KITE BOAT HISTORY Using kites to pull boats around has an even longer history than land kite sailing, (17th) century illustrations show kites rigged to extract even large sailing ships from wind shadowed harbours. It seems very likely that kites would have been used much earlier than this to pull smaller boats, canoes or even swimmers. I define practicable kite sailing as the ability to safely handle all normal sailing courses (upwind reaching, downwind) in a reasonable wind range. Kitesailing took a huge step forward with the development in (1978) of Jacobs ladder, a set of extended Tornado catamaran hulls powered by a winch controlled Flexifoil stack. This setup held the C class sailing speed record at 25 kn from 1982 to 1988. Later specialised speed record kite sailers have contributed extensively to theory and practise. Much more work is needed but kite traction for boats now seems to have an exciting future, certainly in the quest for speed and for one person specialised enclosed water kite boats (occupying a similar recreational niche to windsurfers) and probably as emergency or auxiliary sails for blue water yachts. My own kite sailing experiences started relatively recently (Nov 1987) but by 1992 had covered 26 purpose build prototypes encompassing many (mostly crazy) forms: Monohulls, planing boards, specially designed waterskis, catamarans, trimarans, hydrofoilers, etc. To the extent that negative data is as useful as positive results in the innovation process I can report solid progress! In retrospect I am lucky to have survived at least a couple of the spectacular crashes I incurred on the kitesailers that had the kite lines rigged to their structure rather than being attached through the operator. Being dragged, submerged while tangled in the structure of a capsized kite boat hauled by 20 square metres of two line kite that unaccountably decided at that time to fly stably, in a 50 km/hr wind could be regarded as a necessary pioneering risk but I am now very firmly of the view that quick release systems must be of the "dead man" type that release automatically when you stop doing something. (I fortunately became disentangled after the first 100 metres or so, the boat continued for some kilometres up the lake, through a swamp, through the fringing willow trees and on up the rising ground till jamming in a rocky crag from which its remains were retrieved, kite still flying, an hour or so later). Having taken as a goal aims quite different to those of the specialist speed record attempt kitesailers I am very pleased with the "state of the art". Protypes 22 to 26 meet all my criteria of air travel portability, 8 kmh - 100 kmh wind range, all courses, safe, easy to use and not too expensive to make. Some of my prototypes are now in use in Germany, Australia, Italy, and Holland. A concern that remains is speed. Upwind V.M.G. on current models is quite satisfactory being about up with windsurfers. Downwind V.M.G. is, I think in general, superior to windsurfers but reaching speeds are only half that for windsurfers (maximum so far 30+ km/hr). The smaller (mk 26 style displacement/planing) hulls give superior speed but have problems getting out upwind through breaking surf (say 1m+) without capsizing. Tests seem to be pointing to technique rather than design changes as the solution I observe less problems as experience builds. Using our quick release handles system there is now no great physical strain in holding a course. I have easily held a tack for 5km+ and would not hesitate in taking on an ocean passage as the craft are positively buoyant. Using an Argos or G.P.S. system the worst that could happen is a call for rescue. An on-the-water kite launching/retrieval system is essential however and not yet available. I have now the precursor of such a system that works most of the time for 10-30 km/hr, flat water. It is being improved all the time. My greatest insecurity is that one or more of the radical approaches I tried may have been rejected because of insufficient perseverance or absence or some trivial modification. Analogously, the search for successful innovation is equivalent to blundering around in a fog bound landscape comprising various hills of unknown attitude. The innovator's task is to find and ascend the highest hill. Arriving at an uprising the innovator, if well organised and disciplined may eventually attain the pinnacle of that particular hill. Unfortunately, there is no way of ensuring that an adjacent or more distant hill may not be higher! For kitesailing does it matter?, any hill that's high enough will get the sport started, optimisation can come later.