Authors: Ben Ruhe
Date Submitted: November 30, 2003
Article Type: Journal

Modest to a fault, New York advertising executive Will Yolen in the l972-73 edition of Who’s Who in America billed himself as “kite-flying champion of the world.” There being no appreciable evidence for the claim, a newspaper columnist asked Yolen whether he constructed his own kites. “Did Babe Ruth make his own bats?” he demanded. “Does Heifeitz build violins?”

“I took up kites as a warm weather leisure hobby because the existential concept of flying interests just about everybody, including me.” (Dr. Jeff Cain)

“I was born in a village built on stilts over the water in Brunei Darussalam, Borneo. We used kites bigger than Indian fighters but with the same cutting line, and young and old joined in the battles. There were no obstacles and there was always a good wind. I remember flying kites in those days as something grand, something honorable.” (Maidin bin Ahmad, head of the Brunei Kite Association)

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