Fort Worden 2007

I neglected to write about Fort Worden Kitemakers Conference 2007, but at the very least I want to show you the kites I brought home.

Sentinel

Ramlal Tien designed the Sentinel during his time as member of the legendary Project Zoone kite collective. I've admired the Zoone kites for many years. I was thrilled to finally be able to build one of their kites. The Sentinel looks deceptively simple, but it is really striking when you fly a bunch of them in the sky at the same time; even on its own, the Sentinel is guaranteed to make a big impression.

Brian Champie taught this class - he updated Ramlal's design to be easier to build, easier to assemble and break down, and also improved tensioning of the sail. Unfortunately, he failed to get Ramlal's agreement to teaching this class based on one of his original designs. Subsequently, that led to a bit of a falling out - a shame, because in the end we're all interested in furthering kite-flying, and we all agree on the importance of giving due credit.

Sentinel

Shard

Kevin Sanders is the designer of the Shard kite. I love the simple, bold graphics of his designs. They really stand out in the sky. On top of that, the Shard is an excellent flier.

Shard

Raffle Kite: EO 6

This kite immediately caught my eye among the hundreds of raffle items on display. As luck would have it (helped along by all the raffle tickets I bought for this kite), I actually won it in the drawing. It requires a fair amount of wind, but it's such a unique kite that I'm really happy to add it to my collection.

Prism Kites developed the EO line of kites.Apart from their eye-catching looks, these kites are remarkable in that they require absolutely no assembly. The framing is flexible and can simply be flattened for transport, without removing any of the spars - ingenious.

EO 6