Australian Guest Profiles
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Alan Bayley (QLD)I started flying kites in the ‘50s – Brown Paper, dowel and string. After our move to the Gold Coast in 1993, we bought a take-away food shop & in my spare time I flew a 3 foot span stunt kite. It was fast but became boring, so I bought a 5ft stunter, then a 7 footer in 1995 for more power it was suggested by Bob Dawson ‘stack them together’. That was fun for a while, so I then bought a 6 mtr ‘Peel’, that was the start of my quest for power, then a buggy. This really is the ultimate thrill being towed along a beach or across a park by a cleverly designed piece of material. I now have powerkites from 2.5 mtrs to 8.5metres. I have also have sports kites, revolution Supersonic & many single liners i.e. Rokakuku, Serpent, Delta kite, large multi-celled kites (one of which won a Bronze medal in Weifang, China this year) other beautiful display kites and Parafoil which holds a Large Dog. |
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Bob Dawson (NSW)
Bob Dawson has been designing and manufacturing kites since 1988, his specialty is high performance sports kites. He first started manufacturing under the trade name Freeflow kites but it didn't take long to realise the importance of changing the name of the business to leading edge kite company. This was brought on by the amazing success
of Team leading-edge.
Team leading-edge quickly gained recognition after successfully winning most of the Australian and state championships.
Also the members of team leading edge as individual fliers were quite often placed first or second and third in individual competitions. The team consisted of Bob Dawson, Craig Dawson and Warren McIntosh. Bob's kites regularly featured in the world cup championships used by several different teams he also represented Australia in the world cup
and later on went on to become one of the world cup judges also judging the all American sports kite championships. Over the past 10 years he has been working as a consultant for several different companies relating to Kitesurfing and has a well established business doing kiterepairs. Recently bob has turned his attention back to high performance sports kites and is presently designing a new range to be released this season.
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Jan O’Loughlin ( QLD )I started flying kites in 2003 after looking for a fun kite for the beach. I couldn’t find a kite anywhere locally at the time, so ended up making one.
A chance meeting with the QLD Kite Flyers Society at Moore Park Colour and Kites a few months later, saw my initial effort improved and from then on I was hooked.
Made a few more things in the next couple of years, started to attend more Festivals and after seeing the possibilities, there was no turning back.
In the last couple of years I have taken up kite buggying, a thrilling sport with the power of a big kite pulling you across the sand and a great way to unwind after a week of work. I always seem to be wondering what the tides are doing the next weekend now.
I have always been a soft kite fan and after spending a few years making other peoples designs and learning basic concepts I am now starting to make my own creations.
To speed up the design process I have started to use 3d software to assist with templates and visualisation, another learning process, but one that is beginning to pay off. A few ideas may now see themselves come off the sketchbook and onto the cutting table. There’s always a kite trying to get out and fly! |
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Di Delli (NSW)
I have been involved in kiting for 23 years. As a recreation director I was asked to run a kite festival in 1985. The more I researched about kites and kite festivals the more I was fascinated with the history and the art of kites. Until then my work had been in studying and teaching visual arts as well as working in graphic design and advertising. I came to Australia with my young family in 1987 and have been running a kite retail business since then on the far south coast of NSW. I have travelled to many international festivals often as the announcer sharing my love of the story of kiting. I also teach kitemaking to community and school groups around the country. These days I am making and designing unique tall banners that decorate flying fields at kite events, back yards and businesses.
At the IGA Coolum Kite Festival I will exhibit my latest collection of banners "Tall Poppies" Dianne Delli Paoli |
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Robert Brasington (TAS)
We rediscovered kites while travelling down the Pacific North West coast of Washington (1990) and Long beach is like a spiritual home to me, hence being a repeat offender every 2 years. Although horticulture dominates my life and living, kiting is not far from the forefront of my thoughts. I have been honoured to have been invited to take design and construction classes in the US, England, and Germany and the kite designs have won many awards around the world. Travelling is always the bonus, and have attended kite festivals in US, Britain, Italy, India, Taiwan, Germany, Denmark. New Zealand, France and Canada. View Roberts Web Site: Click Here |
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Linda Sanders ( SA ) - I have been designing and making banners for nearly 15 years.
I am in my third year as the American Kite Association's Regional Director for region 13 (also known as Rest of the World) My banners have featured at many festivals around Australia and the world.
Kevin Sanders ( SA ) - I have been designing and making single line and sport kites for 15 years.
My framed kites, "The Satellites", feature distinctive bold, asymmetric graphics, and have been popular wherever they have been displayed.Recently, I have developed a series of soft, inflatable kites loosely based on road signs seen in various countries. They each feature an amusing phrase or word and have proved highly popular with spectators of all ages. We have been guests at many worldwide festivals in the past 10 years, including
"Colour The Sky" - Thailand 2006 "Berck sur Mer International Kite Festival" - France 2007 "Bali International Kite Festival" - Indonesia 2007 "Colour The Sky" - Thailand 2008 "Kites for Wishes" - Guam 2008 "Taipei International Kite Festival" - Taiwan 2008 "Festival International de Cerf-Volant" Dieppe, - France 2008 "International Kite Festival Vung Tau" - Vietnam 2009
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Neil Taylor ( WA )
Neils interest in kites began around 1986 when he bought his first plastic stunter. Finding that plastic has a very limited life span in a stunt kite he moved on to better quality kites and then decided that he could make them himself. His taste expanded to include single-line display kites and in November 1988 he won the St Kilda Kite Festival in Melbourne that included a free trip for two to kite festivals in Malaysia. The meeting of other Australian and overseas kiters caused him to move to Perth and open his own kite shop, Hold The Line, in November 1989 where he still works today. He has enjoyed participating in many international kite festivals in Asia, New Zealand and of course Australia. These days most of his time is taken up with the fast growing sport of kitesurfing. |
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Jason Winter ( QLD ) I’ve been flying since about 1995 and first got into kite flying it just to relax a bit. I mainly fly trick kites that fly on short lines and the idea being to stall the kite and then get it to perform tricks. I still find that it is the only activity that enables me to completely relax as the concentration required means that all other thoughts just evaporate from my mind. I attended last year as an international guest as I was from the UK but having now emigrated to Queensland it is with great pride that I now see myself on the Australian guest page.
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Peter Stauf ( NSW ) I am a person who has to build things. As a boy I built kites and gliders. As a job I became a boilermaker building large ships. Then I became a Metal Fabrication and Welding teacher at Newcastle TAFE College. A position I have held for the last 27 years.
Then 20 years ago I taught myself how to make and fly fighters. Then I started to build other types of kites, Shirone's, Rokaku's, Edo's, Delta's etc.
In 1990 I joined the Australian Kiteflyers Society. 4 of these years I have held the position of Vice President and I am on my fourth year as President. Also for the last 8 years I am one of the organizer’s of the “Festival of the Winds” Bondi beach, Sydney. This international kite festival will have its 31 festival this year.
I was the Australian Fighter Kite champion for 5 years from 1995 to 2000 and represented Australia at three Manjha Club World Cups. In 1996 and 1998 at Dieppe, France and then in 2000 in Taipei, Taiwan. Over the years I have been invited and attended festivals in France, India, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia. I now enjoy designing and building all types of kites, running kite workshops for children and adults, and dancing with the wind at every chance I can.
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Grant Cowie ( QLD )
Is a very competent Freestyle/ trick kite
flyer. He enjoys nothing more than flying inverted and working on new
multiple trick routines to stun onlookers with. Grant is also a very
competent kite designer and builder, which is reflected by the
proffessionalism of his chosen occupation as well. It is not unusual
to see Grant tinkering away at a new design on the kiting field at
weekends, and improving performance in a custom built kites. |
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Bob Dawson |
Ocean Breeze Kite Team ( NSW )
Doing a Display  |
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Adrian Bickerstaffe ( VIC )
has been flying two-line freestyle kites for almost five years now. He was drawn to the sport by the freedom and creativity that freestyle kiting offers, and has always enjoyed the challenge of learning new tricks. Adrian is test pilot for Sportkitedesign of Sweden and has also made several videos that have appeared on the Benson kites Web site (www.bensonkites.com). Professionally, Adrian earned his PhD in Information Technology in 2009 and works as a research fellow at Monash University, Clayton, Victoria.
Click here to see Adrian Fly, scroll down to where Adrians name is |
