Fighter Kite Venu with a static display in the background

The 1998 AKA convention in Ocean Shores was a memorable event. The competition was well organized, varied, and successful, and the good will and information we exchanged was priceless. NFKA members did very well in competition, and fighter kiting got some good exposure among the convention attendees. With all the attention given to fighter kiting, and the high profile of NFKA members at the convention, there was a good deal of discussion about fighter kiting here in the U.S. as opposed to the Far East, and the direction it was moving in.

I had a brief conversation with Nelson Borelli on the flying field. He said that the NFKA was good for fighter kiting in the U.S., as an example to other clubs of what is possible by promoting fighter kites and fighter flying. With such good competition at hand, we were growing stronger as an organization and were advancing fighter kiting here. The skills course that Chuck Lund developed impressed him. Testing our fighter skills in this way was new to him, and exciting as a way to approach and promote fighter kiting. He was impressed with the line touch competition as well. I had to agree. With kiters from all over the U.S. in attendence, I think it spoke well for us and for fighter kiting that we put on a good event.

In contrast, I had a conversation with Stafford Wallace that gave me a different perspective. He was searching for the proper words, and I hope he will forgive me (and correct me) if I took the wrong message from the conversation, but I believe the message was that he was unsure of whether he liked the direction we are taking with our outlook and our kites. Designing kites for short line competition, for speed, spin, and tracking in a one on one battle is not the fighter kite tradition that is familiar to him, and not the kind of experience he seeks in flying a fighter. The eastern traditions of expendable bamboo and paper kites flown on long lines with manjha and cutting duels are not practical here for a number of reasons.

Manjha is not easy to handle without experience, and falling from the sky, or even lying on the ground it can be dangerous to other people. As a result of liabilities involved, kite festivals here cannot allow manjha, and It isn't readily available. Since festivals play a big part in promoting kiting in North America, manjha duels naturally get little attention here. Eastern approaches also come from a different set of cultural attitudes and traditions. Flying from a long line is pleasurable and even spiritual in nature, but western attitudes spring from a different set of kiting traditions.

Our relative affluence allows us to use more expensive and durable materials to build our kites. We've been conditioned to look at a kite as a more durable object than an Indian would. Why fly an expensive kite when it's life span is 3 to 5 minutes? Here, the availability of carbon fiber spars for bows, mylar, orcon film and tyvek for sails at a price we can all afford gives us higher performance at a price the average Indian would find unreachable. Line touch lets us keep the kites, which gives us durability of ownership as well. This outlook and the kite designs that come from it are a nartural development to me. The paper and bamboo kite was developed from materials at hand and refined into it's current form. I'm certain that if anyone developed a fighter kite from paper and bamboo in India that outperformed the current standard for the same cost, it would immediately change the shape of Indian kites, since the competitive spirit thrives there, too.

Fighter kites are very interactive things. You test your skills against the wind and each other - and you refine your skills and learn to cooperate. Our refinements in kite design are also an outgrowth of short line competition. The arms race we've started to see who can improve their kites to get an advantage in competition makes sense given the conditions and limitations we have. Despite this, we still cooperate to a high degree. I've gotten very good kitebuilding advice from Jim Wilson, Bruce Lambert, Jeff MacInnis and Brian Johnsen to name just a few, and helpful tips in flying and tuning kites from other association members at club events. Nobody among us has kept secrets regarding how they build or fly their kites. We have made this a highly cooperative sport here. Our kites are artistic as well as functional, and that beauty is also part of our experience. None of us will deny that this just adds to the fun we have flying fighters.

Everyone who went to the AKA convention this year seemed to have a great time, and I thought we had terrific competitions. It was a great showcase for fighter kiting here in North America. I enjoyed the debate about the direction of our sport here, too. I think that our efforts are good for the sport and for North Americans, and if you look closely, what you may be seeing are the beginnings of a western fighter kiting tradition growing here. Lets all help it grow and develop into something to be proud of!

-Tom Humphrey

From: "Bruce Lambert"
Subject: AKA Fighter Update
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 11:43:40 -0700

WOW!!! That is about the best word I can think of to describe the fighter kite fun at the AKA Convention!!

In addition to great fun flying and competing, meeting fighter flyers from all over the country was even more fun! And to top it off we were able to spend time with and learn from Tal Streeter and Stafford Wallace, each a world class expert in their respective fields!!

Plus, Jeff MacInnis conducted an awesome fighter kite making workshop. The room was packed, and the earlybirds each completed a kite kit that Jeff had assembled. The kite they made was Jeff's ultralight kite "The Silhouette" a dream to fly!!

For the first time at an AKA convention there were 2 fighter kite competition levels, novice and experienced. And also 2 competition areas, line touch combat and precision/skills competition.

There were 8 novices competing in both combat fights and precision or skills competition. In the precision/skills competition, the flyers were required to do specific maneuvers with their kites within a given period of time to earn points, top score won.

In the novice line touch combat competition, a single elimination format was used to determine the top 4 flyers. A 2 out of 3, bottom, top, bottom, line touch was the used. Then the top 4 had a fly-off in a round robin on Saturday. In the round robin, there were 3 points for each match, bottom, top, bottom. Each point counted 1 and accumulated for each flyer for all his/her matches. After each flyer fought each other flyer, the total scores were added and high score won. In the event of a tie, a sudden death, 1 point, a top point, was flown.

For the single elimination preliminary round, the winds were about 10 - 12 mph. Even though the single elimination was to find the top 4 flyers, we did complete the process to find a preliminary heat winner. In the novice category the winner of the preliminary line touch combat heat was Jeanette Mandanas!!

On Saturday, the day of the finals, the wind was blowing 18 - 22 mph!! Very difficult conditions for everyone, including the spectators!! The flyers really had their work cut out for them! Each battle was very close, In fact the battle for 1st and second ended in a tie, so the sudden death single point was flown! You should have been there!! All Councilman and Terry McPherson were the two flying the sudden death point and they flew a very long and strategically challenging point! Then just at the last moment, Terry stepped on the circle, causing a foot fault and that decided the point! The novice competition final results are:

1st - Al Councilman of Tacoma, WA, flying a "Bird of Prey" fighter
made by Jim Wilson of Ocean Shores Kites.

2nd - Terry McPherson of Ionia, MI, flying a Stafford Wallace mylar fighter.

3rd -Jeanette Mandanas of Fall City, WA, flying a "Bird of Prey" fighter
made by Jim Wilson of Ocean Shores Kites.

The final results of the novice skills or precision competition:

1st Place Jeanette Mandanas of Fall City, WA.

2nd Place Chris Lund of Tacoma, WA

3rd Place Richard Hurd of Elma, WA

Congratulations to each flyer who participated in the novice events!!

16 experienced fighter flyers entered the experience category competition! They too, competed in both precision/skills and line touch combat. The precision/skills competition consisted of knocking a cup off of a pole that was about 5' off the ground and about 80' away, then pasting the kite on a "racket", then flying the kite through a 4' diameter hoop. Each event was timed, and points were given based on how long it took to accomplish each obstacle. High score was the winner. The final winners in the precision/skills competition are:

1st Brian Johnsen of Renton, WA flying a "laser wrap" kite he designed and made.

2nd Joe Vaughan of Mifflinville, PA flying a Grandmaster
Joe is the maker of Grandmaster kites.

3rd Gerry Reidel of Lancaster, PA flying a Stafford Wallace mylar Indian kite.

The experienced category of flyers flew in a single elimination to find the top 4 flyers and then those top 4 flyers flew each other in a round robin. One of the differences in the experience category Vs novice was the single elimination preliminary heat used a 3 out of 5, bottom, top, bottom, top, bottom, format. But the final 4 did the same style round robin using 3 points for each match and each flyer flying against each other flyer, totaling each flyers accumulated score to determine the winner!

The battle for each point in each match was enough to take your breath away! Back and forth, one taking the advantage, the other escaping, then in a blink of an eye, the reverse, and reverse again and so on. All of this taking place in 18 - 22 mph wind! It was soooooo much fun to watch!!

Here is the outcome of the final 4 round robin for the experienced line touch combat competition:

1st Jeff MacInnis of Portland, OR flying a mylar kite he designed and made.

2nd Bruce Lambert of Ocean Shores, WA flying an Orcon kite he designed and made.

3rd Rick Miller of Silver City, NM flying a ripstop kite a friend of his designed and made.

Congratulations to all of the experienced flyers who participated in the competitions!

Nelson Borelli was the chairman and mastermind of the expanded fighter kite program at the AKA convention this year. Both Brian Johnsen and I added our 2 cents every once in a while just to add some feistiness to the process! Thanks Nelson, a great job!

And many, many thanks to each person who volunteered to judge and to be field crew members, without them none of us would have had such a fun time!

I will share with you an observation I made. It was the kites and the way they flew. Their maneuverability and the high forward speeds they achieved! It seems the evolution of kite design has made a noticeable step toward a kite design that is more optimized for the short line combat competition compared to more typical fighter kite designs. It is both interesting and is an observation that presents an opportunity and challenge to us who like designing and making fighter kites. Let's get busy, let's get imaginative, let's fly more!!

Keep your feet off your line, you'll grin more! Bruce