"This is for all of you women kite buggiers and fliers out there, who if like me feel a little left out when the men stand around chatting about kiting and we have to stand around and look ‘pretty’.  Some of us do know a little bit about kite flying, but maybe we are not supposed to.  Maybe we should be at home cooking the dinner and being house proud, but that’s boring, we want to have some fun as well!

I’ve been flying now for about six years and I started off with a six foot Flexifoil which was great for starting with as a confidence builder.  My other half had a ten-foot, so as my confidence grew we began to stack them together.  After a short time we got an eight-foot flexi to add to what was then a small collection of kites.

After travelling for a year and coming back to start flying again my husband brought two four-line kites and a buggy.  I continued to buggy with my flexifoils but people used to say to me that they thought I would have more control with a four-line kite.  I used my husbands but, I always felt that they were his kites and I wanted my own, as he is bigger than me his kites are set up differently to how I would want them.

So I purchased a 2metre Speedy and I am now buggying well, or so I think.  My kite is reliable and predictable.  The trouble is now that I am more confident I am in need of more kites to satisfy my needs and the varying wind conditions that we have to contend with on the South coast.

While I was on the Internet a few weeks ago and after reading many kite magazines I haven’t seen any articles about women, or written by women.  So this is for all of you out there that may be thinking like me that there must be more women flying."
 

                                                                                                                                  Vanessa Harmer