Publications

  • Essays on History, Continuous Motion

    Is This the Earliest?

    There is no evidence that natives of the Western Hemisphere knew about kites or kite-flying when Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492. But Columbus...

  • 'High Quality, Excellent Depth’'

    The demise of Kite Lines is the end of an era. For many years, the publication was about the only voice of kiting. It was a window on what was going on worldwide, the only...

  • Kite Lines Magazine Remembered

    After 24 years and 50 issues, Kite Lines magazine has ceased publication. Publisher and editor Valerie Govig decided to fold the publication because of steadily declining...

  • Old Kite Petroglyphs Found in Hawaii

    That the ancient Polynesians in New Zealand and Easter Island, Tahiti and the Cook Islands, and elsewhere were kite makers and kite fliers is well documented. But of particular...

  • Paean to Kiteflying in the Year l897

    There is no more elegant pastime than kiteflying, nor one of wider adaptation. The sport may be pursued in all weathers except violent storms.

    A kite may be flown from a...

  • Telling It Like It Is

    I occasionally rant on about those who take the path of least resistance in product development by copying and developing from proven designs rather than blundering about...

  • Amazing Fano From the Air

    There’s no organization, no schedule, no events, few spectators. It’s not a festival. It’s just Fano— an annual gathering of many thousands of kite makers and fliers, mostly...

  • Drachen Financial Aid: Hargrave Collection Being Conserved

    With financial assistance from the Drachen Foundation, the Royal Aeronautical Society of England is conserving its unique collection of Lawrence Hargrave material. An Anglo-...

  • Drachen's New Building: Modest and Efficient

    Open now for almost two years, the Drachen Foundation’s headquarters in Seattle’s charming Queen Anne community of small speciality shops and comfortable houses has fitted...

  • Making and Flying a Light Indoor Kite

    Tiny kites have long been a specialty of Charlie Sotich, of Chicago. “Miniature kites are my passion, ” he says. “They are easy to build, cheap—pennies apiece—and I can give...