" Your site is responsible for this persons kite flying. The videos and reviews have inspired me, and at least one other person, and that's nearly a grands worth of kites we spent our money on between us so that's no bad thing. Keep the reviews going, test fly the kites :: SteveR "

Editorial Team :: Audio Visual Team :: kHiTe History

Introduction

Welcome to kHiTe, one of the premier freestyle kite sites on the web. kHiTe is packed with reviews and comment from the world of recreational and competitive freestyle in the UK and far beyond.

Editorial Team

These are some of the people who contribute to the kite reviews and editorial content to kHiTe ::

UK

Edward Green	Editor
Edward started flying on his honeymoon at age 21 back in 1996 with a very cheap stunter. A year later he picked up his first 'real' kite, a Midi Neutrino from Kited. He also got a copy of the 'Tricky Flickery' video and from then on got the recreational freestyle bug. A self confessed Kite Tart, Eddie loves to fly different kites and push his own abilities ::

Robin Smith	Consulting Editor
Robin is 3 times UK national Champion and member of the notorious Scratch Bunnies (with current UK individual champion Dave Morley and fellow Mobius team mate Richard Pellew) who were the top ranking UK team in the 2003 World and European Championships ::

Sasha Reading	Style Editor
Sasha is on of the UK's brightest stars rising through the ranks despite his young age. Sasha is responsible for all the make up and clothes worn by kHiTe members of staff. His favourite material is chiffon ::

Roy Reed	High Aspect Guru
Roy is a top flier, well know for his expertise with the Gemini, but also for his fantastic kite Flash work which includes solid descriptions of some of the latest freestyle moves ::

Craig H	Polyvalent Powerhouse
The UK kite scenes darkest horse, Craig's flying scares the living daylights out of most of us. He is that good. Just don't tell anyone ::

Overseas

Jim B	USA Correspondent
Jim is a great down to earth kite flier who really knows how to get under the skin of a kite. Jim keeps an eye on the US scene for us whilst doing his best to buy Old World kites ::

Denis Placette	French Correspondent
Denis is one of Frances best looking fliers, not only that but he is a keen competitor in the French national championships. Denis helps out with translation for kHiTe as well as keeping his ear to the ground across the channel.

Audio Visual Team

These are some of the people who keep the AV side of kHiTe alive.

Jon Phillips	Video Director
AKA the Beige Volvo, Jon has shot most of the recent videos for kHiTe reviews. Jon is also starting out in the world of Freestyle flying.

Roland Eva	Photographer
Roland is a professional photographer preferring black and white film. His art runs from street photography to kite photography. He also shoots great videos.

Fran Ambrose	Videographer
Fran takes his fair share of photos and videos. Fran is a new flier with a rapidly expanding skill base. Ideal for guinea pigging first time kites.

History

kHiTe has been around in one form or another since the late 90's

Paper Flight

kHiTe started life in 1997 as a paper newsletter. The original intention was to send copy's to shops who could replicate it it themselves with their own logo. It found its way into one copy of the Kiteflier, the Kite Society of Great Britain's newsletter, with all the funny bits removed but a subscription slip retained. The review of the Spirit of Air Enigma was part of that first issue

Web Delight

kHiTe soon realized that the only way to defeat the oppressive censorship of the kite fascists (hey all we did was describe a large majority of kite fliers as sad middle aged caravaners) was the internet. In 1998 kHiTe went online as a free Homestead website. Sadly these early stages have not been archived. http://www.khite.co.uk was soon nabbed and pointed at the Homestead site.

The Dark Ages

From mid-2000 to 2001 the kHiTe.co.uk domain pointed to a number of website's completely unrelated to kite flying. Changes of personal circumstances had meant that the site could no longer be maintained. Eventually Homestead decided to suspend free website's over a couple of pages. kHiTe recreational freestyle was dead. If you looked for kHiTe on the web it directed you to Aerialis.

Like a Phoenix

Mid 2002 and suddenly kHiTe.co.uk burst back onto the Internet with a Dreamweaver/Fireworks based template design, and all the old content copied from a briefly revived Homestead Site. Within a year the Fireworks base had been replaced with a CSS styled site, a change that early 2004 allowed the whole site to offer a more contemporary wider page layout.

In 2004 the site move to www.kHiTe.org to reflect the international nature of its 25,000+ monthly page views. We have expanded our team to offer the best coverage of Freestyle worldwide.

The Future

The history of kHiTe has followed the ups and downs of Freestyle kite flying. We have been through some quieter patches, but now the scene is buzzing again. kHiTe now updates every week rather than every couple of months. We have broadened our horizons to include competitive freestyle flying too.

So don't go away. Fly every way.