August 1, 2011

Collection Name: Drachen Foundation Collection

Collection Number: 103

Post Type: Document

This item was entered by Ali. They assume full responsibility for all content.

Artist or Author: Stormy Weathers

Creation Year: 2003

Summay:

Kitemakers come in many varieties: artists, engineers, inventors, tinkerers.
Stormy weathers was all of these.
I believe it was at the Long Beach Kite Festival in 1990 that I told Stormy that he must
assemble “his” kites in a book. The kites range from variations of the sled to the Victory
kites, singularly high-angle, light-wind fliers. All are developed and brought to nearperfection
in Stormy’s style, which was “test, test and test again, until you can’t improve
it further.”
I told Stormy that he owed it to both history and the kitemakers of the future to put
plans (many of which had been published in various no-longer-available newsletters
over the years) between covers. As things stood, many kitebuilders had no weary of
knowing where such masterpieces as the Star Victory came from and were without
access to the details of construction of the various kites. These include the ingenious
use of ordinary, readily available materials and Stormy’s accumulated wisdom on the
bridles, tails, reels and knots.
He agreed, dug out the plans and sketches which he had developed over many years
and began work. I will have to say that regular nagging may have helped to keep it
moving. I was not the only one urging Stormy to get his book to the printer and make
it available, but a good part of the delay was his determination to re-test and perfect all
the older designs.
We can be grateful for this perfectionism and for the gift of the Swift Victory, (Stormy’s
later version of the original Star Victory,) developed as he worked on the book. As readers
build and fly his kites, Stormy’s skills and passion for kitemaking excellence will live
on.
Margaret Greger
Richland Washington
Summer 2003

Geographic: United States

Kite Type: Bowed, Figure, Flat

Materials: Bamboo, Cotton, Dowel, Fiberglass, Nylon/Synthetic, Paper, Plastic

Significance: Art

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