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GARY MacEACHREN, from Brookings, OR became interested in sport kites after attending the inaugral Southern Oregon Kite Festival in Brookings, but it wasn’t until 1996 that he started flying sports kites. Once he actually flew a sport kite he was hooked, every weekend and many nights after work he would fly, fly, fly,. After his wife complained about him spending so much money buying kites he bought a sewing machine and that winter started making his own kites. In the following spring the Oregon Kite Company was formed to sell his hand made custom sport kites. The “Gull 8.5” is the kite he's most proud of and that along with it’s predecessor the smaller “Gull 7.0” are the two Oregon Kite Company's kites most people are familiar with.
"I’ve had the pleasure of handmaking kites for fliers throughout the Northwest and with the help of the internet for both national and international fliers as well." With the “Gull 8.5” design now being fabricated in China and distributed by Gomberg Kite Productions, Intl a whole new arena of kite flying demonstrations has opened up for him. He looks forward to showing people how easy it is to fly a sport kite and then being able to place a factory made kite in their hands to try out. Like Ray Bethel, the world's premier multiple kite flier from Vancouver, British Columbia and Carl Bragiel, the one man kite team from Amity Oregon, he flies 3 kites simultaneously and would like to encourage everyone interested in flying multiple kite routines to contact him for tips on technique and of course for obtaining a set of Gulls, one of the best kites available to do the job.
DAVID & SUSAN GOMBERG, from Lincoln City, OR, have organized giant kite shows around the world. Together they own Gomberg Kite Productions and have performed for Disney, major motion pictures, the Super Bowl and kite events in 25 countries. They were instrumental in creating the current 21 octopus record here in Lincoln City, Oregon. The previous records in Washington and France owe their bragging rights to the Gombergs as well. David will serve as our "Announcer" this year as Susan shows off the "Big Stuff" on the beach along with our friend AL SPARLING from Illinois.
RONDA BREWER, Lincoln City, OR can be entrusted with the safety and kite education of any kid in America. But when she is flying in a Rokkaku battle, other competitors beware. Ronda not only has been a faithful and supportive organizer of the Lincoln City kite festivals for many years, but also is the co-owner of PhantomStarDesign.com.
JERIMY COLBERT, Lincoln City, OR, specializes in assorted appliqué shapes and cody war kites. His skill allows him to fly both indoors and outdoors. Jerimy is not only a great daddy, but profoundly patient and skilled in teaching youngsters to fly kites indoors and outdoors.
DEB COOLEY, Lincoln City, OR has been flying and making kites for over 25 years after first discovering kites here on the Oregon Coast. Over the years she has experimented with many different techniques to build kites and has been a teacher at the Oregon Kitemaker and Fort Worden Kitemaker retreats.
ROD & CINDY THRALL, from Newberg, Oregon have been flying kites since 1992 when they purchased their first kite on a weekend anniversary trip to Lincoln City! Many years and many kites later, they enjoy traveling all over to share their toys. They are known for their giant Peter Lynn Teddy Bear, custom Jordan Airform kites and large ground display. The Thrall's most recent kiting adventure took them to Thailand, where they participated in Thailand's 9th International Kite Festival, winning the 'People's Choice' award for their Bear Family kite display. Rod & Cindy are both accomplished, award winning kite builders. They are making a name for themselves with their colorful custom made banners, line art and large inflatable kites. Cindy has also made some really neat line anchors resembling little kids standing, holding a kite. The Thralls are no strangers to the Lincoln City Kite Festival, noted for flying the large, background kites on festival weekends.
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Phil and Barbara Burks |
PENNY LINGENFELTER, Port Orchard, WA, is well known for the four-line Revolution kites she has been flying for more than a decade. Seven years ago she began flying kites indoors in no wind and with no fans. But Penny can take her costumes, props, and kites outdoors too, and her colorful and exciting routines are enjoyed by all. Penny often offers free kite lessons to children and adults of all ages.
PHIL & BARBARA BURKS, from Portland OR, are regulars at the Lincoln City Kite Festivals and also travel each spring to a kite festival on the Gulf Coast in Texas. They were a part of the group that broke the world record with 21 giant Octopus kites on one beach at one time in Lincoln City at the 2008 Summer Kite Festival. Along with their giant octopus kite they have a large array of red, white & blue kites and enjoy watching Phil & Barbara fly their kite stacks side by side!
KEN TUMMINIA, Lincoln City, OR, is a colorful and regular feature of the kite festivals in Lincoln City. Ken's first experience with kiting was watching his grandfather make box kites and launch them from his vineyard tractor. If it is big stuff and appliques you enjoy, watch for Ken's displays.
AL WASHINGTON from Portland, OR, has been dubbed the "Dancing Man" and "Twinkle Toes." His personal performance is every bit as wonderful to behold as the performance of his two line stunt kites. Al's teenage grandson AARON WASHINGTON from the East Coast, an expert flier in his own right, will be performing demos for us also.
DALE RAY resides in Olympia, Washington and works in the construction industry as a heavy Equipment operator. Dale has been an avid kite flier for over 30 years. He began flying duel line stunt kites. Dale was attracted to the show kites, when he met Peter Lynn at the Washington State International Kite Festival.
From that point on, Dale began collecting one of the largest show kite collections in North America. From manta rays, octopus and geckos, to his infamous Dragon, Dale's kites are sure to delight anyone ages 1 to 100. His collection has become very well known across the country, and is growing!
JOYCE GRINDER from Rainier, Washington works for the State of Washington as a Information Technology Specialist. She started flying kites about 23 years ago when her kids needed something fun to do. It became their hobby and fun thing to do in the summer months. When she met Dale Ray about four years ago, she was hooked.. she now helps him fly the big kites. " I just love it! It is one of my joys seeing them in the air" exclaimed Joyce. She also dabbles in making kites. 
AMY "MOUSIE" DORAN from Bend, Oregon loved flying her trlby stack on the rare occasion she made to the beach over the years but never realized there was a whole kiting world out there until she went for a morning beach jog in Lincoln City, Oregon and ran smack dab into the Lincoln City Kite Festival. By the end of the weekend she had met wonderful supportive people that she now considers her kite family. One of the new friends she met that weekend was Penny Lingenfelter. She attended the WA State International Kite Festival that same year and truly caught the sport kite fever. Since that festival four years agoshe has been flying and competing with the North West Sport Kite League. She began flying dual line sport kites, but soon realized there were many more aspects that she wanted to explore. So she began flying Revolution quad kites as well.
After learning how to thread a sewing machine she began kite making. Four years later, and a lot of great advice and instructions from the masters, she has done custom banners as well as single line kites. She has also been privileged to work with Revolution Kites to create some custom revolutions kites. All the designs are her original artwork. "Who knew that my college fine arts classes would come full circle many years later on kites?" proclaimed Amy. In 2007 Amy qualified for the American Kite Association National Championships in Ocean Shores, Washington. That is where the *Charlie Chaplin * routine really emerged in the Outdoor Open Individual Ballet. *Charlie* won the national title for 2007. *Charlie* continued to have fun with crowds from California to Oregon, Washington and all the way back East to Gettysburg, PA for the 2008 AKA National Championships. Three Northwest Sport Kite League Championship titles in 2008 and 8 qualifying spots for the 2008 Aka Championships made it a definite trip back to Gettysburg in 2008. *Charlie* defended his title for a second year in a row. She managed to place top three in five sport kite disciplines at the National Championships. This year Amy will be attending the AKA Nationals in Seaside , Oregon. Currently qualified for the Indoor event at Nationals, Amy will be looking to qualify for her fourth Nationals this year outdoors as well. Keep an eye out for *Charlie* as you never know when he will come out to have some fun!
CONNOR DORAN is making himself known as one of the accomplished young fliers in the Northwest. A 17 year old junior from Bend Oregon, Connor is fairly new to the sport kite scene. Connor began flying 3 years ago at The Bend Kite festival in 2007. Connor started flying Cody kites but was intrigued by the Revolution Quad line kites that were being flown at the Festival. A month later at The Grand Haven Kite Festival in Michigan that Connor picked up his first quad line kite and was completely hooked. With some guidance and advice from some of the best quad line pilots in the world, Connor has come a long way quickly in sport kite competition.
Connor flies indoor revolution kites as well and after only 3 weeks of flying the indoor Revolution, he won the indoor kite competition at The Windless Kite Festival in Long Beach, Washington in 2009. Connor was invited to Lincoln City indoor Kite festival were he performed in *The Mystic Canyons * production show by Aerial Experience Productions. He came in second place at the North West Sport Kite League Competition there as well, which won him the 2009 Northwest Sport Kite League Experienced Championship. Connor qualified for The 2009 AKA Grand National Championships in Open individual indoor Unlimited, Experienced Multiline Ballet, Experienced Multiline Precision, and Novice Individual Ballet. Though he did not travel back to attend the Nationals in 2009, Connor will be competing to qualify at the 2010 AKA Nationals at Seaside in October, 2010.
Connor’s 2010 sport kiting season has a great start. He performed as an invited flyer at the 2010 Lincoln City Production of * The Canvas* and won the Indoor North West Sport Kite Competition in Experienced landing him the 2010 Experienced Indoor Kite Champion for back to back titles.
At The Washington State International Kite Festival 2009, Connor flew in the grid fly and helped set the record for most quad line kites a mass ascension in North America. Connor will be in the attempt to break the record again at WSKIF this August where 100 quad line kites will try to break the world record for grid flying.
This year Connor will be performing in Vancouver, British Columbia in a show called* Escape the Darkness* which incorporates both world renown indoor kite fliers and trained dogs in a full production show. Connor can also be seen at kite festivals such as The Lincoln City Kite festivals, Rockaway Kite Festival, San Ramon Kite Festival in California, and The Southern Oregon Kite Festival in Brookings, Oregon.
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Team iQuad |
TEAM iQUAD, from the Pacific Northwest, Formed in May of 2006, the iQuad team is composed of pilots from all over Oregon,Washington and Canada...
iQuad was founded by John Barresi and David Hathaway just one month after they were first exposed to quad
line team flying at the World Sport Kite Championships in Berck sur Mer, France.
In 2007 the iQuad team seriously began to promote the art and sport of quad line kite flying through exposure at
events all over North America, providing workshops, interacting with media of all sorts and sharing the joys of
flight wherever they've been... Their first love is simply flying, and especially with other people... This has been
the mainstay of their philosophy and approach since the start.
As iQuad went into the 2008 season it was clear they'd get to fly with TONS of people... By the time the season
was finished, iQuad had performed at 33 events, festivals and shows, appearing briefly on Good Morning
America, and eventually covered fifteen US states, Canada, England and Japan with some members having taken
as many as sixty-five individual plane flights in 2008!
During 2006-2008, iQuad flew “freestyle” or improvised routines using a large variety of maneuvers that start or
finish in various positions, allowing them to execute combinations from the commands (or calls) given by their
team captain, all the while adjusting speed and tempo based purely on the speed and tone of those calls... The
team captain is on the lead kite, setting the pace and altitude, issuing commands and watching the whole sky.
In February of 2009, the team created their first choreographed four-person routine to a song by ACDC, titled“Back in Black”, and while they still fly freestyle as well, iQuad team members have also enjoyed the addition of
the faster and more dynamic flight made possible by having a fully pre-planned routine… For 2010, the team will
be developing a brand new choreographed six-person routine to “The Raiders March”, utilizing all of the
experience and talents they’ve gathered since the team’s inception in 2007.
The kites they use are Revolutions (also known as "Revs"), specialized quad (four) line kites originally designed
by Joe Hadzicki in 1987. Above and beyond any other quad line kite, Revs are truly multi-directional in the sky
with the ability to fly forward, backward, sideways, adjusting speed, and even stopping on a dime to hover nearly
motionless in mid-air... While some maneuvers require a certain wind range, iQuad has successfully performed
as a team in all conditions from zero wind (indoors) all the way up to nearly 50 miles per hour.
Today they are flying an updated version of Joe Hadzicki's original design called the B-Series, developed through
the combined efforts of John Barresi, iQuad team members and Revolution Enterprises... Built to fully utilize the
Revolution's flight abilities, it has quickly become one of the most popular commercially produced sport kites in
the world.
WATCH VIDEO HERE
Sponsors: Revolution Kites, LaserPro, Kitelife.com , The Kite Shoppe , Stormtech , Gomberg Kites
JOHN BARRESI, from Portland, OR has been flying since the age of fifteen, John first picked up a sport kite in 1990 on the Marina Green in San Francisco...
Now in his 30's and having flown in over a dozen different countries, he's been fortunate enough to make kiting
his life's dedication.
As one of the most prolific and successful sport kite competitors in North America, John has earned national
championships in nearly every discipline, including his role as one of the members of three national champion
dual line sport kite teams in 1993, 1995 and 1997 respectively, each of which represented the USA in the World
Championships.
John was voted American Kite Magazine’s Experienced Class “Rising Star” (like rookie of the year) by his kite
flying peers in 1992, and in 1997 he was again recognized by his peers, this time as the “Outstanding Flyer”
among all Masters Class competitors. In the 11 years that American Kite Magazine was published, John is the
only flier to have ever received both the “Rising Star” and “Outstanding Flyer” awards.
These days he flies as team captain on iQuad and works hard as both owner and editor in chief of Kitelife.com,
the largest kiting web site in the world. With a bi-monthly Internet magazine, hours of video, out of print
publications, a discussion forum, photo galleries and more, Kitelife is devoted to promoting and facilitating kiting
worldwide.
Most recently, John became the youngest ever recipient of the Steve Edeiken (or Kiteflier or the Year) Award,
nominated by his peers and awarded by our own American Kitefliers Association at their annual convention in
October of 2008.
STEVE DE ROOY, from Victoria, British Columbia. Steve has been involved in all aspects of kite flying for twenty-four years, thirteen of those years with
Revolution kites. He's also spent a number of years in the power kite flying arena - kite buggying, kite surfing
and mountain boarding. If there were any other avenues of kiting that Steve COULD be involved in, rest assured,
we would see him out there doing it.
From the very beginning of this addicting sport, Steve was involved in single line and dual-line kites. Now, back
in full force and flying Rev kites, Steve has joined the International quad-line team, iQuad. With iQuad, his
enjoyment primarily comes from watching new fliers come out and try this wonderful sport. Steve has only
competed once during his kiting career and decided early on that rather than compete, the enjoyment he gets
from flying Rev kites was more, “what more can I do with my kite?", and no concern for "points".
The adrenaline rush of a 'Cirque du Soleil' approach to kite flying is what makes this sport truly challenging (and
fun!). Steve is one of the very few people who can fly TWO Rev kites at the same time. I' ll do the math for you
here -- that's TWO quad-line kites, FOUR handles and EIGHT lines. Most of us can barely fly ONE quad-line kite,
and the prospect of flying two is completely out of the question. Steve does it as if he's been doing it his whole
life. Amazing.
TK BARRESI - Portland, OR originally from Japan, TK has been a sport kite enthusiast since 2004 in both dual and quad line flying (team and
individual), performing and competing in Tokyo, Japan until she moved permanently to the USA in October of
2009… Between events, she is one half of the duo behind Kitelife Magazine along with her husband John Barresi,
and regularly trains with him at their home field in Portland.
She also flies as a member of the pairs team “REVOL” with John, and officially joining iQuad in 2010, TK is very
much looking forward to performing with the team at events all over the world, continuing to share the passion
of kite flying with her teammates and learning about other cultures.
Off the kite field, TK’s background is in marketing and art, which she applied to a ten-plus year career in Tokyo
and is now using to great effect as co-owner of Kitelife Magazine.
J.D. FABICH, from Rogue River, OR, Now in his 20's, J.D. has been flying kites for more than half his life. He first picked up a kite after attending the
Brookings kite festival in 1998. He started competing in 2005 and had won numerous competitions, but in 2006,
he joined Team iQuad and has since retired from formal competition.
As an original member of iQuad, J.D. is among some of the best flyers in the world and his of skill with
Revolution kites is right up there with the best… His ability to quickly learn complex maneuvers and perform
them in a variety of conditions has earned him the nickname "Mr. Fabulous" among his friends. Kiting has led
him around the world to places like England, Colombia, New York, Ontario, and Michigan, and even an
appearance on the American TV program, 'Good Morning America'.
J.D. also enjoys snowboarding, movies, cars, and is currently attending college and studying for a degree
emergency medical technology and eventually anesthesiology.
BARRY "BAZZER" POULTER, from Lakewood, WA. Before becoming a full time kite builder, Bazzer attended Art College and Theatre Design College where he
specialized in rigging, set and lighting design, skills which served him well in that industry for several years.
Since moving to the USA from England, he quickly earned a reputation as one of the finest kite makers around,
winning several awards in AKA National Kite Making Competition and producing a limited number of his unique
single line creations under his company name (GluedtotheBlue.com).
Joining iQuad in 2007, Bazzer quickly earned a core slot on the team… In addition to his team duties on iQuad,
Bazzer produces all Pro model B-Series Revolution kites and is one of their most prolific masterpiece designers.
DAVID HATHAWAY, from Vancouver, British Columbia. Also know as “Monkey”, iQuad co-founder David Hathaway has been flying
sport kites for 14 years, and with 12 of those on Revolution kites
exclusively, he founded the first dedicated discussion group and web
site for this type of kite, called Revisions. Starting his competition
career in 2006, he’s accumulated 4 AKA Nationals trophies since then,
along numerous NWSKL individual and pairs championships. An Internet
geek by day, a writer/photographer for Kitelife magazine, David is also
involved in 2 music groups in the Northwest.
Watch for other great fliers as well.
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