Dale Vanderhoof
Black Feather Kites

Dale is known for his "Black Feather" fighter kites. These durable well made fighters were the very first fighter kites Jennifer and I (Bob) learned to fly with. When Dale introduced his Patang Light, we knew Dale was onto a good thing. We first met Dale and his wife Calvin at Long Beach several years ago, and we've been close friends ever since. We traveled together to Colombia in 1997 for the international kite festival sponsored by Yaripa. Dale made the front page of the Bogotá newspaper with his cellular honeycomb kite.



Dale is a master craftsman, and has made many precision kites in his history of kite making: Genki's, a 20 foot Cody kite so big he could hardly get it in his house, Rok's such as the one he calls Boxes, and many more. Recently he made two Sauls' Barrage kites.








Ron Gibian a few years ago started making these tall skinny kites to fly in a wide wind rage. It is close in shape to the ones Tal Streeter made many years earlier. Dale decided to make some once the craze hit. Dale nickednamed the kites "Noodles" and the term has stuck. The one pictured here is 20 feet long.


  



Dale loves challenges and making new kites after only seeing a picture. You can contact Dale directly at blackfeather@optech-center.net.