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Kite News

  • Kites… Life.

    It’s been a long time since we’ve published anything for our online magazine (March 2014 to be exact), almost exactly one and a half years has passed with many adventures and changes on this end – other than some forum discussion and social media posts, I’ve never actually published a clear article about the magazine’s inactivity so you have [...]

  • Kite Party 12!

    The 12th annual Kite Party  in Huntington Beach CA, March 8th & 9th, was kite geek heaven. What sets Kite Party apart from most events is that it is entirely by and for kite people. Spectators are welcome and often performed for, but it’s really all about kites and kite flyers. Dave Shenkman, owner of [...]

  • Sneak Peek – 9th WSKC

    A Preview of the 9th World SportKite Teams Championship, Rencontre International Cerf Volant, Berck sur Mer, France WSKC 2014 12-20 April 2014 Competition days: April 15/16/17 World Sport Kite Championships is back with a 14 team contest featuring representatives from 9 Nations.  In the previous 8 editions, three teams, Overdrive (France), Cutting Edge (USA) and [...]

  • Drachen: Beauty and Design

    Here are some comments on refined beauty and design.  Take a look at the two embedded videos; one is a charming walk with Alessia Marrocu (Italy) and her kites, while the other is a visit with Ramlal Tien’s (France) Sentinels. Both videos show the beauty of these elegant kites, the impact of flying numbers of [...]

  • Grump Whinge Moan

    While I’ve been momentarily distracted for a few years trying to figure out why single line kites (don’t) fly- and thinking about the ultimate pilot kite, the world of traction kiting has expanded a lot, but apart from de-power foils becoming ever more dominant in buggying and snow kiting, it hasn’t changed a lot. Time [...]

  • Drachen: An Unearthed Treasure

    A few months ago, I was in Santa Fe, New Mexico to participate in the fabulous Tako Kichi (Japanese kite exhibit) show at The Museum of International Folk Art. While I was there I had time to stop by and visit with Tal Streeter and his wonderful wife Romig.  Tal had a serious stroke over [...]

  • Freedom Flight

    A New Challenge (haga clic aquí para español) Since I started to fly indoor kites, an idea was present in my mind: “Play with kites and play with skates” at the same time. In other words, “linking figure skating and indoor kite flying” for the first time in Argentina. Every sport has a tradition and [...]

  • Freedom Flight (Espanol)

    Un Nuevo Desafío (click here for English) Desde que comencé a volar barriletes indoor, una idea recurrente revoloteaba en mi mente Jugar con Barriletes y jugar con Patines al mismo tiempo. Es decir “vincular por primera vez en Argentina, el vuelo indoor con el patín artístico. Cada deporte mantiene una tradición y el patinaje artístico [...]

  • Drachen: Werner Ahlgrim

    FanØ, Denmark brings together some of the most amazing kite builders in the world when they converge, as they have done every June for the last 29 years,  at the International Kitefliers Meeting. Started as an unofficial kite festival with no sponsor, no schedule, and each attendee making their own arrangements and simply showing up [...]

  • Looking Up

    Tilt your head back and look up, take a deep breath and then look back down. Doesn’t matter if there’s no kite in sight at the moment. Looking up feels good. The simple act of looking up is one of the things that makes kite flying so compelling. When we look up at a kite [...]

  • Kites… Life.

    Working up toward a point, I’d like to highlight the fact this is the first article I’ve written for KiteLife since March 17th and the first “Kites… Life” article I’ve submitted since September 12th of 2012, just one month after agreeing to serve as AKA President… During the months in-between, I’ve had incomparable highs and [...]

  • Review: BiPlutz

    This year, I spent the month of July in Singapore doing school performances for ACT 3 International. During my stay, I had the pleasure of meeting the man behind the Plutz and the Zero-G, Leong Chee Wan of Malaysia. Chee Wan had a new toy to show off when we met, aptly named the BiPlutz. [...]

  • Let’s Paint Rosario Sky 2013

    September 13, 14 and 15, 2013 Scalabrini Ortiz Park, Rosario Santa Fe Province – Argentina (haga clic aquí para español) Organized by “Ministerio de Cultura de la Municipalidad de Rosario – Santa Fe Province and Mundo Hobby” which are represented by persons that are very “identified” with a project. A dream which lead during 13 years, I [...]

  • Let’s Paint Rosario Sky 2013 (Espanol)

    13, 14 y 15 de septiembre de 2013 Parque Scalabrini Ortiz – Rosario Provincia de Santa Fe – Argentina (click here for English) Organizado por la Secretaria de Cultura de la Municipalidad de Rosario y Mundo Hobby representadas por personas que se sienten muy “identificadas” con un proyecto, con un sueño el cual lo llevan adelante y [...]

  • Nordic Kite Meeting 2013

    Nordic Kite Meeting (NKM) is a recurring event with contenders from all the scandinavian contries Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and Northern Germany. NKM is always held in a small town called Blokhus in Northern Jutland in Denmark. Despite of Denmark´s size and numbers of kitefliers, could we this year count 20 participants, including members of [...]

  • The Pledge

    ONE SKY, ONE WORLD, and at least ONE KITE How invited kite fliers can support kite event organisers better than we have been. But first, just so as we don’t start taking ourselves too seriously; single line kite flying, like art, is an activity for those who are too useless, or too self indulging, to [...]

  • Drachen: Quiet Sophistication of the Barriletes Gigantes

    To help celebrate the release of the Drachen Foundation’s Wings of Resistance, The Giant Kites of Guatemala, I’d like to write this month about some of the very sophisticated kitemaking techniques which are used, but easily overlooked, in the creation of these giant masterpieces.  Certainly, these kites are a direct reflection of their environment both [...]

  • Revoclinic 2013

    Since Bolau announced the event on the various forum about three months ago, we motivated people, especially the intermediate and advanced level, taking care looking around when they fly, teaching them to take care in squares, parks, beaches and other flight places. When they see the spectacular flight of the  kite, people stop and stare, observing, [...]

  • Kites in the Caribbean

    Curacao, Bonaire and Aruba   We spent one month traveling through different islands of the Caribbean visiting the kite festivals and meeting with the kite flyers. In all these islands, the kite competition is the major event during the year. The FUNDASHON DI FLI KORSOU from Curacao organized the competition and the flying this year.  [...]

  • Worth a Million (Indoor Kite Flying)

    Roughly 20 competitors, a dozen or so recreational fliers and a few hundred spectators attended the 2013 Windless Kite Festival in Long Beach WA during January of this year… During the event, MTP Studios (Matt Cyphert and friends) were on hand to film indoor kite flying at the event and went on to post those [...]

  • Indoor Kite Flying Adventure

    Indoor kite flying offers a big window for expansion in the science and art of kite flying. Its unique features such as close contact with the audience, theatrical dramatization, team work and being weather proof, offer endless possibilities to crowd pleasing shows and gratification to kiters and show designers. With that in mind I produced [...]

  • Drachen: A Tale of Two Collectors

    For almost thirty years I have collected Japanese woodblock prints (ukiyo-e) that have images of kites somewhere in the print.  At the time, I naively thought that there would be very few of these, that this would be an interesting addition to my kite collection, a part that would grow slowly and one that would [...]

  • How does Kite Competition Evolve?

    This is a topic near to my heart, as I’ve had the opportunity to explore kite competition from many angles in various roles over the past several years… At times, some folks have expressed to me a sentiment along the lines of “why doesn’t the AKA change those rules“, “the AKA should add this event” or [...]

  • Video Cumulus (2/14/13)

    Just a few of the kite flying videos we’ve enjoyed over the past couple of weeks… Some new, some older, but all great representations of kiting skill and spirit. Spencer Watson’s Open Indoor Competition Our very own Managing Editor here at KiteLife takes first place at the Windless Kite Festival earlier this year, and has [...]

  • ProFile: Lee Sedgwick

    Let’s start with some biography. I was born in a small town about 10 minutes from Erie, Pennsylvania, called Waterford, in 1955. I went to school there and started working at General Electric right out of high school. I’ve been working there ever since. It was one of the best things that ever happened to [...]