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The skies above Bristol’s Ashton Court will be full of colourful kites this weekend as the Bristol International Kite Festival takes place on 03 and 04 September; one of those kites, flown in from Kuwait, will be hoping to break a world record.

Peter Lynn Kites of New Zealand has created the Manta Ray which was commissioned by Kuwait’s Al Farsi family. The kite is colossal, larger than a full-size football pitch, and will require ideal weather conditions if it is to break the current world record.

The kite will be officially measured at Bristol and must fly for a minimum of twenty minutes in order to break the record; Manta Ray’s wingspan is more than 55 metres wide, its body length is over 40 metres and it has an approximately 80 metre long tail. The lifting area of Manta Ray is 1,200 square metres, considerably more than the current world record holder which is a 3D Kuwaiti Flag with a lifting area of 1,019 square metres. The Kuwaiti Flag is also owned by the Al Farsi family and was successfully flown at Bristol in 2004 before officially being declared the world’s largest kite in 2005.

Two substantial vehicles will be needed to tether Manta Ray to the ground once it has been inflated and is airborne; Kite Festival organisers are grateful to TCRA, who operate Durnford Quarry which is adjacent to Ashton Court, for providing the vehicles and drivers. TCRA is a joint venture company between Tarmac and Churngold Recycling.

Festival organiser Avril Baker has thanked the Al Farsi family for sponsoring the costs of bringing the Manta Ray kite and its team to the Bristol International Kite Festival and says that a new world record would be an amazing 25th anniversary present for the event.

The Bristol International Kite Festival takes place at Ashton Court on Saturday 03 and Sunday 04 September, from 11AM until 5PM each day. Admission is free but there is a car parking charge of £7. For further information, including the full programme and information about reaching the site using public transport, please visit www.kite-festival.org.uk.

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