Team Bio


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	Team Biography

With their signature Hyperkite team stacks pulling long 40 foot tails, the Bay Area Sundowners are one of the most exciting teams in sports kite flying today. Originally named after a US Naval Flight team, the "Sundowners" have been part of the Kite community for over twenty five years. Although none of the original team members remain, the traditions that drive the team’s desire to please and "wow" audiences are as strong as ever. The team's large colorful stacks of kites weave intricate patterns in the sky while the flyers, move and weave their bodies to keep the lines clear. Performance routines are carefully crafted and choreographed to emotional music which rarely leaves a dry eye in the house.

In 1996 the team decided that kite festival competition was no longer something we enjoyed so we focused our attention toward public shows and displays only. The composition of the routines were modified, enhanced, and developed for greater crowd appeal instead of high scores from judges. This venue has proven very successful, as the team now performs in front of expanded audiences, sometimes totaling as many as 750,000 people in one year. The Sundowners have appeared at festivals, air shows and special events all over the world and intend to continue to do so, bringing their "magic" to audiences young and old alike.


	Current Team Members

Barry Nash - Born in Southampton, England, Barry has been flying kites since 1983. He now lives in Belmont, California.

After spending time in the USA in 6 month periods, during which he met Ray Wong and Mix McGraw, Barry moved to the Bay Area in 1983 to join the team. Barry started flying with the Sundowners after Mixs McGraw bought him his first set of Hyperkites. Barry is an award winning single line kite maker and flyer as well as a superb team flyer. His attention to detail reflects in specialization in painting and restoration of all types of large, high end houses and custom estates. His projects have appeared in Home and Garden and Architectural Digest.

Barry’s most memorable moments in kites include representing the USA at the World Cup in 1994, traveling all over the world with the team, and hearing the crowd going crazy after a great routing in front of thousands of people.

Gordon Osterland - Born in Los Angeles, California, Gordon has been flying kites since 1989. He now lives in San Francisco, California and works as a custom home/estate painter.

Gordon started flying kites in October of 1989 at the beach in San Francisco. He and his brother Ken, flew "Big Wing" kites and started competition that year as a pairs team "The Brothers". The next year, Gordon and his brother joined the Sundowners and began flying stacked kites. Gordon, like the other Sundowners is a superb, award winning single line kite and banner maker. He started his own creations after lessons from Randy Tom, the owner of Hyperkites and one of the world’s most talented and famous kite makers.

The highlights of Gordon’s kite adventures include his trip to Japan in 1995 with the Sundowners and representing the USA at the 1995 World Cup Championships.

Ken Osterland - Born in Burbank, California, Ken has been flying kites since 1989. He now lives in San Bruno, California and is a technician/installer of high-end audio and theater systems.

Ken joined the Sundowners in 1989 at the same time as his brother Gordon after competing as the pairs team "The Brothers". His interest in kites began in elementary school after a school sponsored kite fly where every student from kindergarten to sixth grade flew a kite after their lunch break. Ken does a lot of the choreography of the team’s routines (designing movements to match the music).

Ken’s best times in kiting are every time he gets together with the other members of the team to fly or practice the team’s routines. "There’s no other thrill on earth quite like the one I get when we launch all 72 of our kites and proceed to fly our routine."

Randy Tom - Born in San Diego, California, Randy has been flying kites since 1979. He now lives in Los Angeles, California and works for Go Fly a Kite, designing and developing new kites and kite products for the company.

Randy started flying team ballet in 1980 after starting his own kite company Hyperkites, which manufactured the kite still used by the Sundowners. His 6 person kite team first performed at the 1982 Blue Angels Airshow at Miramar Air Station. Randy has been flying as an alternate with the Sundowners for the past 4 years and is now a regular member of the team.

Highlights of Randy's career include wining several AKA Grand Championship awards in kite making and traveling all over the world giving seminars on the technique of stain glass appliqué artwork onto kites. Randy is acknowledged as the pioneer that developed this technique, a standard now that is in use by kite makers for building wining competition kites all over the world.

Craig Wong - Born in Canton, China, Craig was brought to the United States at the tender age of 6 months and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Craig started flying kites in 1989 after watching a kite flyer doing some "amazing" things with a Geosports Stunt kite. The kite flyer offered to let him try the kite and the rest was history. Craig's interest grew from individual flying to team flying in 1992 and two years later was a member of Team Tsunami, which had an undefeated season and went on to win the 1994/1995 World Cup Championships in Le Torquet, France.

Craig joined the Sundowners in 1997, retired after 5 years with the team, and recently re-enlisted to continue the Sundowner's tradition.

Craig is a designer of several kites, participant and founder of kite events, and often is called upon for various judging duties. The most memorable moment of Craig's career was standing on the 1994 World Cup podium, holding an American Flag, while the National Anthem was being played.


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