KITE LINES / WINTER-SPRING 1996 I KAMC -- Volume 11, Number 4, Winter-Spring 1996
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QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE WORLDWIDE KITE COMMUNITY w - - WINTER-SPRING 1996, VOL. 11 NO. 4 FOR ALL YOUR KITING NEEDS Made in the UISIAl PACIFIC HEIGHTS, INC. P.O.Box 460729 San Francisco, CA 94146 Tel(415) 550-7155 FLU (41 5) 550- 1942 I I - 4 / KITE LINES / WINTER-SPRING 1996 I KAMC -- Volume 11, Number 4, Winter-Spring 1996 Contents 3 Features Posrcaras rrom ran@/ LU No organization, no schedule, just m-i-1-e-s of kites. First in a series by Dave Gomberg. Synthetic Dog Team: Kites / 25 How did three adventurers ski the Greenland ice cap? With Quadrifoils. By Eric Philips. Kite Patents / 28 A history of kite patents plus how to get a patent. Questions answered by Ed Grauel. Roundtable Mallorca / 32 Seven artists gather at the Miro Foundation for Art Volant to exhibit, fly and talk kites. Their views and manifesto are as creative as their kites. By Tal Streeter. Nepal's Kites: Above the Clouds / 36 Photographs by Stephen C. Lowe. Two views of kiting in Nepal: "Always Time for Kites" Stephen C. Lowe and "Cutting is the Greatest Fun" by Nirmal M. Tuladhar. Skiing the Beach: A Profile of Stan Rogers / 47 The ebullientinventor promotes skis, not wheels behind kites. By Steve McKerrow. My Friends the Diisseldorfers / 52. One of Europe's great kite clubs and how it lives. By Me1 Govig. Letter from the Publisher / 9 Letters / 11 Caribbean Kite Company Design Workshop / 12 1099 N.E. 45 Street The Tekaweya stunter by Michael Graves. Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33334 U.S.A. Tel: 305-776-5433 What's New: Kites / 15 The Silencer from Tori Tako; the Prowler from Cosmic Kites; the Jam Session from HQ Fax 305-776-5434 Kites; the Mighty Mite Fighter from Jordan Air; and Le Frog from Inflight. + What's New: Books / 19 Caribbean Kite Company The Tao ofKiteflying by Harm van Veen; Making & Flying Stunt Kites & One-Liners by P.O.Box 39, Lucea Wolfgang Schimmelpfennig; China Kites by Liu Zhen; plus forecasts of upcoming books. Hanover, Jamaica, W.I. Ultimate Questions: What is a Kite? Responses / 22 Tel: 809-956-267 Fax: 809-956-2677 Excerpts from impassioned and humorous responses by Internet and by mail + For the Record / 42 Caribbean Kite Company Peter Lynn apd Kelvin Kroschell push the envelopes for the largest and smallest kites in the Weidestrasse 147 really big show at Epcot; plus a rundown on five kite records set recently. 22083 Hamburg, Germany It Works For Me / 51 Tel: 040-220 13 59 Fax: 040-220 16 45 Special Guest: Peter Rieleit / 53 The Diisseldorfer explains how shape creates stability in his soft kites. Empty Spaces in the Sky / 63 Re~nemberingBobIngraham by Tal Streeter;James White by Peter Lynn and Shakib Gunn. In the Wind / 65 SkyGallery / 66 Tom McAlister of Richmond, California, maker of masterful miniatures. Kite Lines Bookstore, Back Issues and Other Goodies / 57 Classifieds / 68 Directory of Outlets / 69 Pocket Kite Calendar / Insert -- b A "kite shop" in Bhaktapur, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal where fighter mes are flown from rooftops during Caribbean Kite Company Dasain, the fall harvest festival. (See story on page 36). Photograph by Stephen C. Lowe. 6 / KITE LINES / WINTER-SPRING 1996 A kiteli6e that lets you FLY LtiZ YOU M' you're serious about your k'1 e flying, get ready for some serious flyline. Because once you soar with LaserProTMfrom Innovative Textiles, you'll fly with no other! Braided from the highest quality virgin materials, LaserProTMflylines are, simply, the thinnest, strongest, slickest lines available today. ) You Can Feel The Difference! Minimum parasitic drag, low elongation, superior con- I trol resolution . Here's what that means to you on the flying field: ABSOLVIF COHlROL IMMEDIATE RESPONSE EXCEPnONA. PERFORMANCE Twist after twist, the incredible slickness of the LaserProTMline keeps you in control throughout the most demanding maneuvers. (In 1994, the World your kite flying, if - Record of 328 revolutions was captured using this line). you're ready to take Whether you choose the incomparable quality of absolute control, if LaserProTMflylines made from Spectra. fiber, or the you're ready to FLY I 'outstanding value of Dacron@,we guarantee that you will not be disappointed. LIKE YOU MEAN IT. Available in competition grade, sport grade, or micro line! now from your local kite retailer. LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER Wanted: A Few Stout Hearts ver the last 19 years, Kite Lines has Your publisher yields this space for an greater stimulus. From success one can charted the growth of kite extrava- 0 important announcement from her spouse. explore all the other aspects of a project. Or ganzas. The drive for bigger, faster and pret- one can simply go on succeeding, enjoying tier has taken kiteflying from children's the empirical skills and crafts and perhaps hands and transformed it into a spectator into the schedule, must have "meaning": a one day passing them on to a child. That sport. I don't discount the spectacle or regret history lesson on the birth of aviation; a child might pass them on to another, and so the involvement of adults. I do wonder geography lesson on kites from foreign on, ad infinitum. about the children. lands; a math lesson on weights, balances or For kitefliers who started at the end Luckily, there are a few stout hearts who symmetry; a spelling lesson on all the new amidst the spectacle, I suggest a drift back- still get their greatest enjoyment from words learned that week. ward. Make a basic diamond kite from paper putting kites and kids together in the wind. How about a fun lesson; a "Eureka" les- and wood. Make a few sled kites. Overcome This tradition could use a spot of encour- son; a wind in the hair lesson; a "Yes, I can" your own embarrassment at this simple agement. All of us need, now and again, to lesson. A fourth-grade teacher once scolded pleasure and share the experience. You will see the ingenuous discovery in a child's face me for making it too easy for her students to soon find that if you owe your pleasure to on a first flight. succeed! She said it deprived them of the les- kites, the debt may run deeper. You may owe Of course, children are awestruck by the son of failure and the triumph of recovery. kites the pleasure of your life. flying circus of the international kite festival, Her students, from poor rural neighbor- Share. Share with children. If you are too. But that's viewing, not doing. There's hoods, had chances enough for failure. uncomfortable with children, share with nothing like seeing and feeling one's own For the 10 percent or so who program other adults and make believe they are chil- kite fly. their own computers, take toys apart to see dren (hey, they were once). Too often, though, teachers and parents how they work or delve into the whys and Get the motion started, then stand back. want the kite to carry more than its designed hows, this over-analysis of kites is great. For Trust me, you'll enjoy it. load. A kite project at school, to be allowed the other 90 percent, proven success is a Pyd WINTER-SPRING 1996 / KITE LINES / 9 Our Retail Family Scraobook I For catalog send $1 to JOE VAUGHAN P.O. Box 276 Mifflinville, PA 18631 I 1 Phone or Fax: 3rd Annual fun comes the money. Nicest sale ever made: A Lar mite book read: Das young boy gave me 100 1x1 des Lendrachen shilling ($10) for a kite. A customer overheard and Store: Fly Highm Fliegens (The 1x1 about gave me another 200 Argentinierstrasse 16 Flying Spartkites) by shilling and told me to sell A-1040 Wien, AUSTRIA Andreas Grimm the boy the delta kite, the Tel: c43-1-50-50-260 Latest promotional best kite in the store. Floor space: 700 sq ft effort: The One Sky One Best fringe benefit of the Hours: M, Tu, Th, F 10-6 World festival in October store: Traveling the world Wed. 10-8 and accompanying press and meeting friends. Sat. 9-1 releases on TV and radio Favorite issue of Kite Years in business: 7% nationwide. Lines: Winter-Spring Years carried Kite Lines: 6% Specialty of the store: 1987 for Berlin: Kites Owner: Helmut C. Georgi Every Friday at 2pm one Above the Wall (I grew up Age: 43 of us goes to the flying in Berlin), and Thai Kites Favorite food: Malaysian field to help kitefliers AKA &Western Sport Kite League sanc- which got me interested Last book read: Der Schatz "hands-on" at no charge. tioned competition des Priarnos (The Treasure Most important advice comprehensive competition of Priarnos) by Philip ever received: With the Over one mile of controlled beach flying fields Contact: Eric Halverson, Event Coordinator North Coast Sky Painters P.O. Box 88, Copalis Beach, WA 98535 (360) 289-2982 10 / KITE LINES / WINTER-SPRING 1996 Festivals, Kite Art.. 6 Bats Balancing Priorities when such a kite could win. It has to be very A few words concerning the Israeli Inter- large, probably expensive, patchworked and national Kite Festival, April 1995 that I orga- appliqukd. nized (Summer-Fall 1995 Kite Lines): Sour grapes? Perhaps. But I think I would The kite festival was the second one I've be invited to festivals around the world artistically directed. Fortunately and unfor- more if I put sticks on our double-bed's tunately I act according to my intuition "Trip Around the World" quilt cover. It's which is sometimes left aside due to lack of big, it's colorful, it's beautiful, it would fly- experience.