On almost any weekend on a small island park in the center of the Detroit River, you may find the WINDJAMMERS Stunt Kite Team (Aaron, Nate, Gary, James, Mike and George) practicing their craft. These gentlemen with their mutual interest in kites established the Windjammers S.K.T. in 1983, making the Team one of the oldest intact kite Team on this planet
The team began with nine or so guys at the small island park in the center of the Detroit River flying and having fun. And in the 80’s when team flying began to take shape with competitions, three of the guys (Aaron, Nate and Gary) formed the Windjammers Stunt Kite. Since those early days they have added three more gentlemen to the team. In 1989 James joined making the Windjammers a steady four person team until 1996 when his job called for him to move out of state. James remains a member of the team and regularly returns to fly with the team on special events. Also in the that same year Aaron decided to stop the competition portion for the schedule, leaving an additional spot open on the team. So in 1996 two other gentlemen joined on board. Mike was first to join the group. He was a native Detroiter and we met while he was on the island flying a delta stunter. Next came George. We met George several years prior to him joining the group. The reason being he lived several states away. But, his determination and willingness to travel weekly to make team practices made him an intricate part of the team. In 2007 we added Jean from Montreal Canada. Now we had a steady four man competition team and a six man demonstration team.
There are many accomplishments the team has had over the years: On April 15th 1984 the Windjammers along with the 5/20 Kite Group (Local kite club) flew the record breaking Trlby flight of 76 kites in a train. Later that year they attended their first AKA convention in Nashville, TN. Performing at the last Detroit City Air Show 1988, Performing for nine years straight at the Howell Hot Air Balloon Challenge to name a few. As for team competition they have competed in many competitions in the USA and Canada. One of the first competitions the team flew in was the 1987 “Fly the Mit” in Traverse City, Michigan. The team has competed every year since then.
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