QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE WORLDWIDE KITE COMMUNITY w - FALL 1994, VOL. 11 NO. 1 Free 80 Page Catalog of Kites I Get the kites you want from Into The Wind, America's leading mail order kite company. We're known for our unmatched selection and fast service, and we guarantee your satisfaction with everything you buy. Great Prices on Sport Kites! Now you can have it all! The best kites, the best service and competitive prices from the best Kite Catalog. Evervthinna u for the Kiteflier I Hundreds of kites to choose from Kitemaking supplies and tools Best selection bf kite line anywhere Into The WindTM 1408-G Pearl Street, Boulder, Colorado 80302 Call toll free: 1-800-541 -03 14 4 / KITE LINES / FALL 1994 < Volume 11, Number 1, Fall 1994 111 I Sales Rep: Coastal Breeze I I Contents Making Waves! A First-Ever Kitesailing Regatta / 21 Ten competitors meet to race over Mediterranean waves under kite power. By Me1 Govig. Shirone's Great New Kite Museum / 25 The opening of this museum in Japan in August is a reward for 1%billion yen spent, a fulfillment of years of dreaming and work-and a glory to visit. By Pierre Fabre. The Superfast Fighter Kites of Korea / 31 The underappreciated Korean kite comes to the fore at the Seoul International Kite Festival. With a brief Who's Who of Korean kiting and details of kites, reels and cutting line that together make these kites the most dangerous in the world. By Pierre Fabre. Sidebar: At Peace at a Kite Fight: A Passionate Appreciation. By Me1 Govig. Transparency & Complexity: Kites, Art 8 Ideas by Joan Montcada / 36 The slim distinction between kites and art is apparent in the work of this articulate artist of Catalonia, Spain. By Joan Montcada. Where History Gleams: The 4th Thailand International / 47 Over 100 kiters fly their finest creations at Bangkok's Grand Palace. By Simon Freidin George Lawrence: A Giant of Kite Aerial Photography / 52 Finding the truth about the photographer of San Francisco's 1906 fire. By Simon Baker. Letter from the Publisher / 8 Letters / 10 Design Workshop / 12 The Parasled by John Verheij. What's New: Kites / 15 The WhangDoodle from It's a Breeze; the MEFM from the Big Easy Kite Co.; the Trooper from Skynasaur; the Pro-S from Wolkenstiirmer; the Parafoil from Aerial Kinetics; the USA Starfighter from USA Starfighter; and the Flying Dutchman from Twisk. Call us today for a What's New: Books / 22 Stunt Kites II by Servaas van der Horst & Nop Velthuizen, A Beginner's Guide to Flying great new catalog. Indian Fighter Kites by Shirley Turpin, Kiting to Record Altitudes by Richard P. Synergy, Kites for Kids by Wayne Hosking and a new edition of Kites for Kiwis by Colin McGeorge. It Works for Me / 29 Special Guest: Bobby Stanfield / 43 My Family of Custom Fittings. For the Record / 50 Empty Spaces in the Sky / 63 Dean Bigler, Nicholas Van Sant. In the Wind / 65 SkyGallery / 66 Jimmy Sampson hits the high notes in Rome, Italy. Kite Lines Bookstore, Back Issues and Other Goodies / 57 Classifieds / 68 Directory of Outlets / 69 COASTALBREEZE Pocket Kite Calendar (/ Insert Tel: 7 14-498-KITE Fax: 7 14-837-7452 Marta Montcada holds a luminous Double Rectangle for launch at Castelldefels beach, Barcelona The kite is made by her father, Joan Montcada. Photograph by Joan Montcada. (Story on page 36.) 6 / KITE LINES / FALL 1994 Great High Quality Kites STOP AND SEE US! In Vemd will be present Made in Germany at the KTA Trade Show, by In Vento Bowth No. 406 BleicherstraJe 3 in OrIando, Florida, 0-26122 Oldenburg JO-15 Januag, 1995. Tel. +49 441 - 154 14 Fax +49 441 - 151 01 LETTER FROM THE PUBUSHER In Pmise of Low Tech lting has its share of cliches, and one of them is the conjec- makers use only original materials for their authentic kites. Some r rture that if the heroes of kite history (Hargrave, Cody, Bell, et are said to research down to the very sources and fanaticallyuse al.) had lived among today's high-tech materials, they would the same fibers produced by the same mills. have used them. This March saw the birth of a new club devoted to fighter Oh, really? How can we be so sure? kites, the Manjha Club International. It is devoted to bringing I'm here to suggest that we think again about this one. better attention to the single-line (rather than multiline) maneu- It bothers me that our slick synthetics have charmed us away verable kite. Its first quarterly newsletter, "The Manjha News," from appreciating things like paper, cotton, wood. These "old" written in French and English (editor Philippe Gallot), appeared materials have properties we may actually be unable to match in this spring. Dues of 100 francs bring a pin and the promise of our obsession with the latest and the lightest. The maleability of "sore hands all together." (Address: La wood and bamboo, the color-absorbency of cotton and the good Petite Chausee, 17700 Marsais, France.) cheapness of paper come to mind. In June I to?% another swig of appre- During my visit to the ciation for natural materials when I Rendez-Vous Mondial du Cerf- went to Colorado for the World's Volant in Verdun, Qui.bec, Smallest Kite Festival. Both nylon mono- Canada this June, I had the filament and split bamboo were used for pleasure of talking to Marzukhi spars, but some of the lightest sails-and Jamaludin of Malaysia. What a richest colors-were found in tissue paper. view he gave me of kites! To him, Other examples of the "old" materials all the sewn nylon creations that abound. Surely they have yet to be fully filled the sky at the festival were not exploited. What a shame if all our kites and kites. To him, only kites of paper and ambitions have to be built on synthetics. bamboo, made at the right time, in Besides, as sure as we take pride in today's the right spirit, after the right training, I"" wonderful materials, tomorrow's will come 4 along and "supersede" them. In only a few could live up to the level he 4 defined for kites. He talked g years we may look back upon our ripstop and S n about the inviting smell 1 Q:5 6 our graphite as merely the crude beginnings the paper. He talked about Counterclockwisefrom top right: crafting a kite that moves 5 4 In Verdun: traditional long-tailed kite of cotton and yaripa cane from u3 m Colombia; Marzukhi Jamaludin of Malaysia with one of his kites; with life. He talked about i 0 m p at the World's Smallest Kite Festival, a beautiful paper bird by Mary God as a presence validating Helsaple; in Spain, "Ten Boxes," paper kite by Joan Montcada. the acts of kitemaking and 5 2 x 8 flymg. He did not talk like gL of kiting's technological revolution. As for any other kiter I had met I what our great-grandchildren will think, before, and he spread the some 20 to 60 years hence, our methods compass of my kite worldview by miles. may become quaint bygones by then. Marzukhi, I owe you something for this @. But if we are lucky, the next generation And then there was my friend-through-correspondence will appreciate every step along the path William G. Wing, who told me he had heard that the prop- to more rewarding kites. That's only if erties of bamboo had been shown to be on a par or superior we leave to our heirs the full legacy, all to many manmade materials. (Someday we will have to find e way back to leaves and hemp and all the data behind this powerful assertion.) the way forward to ripstop and Spectra. Natural materials are more than a subject for talk. They seem So while we rejoice at our ever-increasingarray of choices in to be enjoying a revival in actual use. I cite the historic kites jute materials, we should celebrate and extend our "low-tech" being reproduced by a handful of specialized kiters such as Jan options as well. (And think of the money we'll save!) Fischer of The Netherlands, Jan Desimpelaere if Belgium, Werner Schmidt of Germany and Jeff Cain of the United States. Is this a mini-trend, a subspecialty or a cult? Call it as you-seeit, these 8 / KITE LINES / FALL 1994 e inspiration ... BANANA The product ... SPIDER Pembrey Farm House Buq Tell Fax: 0554-834937 Air toys, Bella Donna, books, Mobile: 0831-186493 Wales boomerangs, Buffalo Cody Boxes, UK SA16 OYT ondor Kites, delta facets, fighters light accessories, Griffin, Jacki evin Shannon, kite bags, Kite mates, Martin Lester, Optikites Cody, Paraflex, parafoils, Pete flatables and buggies, pins, Prof aldof, Quicksilver, Revolution, anti Line Products, Sky Delig Speedwings, Squadron, TC UI eries, Top Of The Line, Trlby wister (quad) winders and st F we'd be happy to direct you to the nearest deale who sells our fine products. FALL 1994 / KITE LINES I9 Our 'boLines to India? (Callme paranoid or precious if you like but I was somewhat dismayed by your small news item ("In the Wind," Spring-Summer 1994 Kite Lines) about the Indian kite festi- val in Ahmedabad. I'm a team flier who would love to go to India for January 14th (anyyear. I think a team flying competition would look fantastic in the middle of that mayhem. Why any of this should be a prob- lem I can't imagine.