Since the demise of the publication, Kite Lines, the kiting community has been without an organization that tracks kite world record attempts, sets criteria, verifies and lists kite record attempts. Earlier this year, AKA agreed to step up and fill the void.
The AKA Kite Records Committee will document and authenticate kite records submitted to the committee by AKA members from around the world. Our goal is twofold: to give the kiting community a easily accessible list of current kite records and to act as an information group that can assist kitefliers who plan to attempt a kite record. The Committee will give fliers accurate, sensible and safe criteria for kite record attempts, and a clear, simple and fair method to document record attempts.
The Guinness Book of World Records recognizes only four categories for kiteflying. By contrast, Football gets twelve full pages!. But Football fans can access other books and publications that contain literally thousands of pages of statistics and records. So the interest in football records far exceed the information in the Guinness Book, just as the interest in kite world records will also exceed the categories of kite records listed in the Book.
The kite community, needs its’ own list of records and statistics, and a committee to track and record. AKA has accepted that responsibility.
The AKA Kite Records Committee will not be reinventing the wheel. Many current kite records were verified by earlier criteria and documented with a system that was fair and accurate. It would be unfair to current record holders and to the fliers who are in the process of setting records to alter previously established criteria. The AKA Kite Records Committee will honor the past records, and also identify the current and future records and record holders.
We will also expand the criteria and refine the verification process, while authenticating and verifying the current records. This will need to evolve, just as the hobby and sport of kiteflying has grown and evolved. The committee will strive to update criteria and verification methods as science evolves and provides advanced technology to verify and document kite records more accurately. They will include new categories for records as new and different types of kites emerge.
The Committee will consider new categories and accomplishments as they are presented. Records are currently being documented in the categories below.
So go set a record and become part of kite history!
Definitions & General Rules For A Kite Record Attempt
- A kite is defined as a tethered aerodyne deriving all its lift from ambient winds and unassisted by any “booster” such as a rocket, balloon, gas, motor, electricity, explosives or other applied devices.
. - All kites used in any claim for a record must fly. Flight is defined as being airborne at an angle of at least 15 degrees above the horizontal to an altitude above the ground for at least the length of the kite and for a time period of at least two minutes. These factors interrelate and a kite achieving only minimum in each factor puts the claim at risk of being denied.
. - All kites used in a claim for a record must be retrieved.
. - All kite records must be set either within the limitations of any applicable prevailing laws or with permission of the authorities to perform outside such limitations.
. - All kite record efforts must be made in conformance with recognized safe flying practices as appropriate to the effort.
. - For most categories, for a record to be considered as an increase over past records, the increase must be in significant increments (suggested 5% increase). There should be no doubt that a new record surpasses a previous record.
Current Recognized Kite Record Categories
- Altitude by a Single Kite
. - Altitude by a Train of Kites
. - Duration of Flight (Outdoors)
. - Duration of Flight (Indoors)
. - Most Kites Flown on One Line
. - Largest Kite Flown
. - Smallest Kite Flown
. - Greatest Weight Lifted by a Kite
. - Longest Kite and/or Longest Tail
. - First Kite Flown in a specific location
(i.e., North Pole, Mt. Everest, etc.)
. - Most Participants at a Kite Event and / or Most Kites Flown at a Kite Event.
. - Kite Flown in Most Extreme Weather
(i.e., Hottest, Coldest, Strongest winds, etc.)
. - Most Consecutive Days of Individual Flight.
. - Most Nations in Which Kites Have Been Flown.
. - Most Dual Line/Quad Line Sport Kites Flown by Hand. (Specific brands of kites will not be considered)
. - Largest Total Lift Surface of a Dual Line/Quad Line Kite Train Flown by Hand ( or with a mechanical anchor)
(Note: Original references – Kite Lines Vol. 3 No. 3 © 1980)