It's been hard to get updates done this month. Don't know why... First we went to visit Jon and Karen Burkhardt in Cape May, New Jersey and to celebrate her *0th birthday. Glen and Tanna Haynes and Alice Hayden/Mark Vergilo joined us for a wonderful relaxing weekend where we ate and drank far too much. Along the way, we dropped in on Mike at Great Atlantic Kite Co. and Rachel at Rehobeth Sport & Kite. Ther day after we got home, Kevin and Cinda Shannon of Carlisle Kiteworks arrived to spend the holidays. Cinda is working with Susie on a pumpkin pie, while I've got Kevin designing a new series of mid-sized foils for us to introduce this spring. On the 29th, we all head for the airport. Susie and I are flying to London to take part in Chris Matheson's Millennium Bridge Fly. We're pretty excited. But we're also a bit nervous. If something goes wrong and we dump a big kite in the river, Chris may not invite us back next Millennium... If the world as we know it doesn't end, check back here next week for photos of the huge London celebration.

It's time to begin cleaning out our kite closet. That may be good news for some of you collectors... Here is a sport kite I picked up in Japan with a trade about eight years ago. It has less then 5 hours flying time on it and is in excellent condition. As you can see, the kite is completely appliquéd with a wonderful Japanese kabuki motif. It is a one-of-a-kind and signed (in Japanese) by the author. The design is called Watonai. For more information on the story behind the image, check our Japanese pages . The framing is all carbon, and the craftsmanship, while not as good as Randy Tom's, is pretty amazing considering the detail. The fittings are early 1990 vinyl tubing style and can easily be updated if you wish. If you'd like to add this special kite to your collection, I'd like to get $200 for it. I suspect it would go for twice that at the AKA auction.

Here's another spedcial kite from our closet. This unusual design comes from France. As you can see, the fittings are vinyl tubing but can easily be replaced. The spars are all carbon.

What makes the design particularly unique is the extended rod in the back which eliminates the need for stand-offs in the front and keep the kite in launch position when on the ground. Some of the bungies need to be replaced, but other than that, the kite is in pristine and unflown condition. Buy it and start marketing copies! There has been nothing like this on the US market... I'd like to get $150 for this unusual sport kite..

In the coming weeks, we'll continue to offer new items from our closets and drawers. To reward astute readers like you, I'll put them here in the Update first, and then if they don't sell after a week, I'll add them to the Factory. Keep checking back!

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