“I broke three kites in the winter, it’s the first time that’s happened to me…” Dominique, a kite flyer based in Gironde, is devastated. In the thirty-five years that he has been flying kites, he has never experienced a winter, a period conducive to training, that was so bad for the practice of his sport. “The winds are becoming more and more irregular and violent. And then there is coastal erosion. Some beaches where I got my start no longer exist. As our passion depends on the weather, we are on the front line to witness climate change…”
While the kite flyers met in Berck-sur-Mer, until April 28, to International Kite Meetingss, the “season” was opened at the beginning of the month, in Châtelaillon-Plage, not far from La Rochelle. There, the subject of climate animated the debates after the festival announced the end of helicopter baptisms, the highlight of the event. “Our activities must be more and more virtuous. The helicopter no longer fit into this framework,” said the city’s mayor Stéphane Villain. An ecological decision which sparked debate: should kites be at the cutting edge of ecology?
Climate and introspection
“I don’t know if kite flyers are particularly eco-friendly but it’s true that the question of climate often comes up between us,” explains Nadine, another amateur kite flyer from Châtelaillon. Some have also come to practice kite flying because it is a natural activity, close to the elements, and very low-polluting. »
On the Berck-sur-mer side, Roger Tessa-Gambassi, artistic director of the Rencontres, also notes that the question of climate has become central for kite flyers: “Flying a kite is almost free, it t’s like going to the beach, it’s an activity where you fly by proxy. Obviously it invites reflection, introspection…”
Light wind is better than heavy weather
But is the kite really threatened by climate change? Not so sure. Firstly because climate experts do not all agree in attributing the recent increase in windy episodes to climate change. And above all because the wind is the basis of everything in kite flying.
“Sporting and competitive practice is little impacted,” says Richard Debray, professional kite flyer. I live in Loire-Atlantique, 200 meters from the sea, it’s very windy but we have kites that allow you to fly in up to 30 knots of wind. We haven’t seen beach erosion here yet, even though Pornic was flooded this winter… We are focused on the spectacle and sport side, the wind is our driving force, we will adapt to it. You can even fly with zero wind, with very light kites. »
No controversy
Roger Tessa-Gambassi is on the same wavelength. If the average kite flyer talks about weather, it will not necessarily be to talk about climate. “We talk a lot about these issues among ourselves for practical reasons. In competition there is often an upper wind limit: when it becomes dangerous we stop. And with erosion there are regions which have lost a lot of space. But I, for years, went kite flying every day without looking at the weather, and while the Tramontana is a very bad wind. Perhaps this will no longer be possible in the future…”
Above all, the question of climate change does not necessarily fit with the friendly and unifying state of mind that the kite world is trying to achieve. “No one really knows who invented the kite, but it developed in California in the 1980s with a whole New Age philosophy,” says Richard Debray. And even today it is a practice in keeping with the times, completely natural. Everyone likes kite flying, everyone finds it good. No one criticizes this practice. We are in touch with the elements, we master the invisible. And even if my practice is sporty and very technical, it remains a beach hobby. All this means that kite flyers don’t ask too many social questions. It is a unifying leisure and sport, not controversial. »
Fly (by kite) into the future
However, questions of ecology often drive the kite flying community which prides itself, for example, on serving as experiments for renewable energies. “More and more cargo ships and tankers have super-sail kites as a propulsion aid,” says Richard Debray. The wind is a great engine. »
“We have kite wind turbines designed by kite flyers,” says Roger Tessa-Gambassi. And there are more and more boats that have extra sails inspired by large kites. The technicality of our practice allows us to better exploit the wind. »
As for flying helicopters with kites, we are still looking.