarro, Francisco 17 Experienced Individual Precision Open Ind. Outdoor Unlimited Novice Individual Ballet 1 Full Throttle 12 3 Redington, Justin Patrick 20 2 Genesis 13 4 Carl, Anthony E. 8 1 Boerth, Robbie 36 Novice Individual Precision 1 McCown, Donna 5 1 Deck, Tom 15 4 Brown, Jennifer 19 3 Snowbirds 6 5 Burnham, Dan 6 2 Mervine, Richard 34 1 Hood, Doug 21 2 McCown, Jeff 4 2 Gordon, Elizabeth 14 Masters Team Ballet 5 Fabich, J. D. 18 6 Gillespie, John 4 3 Charleville, Norman “Doug” 33 2 Meeks, David 18 3 Horne, Roger 3 3 Garner, Jason D. 6 1 Smitty & The Girls 8 5 Lommel, Doug 18 Masters Team Precision 7 Erzin, Jeffry 3 4 Conklin, Marc A. 32 3 McEvoy, James L. 6 4 Arnold, John M. 6 7 Di Lucca, Mario 17 1 6th Sense 28 5 Meeks, Spencer 20 4 Butler, Tom 5 5 Santiago, Edwin 3 Novice Individual Ballet 8 Doran, Amy 8 2 Genesis 19 Experienced Multiline Precision 6 Smoot, William S 19 5 Rossbach, Evelyn 5 Midwest 1 Willoughby, Ian 9 9 Rudolph, Todd 7 3 Snowbirds 6 1 Champie, Aaron 22 7 Stonestreet, Laura 13 6 Sturdy, William 4 Experienced Individual Ballet Novice Individual Precision 2 Maciel, Dick 6 10 Cunningham, Alan 6 2 Quirmbach, Mark 13 8 Cornell, Terry D. 10 1 Koepke, Paul 14 1 Gordon, Elizabeth 17 3 Maciel, Jackie 4 Novice Individual Ballet 3 Navarro, Francisco 12 9 Cseplo, Steve 6 Open Individual Indoor Unlimited 2 Bush, David 12 2 Deck, Tom 13 3 Phillips, Elvin 4 Experienced Pairs Ballet 1 Underwood, Tristan 46 4 Carl, Anthony E. 8 10 Burchfield, Andy 5 1 DeBakker, Paul 18 3 Rothwell, Steve 9 3 Arnold, John M. 8 5 McCarty, Robert E. 3 1 Double Trouble 18 2 Underwood, Shannon 36 5 Burnham, Dan 5 11 Backus, Chris 3 2 Mosman, Michael J. 2 4 Arnold, John E. 7 4 Garner, Jason D. 4 2 MJB 16 3 Doran, Amy 28 Open Individual Outdoor Unlimited 5 Santiago, Edwin 3 Novice Individual Precision 3 Dos Amigos 3 4 Bachel, Steve 25 Experienced Pairs Ballet Experienced Multiline Ballet Experienced Individual Precision 1 Boerth, Robbie 21 1 Maciel, Jackie 8 5 Brown, Mike 17 1 Dos Furias 9 1 Charleville, Norman “Doug” 20 1 Koepke, Paul 16 2 Stonestreet, Charles 20 Open Ind. Indoor Unlimited 2 Maciel, Dick 5 Experienced Pairs Precision 6 Farrell, John 15 2 Meeks, Spencer 16 2 Bush, David 11 3 LaMasters, Paul R. 8 1 Borelli, Nelson 14 3 Kitt, Ronald 4 1 MJB 9 7 Flanagan, Adrian 14 Experienced Pairs Precision 3 Shook, Cath 11 3 Rothwell, Steve 9 4 Charleville, Norman “Doug” 7 2 Trennepohl, Jon 5 4 McCarty, Robert E. 2 2 Dos Amigos 3 8 Dirk, Michael 8 1 Dos Furias 9 3 Stonestreet, Charles 11 4 Arnold, John E. 6 5 Cseplo, Steve 4 3 Koepke, Paul 4 9 Wolters, Rick 5 2 SOHR 3 5 Ashworth, David M. 6 6 Mosman, Michael J. 1 4 Arnold, Jace 3 Open Team Train 10 Cooper, Delia M. 3 6 Autrey, Rob 5 Experienced Multiline Ballet 6 Rossbach, Evelyn 1 5 Becker, Andy 1 1 That’s My Line 13 10 Underwood, Cailan 3 6 Meeks, David 5 1 Newman, Alison 11 2 Heaven Help Us 10 2 Rizzuto, Chris 4 Open Team Train 3 Babb, Christopher 3 1 Trained Monkeys 2

Autumn ‘07 Kiting 39 38 Kiting | Autumn ’07 | Some of the Brigantine fighter flyers. Selzer. With the up by a 4’x8’ light table, shelving, file REGIONaL REpORTS implementation cabinets and tables. The day came and of a new format 12 people showed up for the filming! event and everyone who helped out, and new judg- Shooting started at 8:30 a.m. and fin- chipped in and kept things running ing rules, the ished at 9:00 at night. Comcast cable smoothly. I want to thank every kite event ran very subscribers have a button on their TV club in Region One for doing what you smoothly. They remotes for “On Demand” programs. do year after year and day after day. also got good There is a Children’s Activity Menu. Thanks to those who put on work- press coverage, One of the selections will be kid’s kite shops and National Kite Month events. with articles in making. There will be nine segments Thanks for spreading the word that the Atlantic City to click on. The child can watch, fast kites are cool and so are the people Press and a spot forward, reverse or freeze the pro- who fly them. Thanks to our member on NBC news. gram. If the child wants to work along, merchants for keeping us well supplied This event is they can also go on the net to a site and giving us a place to spend our planned to take called activitytv.com. There they can money. Region 1 ~ New England place again next download construction plans and a So far this has been a great sum- CT-NH-MA-ME-RI-VT-NY year. material list. Hopefully the program mer weather-wise. Lots of kite flying Members will be released this fall. Robert “Woody” Woods going on all over New England. Our of LVKS have It has been a fun five years as your P.O. Box 525 hats are off to our friends in Portland, Region 2 ~ Northeast taken the sum- Regional Director, and I’ve decided North Dighton, MA 02764 Maine, for painting the sky with color NJ-PA-(lower) NY mer months to stay on. As you all know, kiters 508/669-4114 just about every weekend. Seaside Todd Little Convention, which will be held in Get- to attend, assist and fly kites at the are great people. It’s always a blast [email protected] Kites put on a great event at Mil- tysburg, PA. Stay tuned! 832 Meadow Lane Wildwoods International Kite Festival, getting out and meeting kite flyers, lennium Park with demos all day for SJKF has been real busy. They End of term: 2007 Camp Hill, PA 17011 Asbury Park Kite Festival, NJSKC and whether at our Annual Convention, the public to see and a great show hosted the Friday Night Social at the 717/975-2852 the New York Kite Festival. Several Wildwood, my local park, or anywhere of single line kites on display. I had a Wildwoods International Kite Festival Sound the trumpets! My term as [email protected] members will be attending Sunfest at in between. I have gotten to know great time at this event and everyone and nobody left hungry. As a matter of your regional director is just about End of term: 2007 the end of September. LVKS also held many of you quite well and still look I talked to did too. As I write this I’m fact, there were a few people asking over. I want to thank everyone in numerous kids kite building workshops forward to meeting those whom I have recovering from the Newport Kite Fes- how they did it, charging only $3. The Region One for all you have done for in July and August throughout the not yet had the chance to meet! So, kiting. We have seen many members tival. The weather was awesome and I down to join the fun. Bill helped run answer is donations from the generous th community. This club is well known for the next time you see me out there have a sunburn to prove it. the bol races, which were very popular SJKF members! Their 13 Annual An- leave our ranks in the AKA and one day their kids workshops and LVKS mem- flying, stop by and say “Hi!” That’s about it for this report. I with kids and parents alike. There was niversary Bash is coming up soon. This those same members may return. The bers get almost as much enjoyment would like to wish the next Region kitemaking for the kids and Verizon is always a good time with plenty of economy, gas prices and the every- from helping the kids build the kites as Summer is passing quickly. The One Director the best of luck. It’s not gave away free kites as well. Two food and great kites in their auction. day hustle and bustle of life takes us the kids do flying them! As the weather Middletown Kite Festival, MD, and a an easy job being a good RD, and be 150 section dragon kites were flown. Look forward to a date for the OABTI- in many directions but with kites we turns cooler, LVKS members are making special fun fly at Snowshoe Resort, forewarned I might run again someday, Dennis Smith’s work on a microphone IOPBCKFABO sometime in October. This can always keep looking up. I would plans to attend the AKA Convention, WV, will be over before you read this. but for now I’ve had my share of fun. is well known and he lived up to his event is always fun with a light-heart- like to start thanking individuals but I the Ultra Sonic Super Fantastic Kids Hopefully, you are checking the club might leave someone out. You all know Hope to see you on a flying field soon. billing as one of the best sound people ed attitude. around. There was wind most of the The first Brigantine Fighter Kite Day Weekend, Science Fest and Long- calendars and getting out to these you could call the Woodman with any wood Gardens in October. great events. Looking forward, WOW Greetings and salutations, kiters! day and the air was full of kites of all festival took place this June 25-27 in kite concern you may have had while Cliff Quinn decided to respond fliers expect to attend the the Edin- Here’s what’s new in Region Two: sizes and descriptions. There were free Brigantine, NJ. The South Jersey Kite I was your RD. I have many more kite to an inquiry about a TV kitemaking burg, VA, Ole Time Festival, Septem- Charles Stewart thanks everyone drawings for kites and airlines tickets. Flyers and Region Two were well repre- friends now than I did when I took over search. It was a film production com- ber 15-16; a fun fly at Harford County who came out and helped make the Volunteers and fliers were treated to sented by the likes of Lisa Willoughby, as RD and I will always cherish our pany in Philadelphia, whose client is Community College on September 15; kite festival at Jacob Riis Park a great a Chinese food buffet. And as a bonus, Jim Davis, John Rose, Rick Mingeram, friendships on and off the kite field. I the Comcast Network. They responded and another big one —the 30th Annual success: Air Therapy, Skywalkers, the contestants for the Miss Chinatown Mike Petty, Don Pignolet, and Andy want to thank everyone who ran a kite and asked for a three to five minute. Sunfest Kite Festival in Ocean City, MD, Dennis Smith, Kurtis pageant were on hand. The sixteen video of a kids kitemaking project. September 20-23. RAF has upcom- Jones, Rosanna ladies were competing for the chance Anthony Lauriello flies his José Cliff said that he was in the kitemak- ing events over Labor Day in Beech Rosanova, Mike to go to Hong Kong and compete for Sainz Rev at a beach party char- ing business and not in the filming Mountain, NC, and a Regional sport Nevins, Ron Jakubo- the Miss Asia title. Rebecca Alves Rebecca ity fundraiser in Cape May, NJ. business, but if they wanted him to kite competition September 15. Don’t wicz, Dave Turner, By the time of this printing, the go to their studio, that he would do a forget the AKA convention! Carmela Pallotta and 2007 Keystone Kiters August kite build- clip. They agreed! The next step was From Wings Over Washington (Jeff a special surprise ing retreat project will be complete. A 2 to prepare nine kids kite projects. No King): appearance by Steve 30 ft parafoil, taught by Kevin Shan- sewing, just tape, glue, dowels, bam- We’ve been out and about this spring/ K. from Brooklyn. non, who is well known for award- boo, plastic bags, Tyvek and ripstop summer with members at many East Steve flew a Sea winning examples of this type of kite, nylon. The kites, for kids 5 to 12 years Coast and local events. The club Devil by Lam Hoac. was the subject of this year’s class. I old, are a Sled, a mini Rokkaku, a Ko- participated in the Montpelier Wine/ Kurtis Jones brought hope to have some photos in the next rean fighter, a Della Porta, a Bermuda, Kite Fest in Orange, VA, and the Tarara the Batman kite out edition as beautiful kites are a given and a few more easy designs. The Winery Winds and Wine Festival in of retirement for result of this annual class. The Key- production company suggested that Leesburg, VA. Looking ahead, the club one more ballet. Bill stone Kiters are now planning some- thing special for the winter retreat. It the final filming be at Cliff’s studio. is on tap to visit another winery: The Jeremiah Alves clowns at Newport and Barbara Coons may have a connection to the 2008 AKA His work area is only 15’x25’, taken White Fences Winery Annual Grape from NYKE also came Rhonda Jackson

40 Kiting | Summer ’07 Autumn ’07 | Kiting 41 Regardless, the fliers got big ers Cliff Quinn, Scott Spencer, Harold flew in the Ft. Lauderdale Air and Sea kites into the air, performed Ames, Adrianne Balmer, Gary Engvall, show May 7. “The winds were really sport kites demos and gave Andy Burchfield, and a lesser known light and the beach was short from all lessons to the public. Some kitemaker from Harrisonburg, VA, Ran- of the erosion the year before, but I WOWsters journeyed to the dy Shenk. His ‘3 Actors’ hand-painted managed to fly a red, white and blue gorgeous mountains of West rokkaku was the hit of the evening. wing with stars for awhile. For the Virginia for Canaan Valley Watch out if Randy starts competing! finale, I launched a six stack of red, Resort’s 6th Annual Windfest Sunday was a slower, more re- yellow and gold diamonds with match- on July 7-8. Despite light laxed day of competition. After Open ing tails. The winds being so light I winds and some crazy wind Unlimited, Gary Engvall and Karl Berg ended up waist deep in the ocean, just shifts, the fliers put on great pulled the magic trick of changing trying to keep the kites from falling sport kite demonstrations and a rectangular field to a circular one out of the sky.” provided Frustrationless Flyers for the Tricks Party USA events to be Thomas Self writes: “There was a kitemaking for the public. It’s held in the afternoon. If you’ve never Tricks Party event held in Huntsville, always great to see kids taking seen a Tricks Party event, you should AL, by Keith Galeano, Randy Greenway delight in making and flying definitely make your way to the next and Allan Crow. This regional event their kites! one you can. It’s an interesting, fast- allows for Novice through Masters class Closer to home, the First paced, entertaining event, and it’s a Region 4 ~ Southeast flyers to get their feet wet locally be- Region 3 ~ Mid-Atlantic Sunday Fly at the Washington great chance to see some of the best AL-FL-GA-KY-MS-PR-NC-SC-TN fore traveling to the larger events held DC-DE-MD-VA-WV Monument on July 1 was a fliers in the country do what they like Mike Agner across the country. The whole purpose Norman “Doug” Charleville good one. We had some good to do best. 4801 Deer Glade Court of the regional is to get people who 1607 Longdale Drive winds and the usual cohort A special thanks goes out to the Wilmington, NC 28409 would not normally be able to travel Norfolk, VA 23518 of WOW regulars performed following for a successful ODSKC: 910/790-5979 to the large events an opportunity to 757/852-3522 for the passers-by, and gave Craig Young and Jim Cosca Bonnie Marvin at Hang ‘em High [email protected] fly competively and learn what the [email protected] frequent lessons. The follow- wrestle the big stuff Fabrics; Theresa at The Kite Shoppe; End of Term: 2007 kite community has to offer. There’s End of term: 2007 ing Saturday, WOW partici- Chris Schultz and New Tech Kites; the no pressure, just a lot of fun by people pated in Frederick, Maryland’s in a variety of flavors, cold bottled wa- Engvalls; Mearl and Adrianne Balmer; with the Treasure Island Sport Kite getting together and sharing there Stomp in Irvington, VA. Wine aside, First Saturday Gallery Walk; a monthly ter, lunches, ice pops, and cold moist Terry Murray and Janis Worth; Will Club for the annual Sun Sand and common interest in flying sport kites. they are all great local festivals. Now event offering guest artists, live en- towelettes throughout the weekend. and Heidi Smoot; Doug Charleville; Symphony at Treasure Island. A potluck This past event allowed our local if we could just find an Oktoberfest tertainment, exhibits, and downtown Coolers of ice-cold water were placed Mayhew Kelly Dennis Smith; the above-mentioned lunch and a chance to spend a day fly- group of flyers from Field of Strings kite festival somewhere.... shopping. The event featured kit kites strategically around the competition kite auction contributors; and the RAF ing kites with friends is hard to beat. Kite Club to get a chance to help out WOW members travel all around decorated by local groups on display in fields to keep competitors hydrated. and WOW kite clubs, without whose The last day of June was spent at the with an event. The score keepers and the mid-Atlantic. Wildwood is always the shops of participating merchants, Harold and Elizabeth Ames made ice teamwork and volunteerism it would Sunset Flyers’ First Summer Kite Fes- line judges learned a lot about what a huge draw for kiters from around the and WOW was there performing to the cream on the field, available to every- be impossible to hold this great event tival at Sand Key, FL. It takes a little is involved in putting on a event. The world. Along with the international public’s delight with kites on short one at the event. Beginning to see a In closing, I have made the deci- nerve to put “first annual” on an event sound guy came in from Florida! A big fliers, WOW was there flying kites of lines at the Carroll Creek Linear Park pattern here? It’s very simple: keep sion to not run again, so your next up- that has a history of only one day, thank you, for the Tricks Party South all sizes and competing (and doing and on the sidewalks of downtown competitors happy, fed, and hydrated, date will be from your new RD follow- but with a day like this past Saturday organizers, and the event judges and well) in the ECSKC. A group made it to Frederick. Serving as kiting ambassa- and they keep coming back! ing the AKA convention. It has been a I can guarantee repeats in the years staff. The competitors that came in the 25th Rogallo Kite Festival at Jock- dors is part of what it’s all about, and Saturday was very busy as event pleasure and honor to get to know you to come. There are larger, flashier, eys Ridge State Park, NC. Hot days, it’s always gratifying when someone coordinator Marc Conklin and Chief and be your partner in kiting. Thanks and maybe even more organized kite squirrelly winds, hang gliders, and shows interest or gets a lesson and Judge Maggie Engvall organized to run to all of you for your help and support festivals out there but for the pure joy those killer dunes made this one of the then gets the kiting bug. all of the IRBC/AKA competitions in to me and your enthusiastic support of of flying I don’t care how large they most challenging festivals of the year. one day. The first step was requiring kiting in the region. You are the ones get, it would be hard to beat this one. From the Old Dominion Sport Kite all competitors to pre-register no later that make it a fun and growing hobby/ The winds were perfect for flying kites than one week before the event — a First-time competitor Laura Ma- Championship (Marc Conklin): sport. See you around the flying fields! and the people were more than happy great help in putting together judging nette shows off her ODSKC prize. There’s a running criticism of the to fly them. Two and four line stunt ODSKC about the lack of wind and panels and event schedules based on Three years have rolled away kite lessons, kid’s kite building, candy simultaneous abundance of heat and each discipline’s number of competi- quickly! I would like to thank all the drops, a buried treasure hunt, ballet humidity. That never stops folks from tors. All but one discipline were com- AKA Region Four members for their and tricks demos, plus a constant sky coming and the 15th annual ODSKC, pleted, leaving only Open Unlimited encouragement and input into the full of kites kept the flyers busy and June 24-25, was no exception, record- for Sunday with plenty of time left for articles. Although I have enjoyed the the public thoroughly impressed. We ing the highest number of competitors the scheduled Tricks Party USA event. opportunity to serve the organization, were joined by our kite friends from on the East Coast for the second year. Saturday evening, a large group of it’s time to let someone else have the all over the state which made a great We were graced with competitors from very tired kitefliers met at the Murray chance to enjoy the role of regional day all the better. Oh yeah! There was up and down the eastern seaboard, home for an outdoor cookout hosted director. While this is my last AKA more food than you could ask for. The as well as a visitor from Washington by Terry Murray and Janis Worth. The article, it certainly won’t be my last Sunset Flyers sure know how to put on State. The reason: biscotti. Fliers food was fantastic, the drinks were AKA event and I look forward to good an event. Great winds, great friends, were greeted Saturday and Sunday flowing, and all had a good time. The winds, good friends and lots more good great food and we even let the public morning by Adrianne and Mearl Balmer, cookout included awards for the day’s times. Thanks again! join in. I can’t wait for the next one, who manned the event’s hospitality events and an auction featuring unique Gary Resnick writes, “Memorial which I hear will be in October. kites from award-winning kitemak- Dennis Kucmerowski says that he Laura Stonestreet tent, handing out home-made biscotti Day had the Sunset Flyers joining up Jay Nunes at Sand Key.

42 Kiting | Summer ’07 Autumn ’07 | Kiting 43 from Florida, were Rob Autrey, Rob- think we hit most of the The Bandana Gang longest running kite bie Boerth and Spencer Meeks. Randy larger events, and they festivals, the 29th Frank Greenway and Brian Sumpter came were all in Michigan. Mots International Kite from Georgia and from the Huntsville On May 18-20 we were Festival on September area were Keith Galeano and Allan in Grand Haven, MI, at the 8-9 at Veteran’s Park in Crow. This is a chance for the readers Great Lakes Kite Festival, Milwaukee. to see what they missed and to mark where the kiters took ad- The Wisconsin Kiters their calenders early, because next vantage of the cool steady held their “Paint Me Pa- year’s event will be around the middle winds generated by Lake triotic” fun fly at the USA of March. “ Michigan. At this event Youth Sports Complex in many of the top stunt kite Appleton, WI, which is teams, performance fliers Region 6 ~ Midwest one of the proposed loca- and show kite aficionados IA-IL-IN-MN-WI tions for the 2009 AKA Barbara Meyer’s Maori kite. from across the country Robert Rymaszewski Convention. Winds were gather each year to hang event short. The folks representing the 3266 S. 44th Street light throughout the day, out and entertain the crowd. This year chamber of commerce indicated that Greenfield, WI 53219 but those in attendance still had a Jamestown, ND, it’s final home will be was no exception. The sky was filled they were pleased with this first time 414/329 9825 good time. The Kiters also will have a Maori museum in New Zealand. Until next time, take care and keep both days with kites of all sizes, styles event and they look forward to doing it [email protected] held their relocated Dodge County Kite and designs. And the spectators lined again in 2008. Roundup in Beaver Dam, WI, at the your eyes to the sky. End of term: 2008 the performance field to see a con- During festivities on Saturday I was Dodge County Fairgrounds. Upcoming tinuing display of talented dual and honored, and surprised, to be inducted events for the Wisconsin Kiters include Here in the middle of the country, Greetings from Region Six! Things quad line performers, and fighter kite as a member of the famed Bandana Kites Over Lake Michigan on September we had a record wet spring and high have been busy here as the summer competitions. If you have never been Gang. Thanks fellows. I shall wear that 1-2 at Nashotah Beach in Two Rivers, winds at every fly we attended this winds down and fall approaches. to this event, be sure to get it on your red hanky with great pride. Oh, by the WI. spring. Now it’s the middle of sum- Members of the Illinois Kite Enthu- calendar in 2008. Thanks to the great way, when am I allowed to take it off? The Minnesota Kite Society and mer, and we wish we had some of siasts were in good attendance at the folks at Mackinaw Kites for the hard My thanks to the Bay City News, members of the Guildworks kite team that moisture and wind. By the time Frontier Kite Festival in Naperville, IL, work and sponsorship. the Tawas Chamber of Commerce, and participated in the Flint Hills Interna- Callaway gets here it should be perfect on June 2-3. Despite some threaten- Next was Breeze on the Bay. The “Kiteman Jack” Quinn for inviting me, tional Children’s Festival in downtown weather and wind. Hope to see a large Region 5 ~ Great Lakes ing clouds and rain on Sunday, kites of Tawas Area Chamber of Commerce and the Bandana Gang, to take part in St. Paul, Minnesota. The festival was group there again this year. MI-OH all sizes and shapes entertained the and the Bay City News sponsored an the area’s first kiting event. themed around kites and featured kite On May 5, we attended Kites over folks who had come out to see what it Jerry McGuire AKA sanctioned event on June 2-3 in Dave Bush, Mary Hoffman, Back flying and kite making. The MKS also Grinnell in Iowa. It was a cool day, but was all about. The rescheduled Perry 5031 Mallet Hill Dr East Tawas, MI, on the shores of Lake 2 the Wind kite club and their many has their Flying Colors Kite Festival at it warmed up as the day progressed. Farm Kite Festival took place over Fa- Cincinnati, OH 45244 Huron. On Saturday the weather was helpers put on a very nice competi- Harvest Park in Maplewood on August We were excited to see all the kitefly- ther’s Day weekend. Skies were clear 513/ 831-8379 great. The wind arrived a little late, tion event, the Michigan Kitefest, in 18th and the Halloween Fun Fly on ers there this year. We want to thank though the light and variable winds about noon, and stayed steady until Richland, MI on June 10-11. Although October 28th at Washburn Elementary all of the wonderful people of Grinnell [email protected] proved to be a challenge. Regulars at late afternoon. So, the Bandana Gang the winds were light and variable most School in Bloomington, MN. End of term: 2008 Perry Farm have seen everything from was able to entertain those in atten- of both days, the sport kite and fighter The Hoosier Kite Society will host high winds to snow over the last few dance with fighter kite, dual-line and kite competitions seemed to go off the Indiana Trick Clinic and Fly on Sep- years. IKE’s own quad kite team will As I am writing this, I am reflect- quad-line demos all afternoon. And a without a hitch. This event has been tember 1-2 at the Muncie AMA grounds, be participating in the Pontiac Kite ing back on the mid-spring and early- few big kites shared the flying field. At held the last two years on a newly- and the annual Merritt Beck Kite Re- Festival at the Pontiac Recreational summer events I attended. It seems night fall, the wind came back and the mowed, very large grassy park. The union there on September 29. Complex in Pontiac, Illinois on August as if the past four or five P.I.G.S. Aloft kite lights came out. The result was kiters in attendance really like this Challenged by the Ordway Theater 25-26 and the DeKalb Kite Festival on events have been hot with almost no one of the best night flys that I can re- place. It is not often that a flying area in St Paul to replicate a traditional September 16. wind. The spectators and participants call. On Sunday the wind did not coo- of this size and quality is available for Maori-style kite to honor the musical By the time this goes to press said that they enjoyed themselves. But erate in the morning and bad weather a sanctioned kiting event. group Wai from New Zealand, kite- the Kite Society of Wisconsin and it would have been much more enjoy- arrived shortly after lunch, making it Now it is on to the North Coast maker Barbara Meyer chose to use Illinois will have taken part at the able if the wind would have cooper- necessary for the sponsors to cut the Stunt Kite Games at Maumee Bay State modern materials instead of bamboo Chicago Botanic Garden Kite Festival ated…...it would have been a Park on Lake Erie, and Kites Over and reeds. The graphics were devel- held on August 11-12. The KSWI will better show. But that is why Branch County in Coldwater, MI. This oped during the collaboration of Wai; a once again host one of the Midwest’s experienced kiters use ban- will wrap up the AKA sanctioned events Native American dance troupe; an East ners, fan-inflatable “sky- in Region Five. Check the schedule at Indian classical troupe; a West African dancers” and other ground www.aka.kite.org for more details on festival troupe; and the builder. Each displays. If you can’t fly, give Region Five events. component has a meaning, such as the Region 7 ~ Great Plains the spectators something else I hope to see you at one of these river that runs across and unites all CO-KS-MO-ND-NE-SD-UT-WY to rave about. Of course, kids festivals. Please look me up. If the peoples, the four-color native circle Donald Murphy flying kites is not dependent wind is up, I will likely be fighting with that represents all peoples of the upon good wind. Young legs a big inflatable or two, and I may need world, and the hands reaching out in 9104 Charles Street seem to easily compensate for your assistance. Oh yes, remember... friendship. The face and feather ring Omaha, NE 68114 no wind. it’s all about putting smiles on faces. around the neck echo the traditional 402/391-8503 Let’s see, where have we Guildworks built a dress of the Maori people. Shown fly- [email protected] been since my last report? I The Michigan Kite Fest crew. logo kite for Target. ing at the Wings on Strings festival in End of term: 2008

44 Kiting | Autumn ’07 Autumn ’07 | Kiting 45 for all of their hospitality and great or- “silent heroes,” be sure to give them Lincoln City held another of their ganization of events. There was some an extra round of applause for their annual Summer Festival events on the excellent flying both indoors and out. unselfish attention to sharing the joys beautiful Oregon coast, attracting fly- Memorial Weekend took us to Gar- of kiting to a new generation. Without ers from as far away as San Diego and rison, ND, for Skydance. We had lots of them, where would we all go to gossip Canada, as well as the usual excellent sunshine and beautiful weather. Tons and compare notes? Plus, I thank you array of performers and artists from of thanks to our wonderful hostess, ALL for attending the festivals, as- all over Oregon and Washington. If Deb Lenzen. As usual, she held a great sisting the organizers, supporting the you’ve never been to a Lincoln City event and a great party for all those AKA, and for your continued love and event, I highly recommend it! The or- who attended. support of kiting! ganizers are outstanding, the flying is Twisted Lines Kite Festival was Compared to some of the more generally quite good, and the coastline held June 8-10 at a new location in structured kitemaking workshops is always worth the trip anyway. For Topeka. This event is put on by Bob throughout the country, the Junction more information about Lincoln City Homan every year, and it’s about the Kitemakers Retreat on Memorial Day events, be sure to visit their web site only competition held in Region Seven. weekend may seem pretty weird and (www.lincolncity.org) for the sched- Bob holds an auction every year to unstructured. But we’re in Texas, and uled dates of their three annual kite help raise funds for the American Dia- we like things a little more relaxed events. Speaking of Lincoln City, betes Association. Region 8 ~ South Central and “laid back.” At Junction, you can Region 9 ~ Intermountain please take note of the Fall Festival, wander into one classroom to get an scheduled for October 13-14. Held on AR-LA-NM-OK-TX ID-MT-OR That’s hospitality: at Jamestown, overview and start a project, then the same beach, it’s another worth- John Barresi Mike Gee repairs Al Sparling’s Gayle Woodul cruise over to another class and see while trip. barrel. 106 Main Street what’s happening there. As always, 1236 N. Killingsworth Street, #3 This issue of Kiting will already be Region 10 ~ Northwest Marble Falls, TX 78654 Junction was a wealth of informa- Portland, OR 97217 published by the time we’re finished AK - WI 830/598-2414 tion and a load of fun! A HUGE thanks 503/890-0280 with the event, but the Southern Ore- Marla Miller [email protected] to Judy Kingery and Bob Josjor for [email protected] gon Kite Festival which will be held on 5440 N. 49th Street End of term: 2008 the intricate coordination involved in End of term: 2009 the third weekend of July in Brookings Tacoma, WA 98407 out. The DeFoors put on back-to-back making Junction a reality, and to all is always one of my favorite festivals 253/752-7051 of the instructors and attendees who of the year. Featuring an all-star list of weekend festivals in Ruidoso, NM. Ben As I write this, we’ve just finished [email protected] bring their expertise and their sense of performers and artists, the exhibitions Gray organized a few new events with the first day of a kite show for the Red End of Term: 2009 adventure and fun to Junction. are always top notch and their specta- Austin Parks & Rec throughout the Bull Air Races in Interlaken, Switzer- was there with all of his banners lining

Betty Murphy The AKA convention’s right around tors are some of the most friendly and spring. George Weber and the Dallas land. Ten international kite fliers have the corner and I hope to see some of appreciative that I’ve encountered the edge of the field, along with Art Area Kitefliers Organization (DAKO) been gathered together by Rock + On June 9-10, we attended Kite you there! As anyone who’s caught a anywhere. Although there isn’t space Ross and Ron Button flying Art’s big were out there cordoning off fields for Partner to create an exhibition during Fest in Jamestown, ND. We have glimpse of me at conventions knows, for non-invited flyers to put kites up, kites, and Scott and Kristian Slater festivals more times than they’d like to this race plane event, with other dates watched this festival grow each year. I’ve got my afterburners in high gear, they certainly put on one heck of a flew their big “Harry Osbourne” kite. remember. And thanks to the diligence scheduled later in the year for London, Thanks to our hosts, Mike Gee and so don’t feel bad if you have to tackle show and it’s an excellent opportunity The sky was full of wonders in every and dedication of the kiter/organizers, San Diego and Perth. Pilots from the Chris Dodson and all of their hard me to get a word in edgewise! Region to meet some truly great kiters. color that you can imagine. many reliable local events continue USA, Canada, France, UK and Japan work. Eight will be represented in many com- I know it’s a poor excuse, but I’ve I know you have all seen this, but to thrive! Although attention gener- have worked together to create a We hope that many of you are all petitive venues at Ocean Shores this received little to no news from orga- the best kite in the air was a new little ally goes to the highly publicized large blend of single line displays combined planning to attend Callaway this year year including Fighters, Sport Kites, nizers or fliers from Region Nine about white sled kite that the Windriders are festivals with hundreds of spectators, with dual and quad line performances, on Labor Day Weekend. We wait all and Kite Makers, so be sure to give recent or upcoming events this time now making for children (please note the grass roots efforts and smaller local as individuals, pairs and team! Look year for this fun event. It is a great those folks an extra pat on the back around. I heartily encourage each and the big kid flying it). This is patterned events continue to introduce children for more news from these events in weekend of flying, food and fun. and wish them luck. Of course, the every one of you to send information, and new people to kiting. Deep appre- some of your favorite kite publications Susan Gomberg and Penny Enjoy the sky! only bad thing about any AKA conven- photos and/or event reports to me for ciation to the Regional “Eyes On The very soon. Lingenfelter at Brookings. Ground” who act as the kiting liaison tion is that you just can’t be every- inclusion in the quarterly RD reports in Weather has, once again, been for these smaller, yet critical, festivals! where at once! Plan your schedule Kiting. Besides the inherent benefits a challenge this kiting season! (Do I Although it’s sometimes an invisible carefully to make sure that you get the of sharing with other kite fliers, this sound like a broken record?). Record and thankless job, the wheels wouldn’t maximum benefit out of the wealth is an excellent medium with which to

rainfall in many locations has turned a even BEGIN to turn without their dedi- of knowledge and entertainment David Gomberg let others know about your events and few dedicated kite fields into swamps! cation! When you run into any of these available, but also don’t overlook local happenings. Regardless, we just pull on our Wel- the opportunity to just hang lingtons and slog on! When lightning out and meet new folks. As Have you ever had one of those begins, we just transfer the activity overwhelming as convention fantastic weekends? The weekend of from outdoor kiting to indoor kitemak- can be, remember that it’s the July 13-15 was one of those at Gray- ing (or maybe an emergency trip to people of the AKA that make it land, WA, spent with husband Ron and the Dairy Queen)! so special. many kiteflying friends at the Westport Unfortunately, we saw some of our Drive safely, fly friendly, Windriders Kite Festival. The weather “mainstay” festivals cancelled this keep looking up, and — as was superb and the winds came off year. As much as we hated to see that, always — see ya on the kite the ocean for perfect kite flying. The we also had a myriad of new local fields! invited guest was Ellen Pardee and her

festivals pop up, so I suppose it evened Marshall Harris The Kite Fest Louisiane krewe. Brookings bears. wonderful array of kites. Bob Serack David Gomberg

46 Kiting | Autumn ’07 Autumn ’07 | Kiting 47 from the green sled kite belonging to idea and it went over very well. Only June 2 was a new date for the the White Horse Kite Flyers of the UK. two complaints and a great deal of Calaveras event in California’s Gold Their logo is printed on their green praise for helping our flyers have their country. The weather was perfect sled and Neil Harvey made modifica- space at festivals. Watch for the per- and the winds were quite useable tions to it years ago to make it even a son handing out wristbands at the next for mountain wind! The organizers better flyer. Over several trips to the festival. wanted something new so came up UK and making a few kites with them What’s for the future…. AKA with a kite battle. They gave each of at different festivals, I fell in love with CONVENTION, right here in our own us small plastic kites and had us stand it. I do recall one weekend we made state. That will be at Ocean Shores in in a large circle. The idea was to have 1000 kites with kids. What a thrill; I case you haven’t heard. By the time a kite destruction derby, but the line just didn’t think I would ever stand up you read this, we will already have a that came with these kites was so poor straight again. It is a great little flyer. winner of the raffle for free registra- Russell Roby’s 12-point double it seemed to break just looking at it. They have been making their “green tion. There is still time to sign up and star took flight at Berkeley. Still we had fun running around in that frog” for at least 15 years, not only have a great time with your AKA fam- circle, thinking that we actually had at kite festivals but schools and other ily. Meet with old friends, make new Alex Herzog, and Dave Sabolino. Dave’s some kind of control till the last kite venues. With the White Horse Kite friends and see what’s new. wife Claudia did her first demo in front remained. Bryan Blattel was the vic- Flyers’ permission I started looking Check out who will be at Fort Wor- of a crowd! Along with the local flyers tor, and he even got a nice engraved After four days of giving Rev les- for a company that could get us the den in March, (www.kitemakers.org), this year, Lam Hoac attended. Lam plaque. Next year I’m bringing good sons at Wildwood, Ben Dantonio right plastic and be able to print the and yes, there’s a raffle. If you want a said he had a blast and wants to return line! gives in to exhaustion. Region 11 ~ N. California next year. The hitch I mentioned: Erik The Bay Area Sport kites new Santa Northern CA-NV Froeming from Elko, NV, was flying Cruz most-excellent-full-blown-kite Saturday of each month and has lots of Brian Champie his big sled lifter and the winds took festival on September 22 is shaping up fun. The club has gotten a new event 7510 Corrinne St. his kite into a lamp as well! Right to be quite a big deal. You can find all off the ground in Los Angeles called San Ramon, CA 94583 over a busy walkway, tugging on the the information at www.erzin.net/ Kites Over Silver Lake. It was very well 925/829-0683 kite pulled off the lamp lens and left KiteFest/. Those BASKL buddies keep attended by the local community. With the help of Team Too Much Fun (Ron [email protected] it dangling precariously. After some on amazing. Despojado, Mark and Jeanette Lum- End of Term: 2009 time we were assured that it would never come down as it is attached with mas) and many of the local flyers from a nice change! Again I managed to get aircraft cable. NOT! Sunday afternoon the San Diego region, they battled ter- the fire department and their pretty that 20” thing came down and crashed rible conditions to put on a great show. new ladder truck to come out and The city of Los Angeles has asked the retrieve my 252 with 350’ of tail off club to put on a yearly event which of one of their seemingly hundreds of may even be held on the beach next huge lamps. The dang thing managed year, so keep your fingers crossed. to tangle on a lamp upwind from its I also had the chance to go to Sylmar, anchor. Like I said, goofy wind! The CA, and fly kites and talk with the lo- The scene at Westport. BBQ was as awesome as ever. Who is cal community. I learned that cook anyway?! a lot and they had a great time flying Windrider logo on it. Well, three years ticket, get in touch with me. There was a rare sighting of Dan both Revolution kites and stunt kites. later, it is now flying here on the Pa- Have you heard about the great Whitney at the Newark Family kite day Hopefully I will return in the future. cific coast. The Windriders are looking little book just out offered by Drachen on May 12. Dan, Bryan Blattel and I forward to putting more of the little Foundation? Being a huge “Thank entertained the crowds with the big Time to catch up with world news. white sleds in the sky. Hopefully along You Charlie” fan and friend, this is a kites while Jim Strealy did the candy Canada first! the way we will hook some newcomers must for your kite book collection. drops. It was a good day AND they pay The Niagara festival is September 27-30, meaning Region Thirteen travel- to this great sport and they will move ‘The Cocktail-Napkin Kite” by Charlie us real money! A rare Dan Whitney sighting. on from the little white sled to bigger Sotich. It is a limited edition, so act The San Ramon Wind fest went lers get TWO festivals in TWO weeks and better kites. Thank you to the fast! Drachen also has a new address: off nearly without a hitch. The stellar — the AKA Convention starts October White Horse club and the Windriders 400 Roy Street, Suite A, Seattle, WA group of kiters includied Penny Lingen- onto the concrete below like a bomb! 1. That’s value for your travel money. for all their work. 98109. felter, Susan Shampo, Ron Despojado, No harm though, no one was injured! Region 12 ~ Southwest It’s not too late: register NOW online. Kevin and I are definitely going and we Something new here in Region Ten Have fun flying and great times Dave Hoggan’s 1000 ft2 The party at my place on Saturday Southern CA-AZ-HI look forward to meeting more Region is the use of wristbands and a sign up with your kite friends. flag at the San Ramon night saw over 50 well-fed kiters and Ben Dantonio Thirteeners. sheet to list all flyers on the fields. Memorial Day fly. family members. 1320 Flamingo Place This is a safe step forward to have a Wow, it’s been crazy busy in Cali- The annual Marina Kite Festival Toronto held their Four Winds El Cajon, CA 92021 Kite Festival May 5-6, where Miss Ohio way of identifying kite flyers who be- fornia kiteland! near Monterey is one of my favorites. 619/750-8770 long on the fields and keep those stray The Lee Toy memorial fly hap- It’s a small-town festival; we try to fly entertained. Why Four Winds? That’s [email protected] souls out of the flying fields who want pened on April 22. It was a nice day as our kites, but for the most part the how many ways the wind can shift in to just drift through and look at the the family brought some of Lee’s kites families and kids take over by mid-day End of Term: 2007 a day! Upcoming event will be the kites in the sky. We can then ask them and everyone helped fly them. and we have to get out of the way. It’s Hello everyone. I hope all your Toronto Kitefest, September 15-16, in (politely) to move to the other side of The Paso Robles event moved to great fun to watch, help and duck for days are as full of sun and wind as Milliken Park. the ropes and watch from a safe place. May 6 and had the best wind ever, still cover! Dinner at the South Texas BBQ mine have been. As always, the San Ray Bethell entertained at the Cer- Westport was the first to try this new challenging but more and all day for keeps me wanting to go back! Diego kite club meets the second via festival in Italy for the twelfth year

48 Kiting | Autumn ’07 Autumn ’07 | Kiting 49 open on Pelee Island in spring of Sundays in a row! Not to be beaten by 2008.” Check www.thekitemuseum. weather, the White Horse Kite Flyers com. This info from George Paisiovich, ran their children’s kite workshop at Ontario. the Bedford Kite Festival, June 23-24, News from the U.S. Postal Ser- even with the cloudbursts. Miriam vice... mail categories have changed. Schafler & Barbara Hall travelled from There will no longer be slow-boat USA to enjoy some WHKF hospitality, Surface mail to Region Thirteen. It’s AND some English rain it seems. now all International First Class. This The Wedding of the Year? Andrew “We Will Conquer The Moon”: should mean FASTER delivery for KIT- and Kathleen Beattie celebrated at the Umbowers’ peartop. ING issues. the Wirral Kite Festival, along with an A donzella-style kite Who’d have thought 927 kites in International guest list, co-ordinated by Holland’s Jan Kitt. the air at the same time would be a by Malcolm & Jeanette Goodman. Ask A classic Rolo plan. World Record? Guinness judged it so why his T-shirt boasted “the Arno Haft bird replicas for Rotary International, April 14 in Goatherd?” Ask Andrew and Kathleen by the Umbowers and Bournemouth, UK. But... how many about their 11 toasters and one loaf of Toersten Neurath. Region 13 ~ International THOUSANDS fly each Linda Sanders year in Ahmedabad, India? And, from P. O. Box 758 World Kite Museum, Willunga SA 5172 AUSTRALIA “The most kites (+61) 885-562696 flown in the sky at [email protected] one time is 4,663 End of Term: 2009 at Long Beach, WA.” Or, from in a row. “They give me my own arena Robyne Gardner, on the beach to give all-day multiple AKA Records Com- kite demos every day for ten days. The mittee, “The record A closer look at the Europeans really support kite festivals. for the Most Kites craftsmanship of I have 15 International kite festivals up Flown on a Single Kitt’s donzella to the end of November and my kite Line is 11,284 kites season will finish in Perth, Australia.” flown in Kagoshima, That’s a great way for enjoying life. Japan, October 18, iQuad (half their members are 1990 by a team lead Andrew and Kathleen Beattie like big balls. Region Thirteen) sure have been REV by Sadao Harada.” More from Fanø busy, e.g. Windscape Kite Festival, Sas- Wonder what Guinness uses as criteria? bread! Andrew and Kathleen’s latest katchewan, June 23-24, but now David Now the Scout Association in South creation is an eight meter football photos by Bob and Hathaway and John Barresi are flying Australia wants to challenge Rotary’s (that’s way over 21 feet). A new chal- multiline pairs as “Furious George”!?? record on August 18 at Glenelg Beach, lenge for Beckham, perhaps? Charmayne Umbowers “Canada’s first kite museum will where the aim is Samir Ariff, India, tells me how a 3,000 kites. I’ll great-great-great-great-grandfather, A flat kite from German master Peter Schmidt. keep you updated! Haji Cassim Ariff, established the first Rod Gant, UK, “Silk Mill” in Bengal in 1881. From tells, “Whilst the another ancestor, Samir now has some rest of the UK was carefully-preserved record-making This bol is built from more than 200 being rained on kites from 19th century. Collectables! actual umbrellas. enough to need an The Supreme Court in Pakistan has ark, I had mostly upheld the ban on kite flying, except A balmy day for kites in bright sunshine.” in February, and any kite festival is St.-Placide, Quebec. He was up on the now subject to prior approval, says Isles of Lewis and Muhammad Amir, Karachi. “It has Harris in the Outer caused us to worry,” say kite business- Hebrides. Idyllic. es and flyers. Not so good Finally, the 1st International Kite for Swindon Kite Festival and Exhibition is to be held Festival. David in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, October 14- Robinson says May 23. All AKA fliers are welcome. E-mail was rained out, [email protected] for registra- and June was the tion info. A pair of Dutch edos take shelter from wettest month on Less talk – more fly. See you in the storm at the Bedford Kite Festival. record. Eight wet October!

50 Kiting | Autumn ’07 Summer ’07 | Kiting 51

Doug Jones

Blondie And The Man In Black British kitemaker Kelvin Woods has a new creation: an edo featuring the iconic Debbie Harry of the band Blondie. Kelvin’s last kite — named the 2006 Kite of the Year on the Kitebuilder’s Forum — featured the Man in Black, Johnny Cash. The kite came to the attention of Johnny’s brother, Tommy, who wanted the kite for the Cash family. A huge Johnny Cash fan, Kelvin built a scaled-down duplicate and shipped it off to Nashville. Word is the Cash clan loves the kite.

KAPping Amelia This summer, researchers from The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) began using kite aerial photography as part of their search of Nikumaroro atoll in the South Pacific. The group believes it may be where Amelia Earhart crashed in 1937. KAP expert David Wheeler (featured in Kiting in the Spring ‘07 issue) consulted with members of the team on how to best use KAP for archaelogy.

Nemo Found In Fanø New Zealand’s Robert Van Weer unveiled a new twist on a familiar design at the Fanø Kite Festival in Denmark in June. His “Clown Bol” is a sea anemone on a rock, with four clownfish hiding amidst the 100 tentacles. His shoal of yellow tang also drew interest.

Disaster du Jour Every sport kiter has done it. You hear a “pop,” figure it’s probably just a standoff settling back into place, and keep on flying. As Glen Rothstein found out, though, sometimes the human drama of athletic competition rears its ugly head. At right is the top spreader of his Prism Eclipse. Glen was told he has “mad skills.” Karen Gustavson