Authors: Ben Ruhe
Date Submitted: February 29, 2004
Article Type: Journal

The Drachen Foundation recently expanded its Board of Directors from six to eight. Added were Dave Lang, of Seattle, a veteran aerospace engineer, and Jose Sainz, of San Diego, renowned for his beautiful, elaborate kites with Indian motifs which reflect his personal Aztec heritage.

“For us to grow,’ says Ali Fujino, Administrator of Drachen, “we needed some new viewpoints. Lang with his strong scientific background and Sainz with his refined esthetic sense bolster the Foundation in these two important areas.”

The Board of Directors voted five grants, all of them for interesting, innovative projects involving kites. Awarded were:

* Oscar Frey, a marine biologist, who is studying humpback whale behavior in the Bay of Bandaras, Mexico. Frey is using cameras attached to kites to document human interaction with whales. Because the kites are can be flown well away from boats and thus are nonintrusive, no stress is caused the mammals.


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