I've been a real kiteaholic for years. Although my main interest is designing kites which are original and beautiful I'm interested in every aspect of kite flying, from fighter kites to power kites and from aerial ballet to aerial photography. I fly them mainly at Scheveningen Beach, parks in Delft, and kite festivals in Holland. Due to lack of time and lack of money (I've been a student up till recently) I've not been to many kite festivals abroad. I don't have any professional links with kite flying, it's just a hobby, but my education as bac. of science is sometimes useful .

How it all began: 
In 1977 my father bought  'Kites' by David Pelham, which was just released. The pictures and stories fascinated mainly my older brother Frits. Soon our first kites, two Ace (or Trlby) kites where bought at Vlieger Op, now one of the worlds major kite stores, but then just started as a very small and very full shop in The Hague. Soon Frits started to built his own kites, classic designs, sometimes in big sizes (3 m Conyne, 6 m Cody, 2.5x2.5 m parafoil). Since I was just a small kid at that time I was mainly watching and running around with small delta kites or fighter kites with tail. During the 80's Frits got more and more interested in model planes (and successfully, he was European champion r.c. gliders 1994) and lost interest in kites.

After some paper and tyvec kites I tried to built my first nylon kite. It was a bright orange Flare, and to my surprise it flew very nice, although it needed a tail. I still own this kite but when I look at it I'm surprised that it flew at all, even the straight stiches look like zigzag lines! Soon my skills improved and after lots of classic designs I started to design my own kites.
 

Now I am the proud owner of about 50 single
line kites and 40 stunters, most of which are home build. Most of my kites are sewn on a Pfaff 90 sewing machine, truly the Harley Davidson  of the sewing machine. I still use it for heavy duty jobs. A few years ago I bought a Pfaff 955 dualmatic with double transport system. It really helps when stitching multiple layers of fabric.

  A few of the scariest moments of my kite life:

Years ago a 3 mtr box kite with heavy wooden dowel broke completely apart in full flight during a wind gust. The remains fell down on the side of a highway.  Just a few feet further and it could have caused a major accident. I'm glad that glassfibre and carbon tubes enable us to built lighter and safer kites nowadays.

One day on the flying field I forgot my lines. A friend lend me a line and assured me it was dynema, estimated breaking strength a few hundred pounds, so I flew my 8 ft Compound Cody on it. It turned out to be a nylon line breaking strength a few dozen pounds, so soon my kite was floating away. Luckily it landed undamaged a few miles away.
 
 
 

A few moments of heaven in my kite life:

The first time I saw a Cody man lifting system at work. I've been in love with Cody kites ever since.  One of my first kites was a Cody my brother built for me, I've built at least a dozen Cody's in different sizes in the last twenty years, and one of my most recent kites was a full carbon framed Cody. If you like Cody kites be sure to visit the Cody gallery.

The first flight of my dragon, on a summer evening in the middle of nowhere with just enough wind to let it float in the air. I had been dreaming for months how it would look, but the real sight of it against the setting sun was unbelievably better than I could imagine. That evening really was a fairy tale.

And an old classic every kite flier knows, children passing by and looking up in amazement.