Fanoe, a small island off Denmark's west coast, is the site of one of the world's most famous annual kite festivals. Arguably the world's largest kite rally, the Fanø International Kite Fliers Meeting, is organised each year in June on Fanø. Started in June 1985 by German kite flyers Wolfgang Schimmelpfennig and Rainer Kregovski the festival is principally organized by volunteers from Denamark and Germany with support from some Danish government agencies. The unique weather pattern of Fanoe, characterized by a steady, forceful wind from the North Sea, breathes life into these magnificent airb ..read more

A specailly constructed China Space Station-themed kite flew to welcome home the three Shenzhou-13 taikonauts in Weifang, East China's Shandong Province. The kite, and exceptional work of craftsmanship, attracted wide attention on Chinese social media platforms.  The kite, 3.5 meters wide, 8 meters long with a total body-tail length of 150 meters, was completed by more than 20 kite artists over two months. Pictures of the three taikonauts, Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping, and Ye Guangfu, were also attached to the kite. To welcome the three heroes, the kite enacted the scene of the spaceship d ..read more

Francisco Lufhina, a kite surfer, has sussessfully completed a trans-Atlantic crossing in a kite-powered trimaran.   The crossing between the Canary Islands and the Caribbean took 20 days. The Guinness World Records is expected to confirm Lufinha's fastest ever solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a kite boat. One of the Lufhina's Atlantic Mission goals, supported by a Portuguese electric utility company, was to prove that the power of wind, water, and the sun is inexhaustible.   ..read more

The year 2020 saw massive changes around the world in how people could go about their daily lives. The Covid19 pandemic imposed drastic changes everywhere. This also affected the world wide kite community as almost all kite festivals were cancelled. However, as individuals, kiters were able to get out alone on kite fields and engage in their hobby.  One such kiter is Kelvin Chun of Hawaii.  A dedicated kite flyer and builder of Filipino-styled kites, Kelvin took to the kite fields of the Salt Lake area of Honolulu to pass the time during the pandemic. His kite flying attracted many p ..read more

Half way between Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta's two largest cities, lies the historic and bustling city of Red Deer. Just to the northwest, in the town of Bentley stands a converted church building that is the home to "The Kite Guys", a colourful and well-stocked store that supports kite enthusiasts from all across Alberta, coast to coast in Canada, and supplies kiters in the United States as well.  Bud Taylor and Sharon Musto - The Kite Guys in their store and studio in Bently, AB. Photo credit: Maria Johnson. Operated by Bud Taylor and Sharon Musto, Canada's first couple of kiting, th ..read more

 Joy can be difficult to find for many children. It is especially so when they are contained in refugee camps for any one of the many hundreds of reasons that such camps are established around the world. Why political decisions are made to virtually imprison families in such camps is not up for discussion here. It is well known what hardships such camps impose on families and how the lives of children in such circumstances can be filled with hardships. What is amazing is the resiliency of the human spirit even in the young. There is an inherent desire to find ways to create things and to ..read more

Kite fighting is done in many countries around the globe. Countries most noted for fighting kites using line cutting techniques to determine a winner are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan in central Asia and the sub-continent, as well as Vietnam, Korea, Thailand in east Asia, and Brazil in South America. Most fighter kites are light and nimble. They race and dart across the sky in the hands of skilled pilots seeking to catch another fighter kite in a precarious position and cut the flying line of the opponent. There are several varieties of these light and fast fighter kites ..read more

During August of 1899 Lawrence Rotch, meteorologist and founder of the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory in Milton, a suburb of Boston, carried out some cutting edge experiments with wireless signalling. This experimentation was conducted during what were the very early stages of wireless signalling when there were still some developmental challenges being worked out in the process of wireless messaging. The primary developers of wireless communication technology were Guglielmo Marconi and Karl Ferdinand Braun. Marconi, the famous Italian inventor, was working on his technology primarily ou ..read more

As the world's focus turned to Brazil in June and July of 2014 for the World Cup, attention was also brought to everyday life in Brazil. The New York Times published regular feature stories on aspects of life in Brazil. Often these stories showed the wide discrepancy of living conditions in the diverse economic conditions of the nation's largest cities. In a July 15, 2014 article entitled Kite Fight, correspondent Guillerme Tensol wrote about the passion that young Brazilians have for making, flying and fighting kites over the rooftops of their homes. "After futebol, kite fighting is one of Br ..read more

The Ahmedabad International Festival is considered by many kiters to be the world's largest annual kite flying event. Located in the state of Gujarat, Ahmedabad has a hot semi-arid climate with marginally less rain than required for a tropical savanna climate. There are three main seasons: summer, monsoon and winter. Aside from the monsoon season, the climate is extremely dry with mean monthly temperatures ranging from 20 degrees to 33 degrees Celsius throughout the year. January is the coolest month and the cultural festival of Uttarayana held on January 14-15 celebrates the movement of the s ..read more