Biography

Flying since the age of 15, John first picked up a sport kite in 1990 on the Marina Green in San Francisco… Now in his late 40’s and having flown in over 20 different countries, he’s been fortunate enough to make kiting his life’s dedication.

As one of the most prolific and successful sport kite competitors in North America as an individual, pair and team pilot in both dual and quad line categories, he has competed both outdoors and indoors, earning national championships in nearly every discipline including his role as one of the members of three national champion dual line sport kite teams in 1993, 1995 and 1997 respectively, each of which represented the USA in the World Championships.

John was voted American Kite Magazine’s Experienced Class “Rising Star” (like rookie of the year) by his kite flying peers in 1992, and in 1997 he was again recognized by his peers, this time as the “Outstanding Flyer” among all Masters Class competitors.

In the 11 years that American Kite Magazine was published, John is the only flier to have ever received both the “Rising Star” and “Outstanding Flyer” awards.

1991 Lincoln City Kite Festival

1992 AKA Grand Nationals

1994 Hawaii Challenge

In 2008, John became the youngest ever recipient of the Steve Edeiken (or Kiteflier or the Year) Award for lifetime achievement, nominated by his peers and awarded by our own American Kitefliers Association at their annual convention in October of 2008.

In 2006, John co-founded iQuad with teammate David Hathaway and became highly active in promoting the world of Rev team flying by teaching, performing and leading quad mega flies at over 125 events worldwide in just seven years of activity.

Together with ex-wife TK and teammate Spence Watson, he co-founded the short-lived indoor show team FlyForm in January of 2012 with an explosive debut routine set to “Pump It” by the Black Eyed Peas.

Team iQuad disbanded peacefully in September of 2013.

After tying as the youngest ever elected in 2013, John served one and a half yearly terms as President of the American Kitefliers Association.

Following a nearly 3 year hiatus from team flying, John founded Team KiteLife in 2015 with hand-picked fliers from around the USA who shared a similar passion toward continually pushing the envelope and thriving in traditionally difficult or unusual places to fly, and they pursue many different disciplines including quad, dual and single line kites, indoor or outdoor, dogstake, urban flying, etc.

The activity and culture emanating from iQuad ultimately led to the creation of his Signature Series with Revolution Kites in 2007 (the B-Series), which went on to become one of the most popular quad line kites ever sold.

The B-Series later spawned into a series of B-Pro (2008) and larger Zen kites (2010) all handmade exclusively by teammate Bazzer Poulter, and the B-Series line evolved yet again in 2011 with the Xtra Vent and smaller sized B-2. All models were discontinued after John’s departure from Revolution in 2016.

Also a very capable two line flier, he released his first dual line kite design (the Kymera) through Into The Wind in 2011, later discontinued in 2015.

John has also received or shared recognition with several peer awards from the Kite Trade Association since 2007, most related to new Revolution kite products or general kite promotion through KiteLife and iQuad.

B-Pro Xtra Vent

Rev B2

ITW Kymera

In September of 2017, he started a new kite company called Kite Forge to produce his own line of kites all suited to the various disciplines of kiting he enjoys, starting with the Kaiju indoor dual line kite. Since that first kite he also released the Djinn quad line kite in 2018 and Djinndoor in 2023 (all co-designed with Brett Marchel). Most recently, he culminated 12 years of dogstake development with the KŪBE (thanks to 3D design help from Geoff Hutton).

Kaiju

Djinn

KŪBE

Giving his first instructional workshops in 2005, John dedicated a great deal of his new instructional experience to producing his first video tutorials starting in 2008, covering variety of sport kite subjects via KiteLife.

When he’s not flying or designing kites, most of John’s attention goes toward his work as owner and Editor in Chief of KiteLife.com, the largest kiting web site in the world.  With a bi-monthly Internet magazine, countless hours of video, out of print publications, a discussion forum, photo galleries and more, KiteLife is devoted to promoting and facilitating kiting worldwide through kiting media, flight clinics, education, performance and web design for the kiting industry…

In 2012, John also partnered with Andy Scott of the UK to develop and launch a new website called KiteMap.org (no defunct) where kitefliers worldwide can search or add their own favorite flying locations using a convenient Google Maps interface.