Published on May 16, 2025 by Alban Kites
I’ll be on the ground in Tomblaine (France) from June 13 to 15, notebook in hand and microphone plugged in to show you behind the scenes of the French Championship. As an appetizer, I grabbed Marc – just back from the Houlgate regional – and we unrolled the ball. We’re talking in the first person here: me for the questions, Marc for the answers. Six high points, no small talk.
Here’s a summary of the conversation, in “I” for both of us. Marc supplied the photos that accompany this article.
When I get to a field, I just see kites. But what’s going on behind the scenes?
Marc – “We meet up in the morning, put our bags down, the sign-in opens, and we check that everyone is up to date with their license and comp card (excluding “open” of course). The judges then start the briefing, and after that it’s non-stop until the end of the competition.”
- Different formats are possible “depending on the weather, the number of kitefliers, the constraints of the location (tide, for example)”. Organizers and judges divide up the compulsory figure and ballet events, all in compliance with the rules.
- Marathon judges. “On big competitions like the French Championships, they stay on their feet for 8 or 9 hours, without a real break, running the events in the different categories to ensure that the competition finishes on time, with all the events completed.”
“Behind the scenes, upstream, we fight all year long to find the place and date of the French Championship and to have enough regional selective rounds. Unfortunately, for the last 2 or 3 years, there have only been 2 regional rounds per season: Houlgate for Normandy and Amiens for the Hauts de France.
A few years ago, we also had Marcollin in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, but not any more. At the start of my term of office, we were running 8 to 10 selective rounds a year, but the COVID has come and gone, and the momentum is struggling to get going again.
There’s a lack of initiative from clubs and support from department committee (CDVL) and leagues, particularly in the East and South, to set up selective rounds.
But why organize competitions?
Marc – “Because it appeals to a certain number of kitefliers! Compulsory figures, and the preparation of a technical routine, force you to work on tricks that you’d probably avoid in a flight just for the fun of it. Me, for example, the upward reserse in 4 lines, without the competition, I’d probably avoid it, or at least it wouldn’t be my priority; but in this case, no choice! I had to work on it as a compulsory figure, which helped me to progress to the point where I’m now trying to include technical difficulties of this kind in my ballets too, to try to glean a few more points and make the difference that will perhaps win me a place in the rankings”.
- Progress gas pedal. “Without competition, you stay in your comfort zone, even if you regularly do demos at events. That’s already a step, but you can remain “soft”, with little risk-taking, in demos aimed at an often uninformed public. With competition and confrontation with other competitors and judges, you discipline yourself, you time your sequences, you film yourself, you correct yourself, you strive to always repeat the same sequences, with the same timing, whatever the conditions.
There’s also a lot of mutual support and advice from old hands, judges and even competitors.” - Showcase for festivals. “At the microphone, announcing the presence of a French champion, a European vice-champion… it’s a blast!
The mere fact of announcing a kiteflier as selected for the French championship or ranked in the top 10 is eye-catching.
The public doesn’t know whether there are ten or a thousand kitefliers, they only notice the titles and rankings. It’s a real eye-catcher for the organizers, and they’re more likely to invite you. - Public & community. “When, at the end of a ballet demo set to music and featuring freestyle figures, you receive thunderous applause, it warms your heart and makes you proud. You tell yourself that your efforts have not been in vain, that hard work pays off. Last weekend, there were several thousand people on the Houlgate seafront, and several hundred glued around our pitch to watch and applaud our ballets. It puts you in the mood for several days!”
Newcomers. “We always hope to have more competitors, but many don’t dare, afraid of being ridiculous… It’s true that we often finish last on our first competition. But so what? You have to start somewhere! Once again, perseverance and hard work are the keys to success. And who knows, maybe you underestimate yourself! Maybe you’ll be like Quentin last weekend: his first competition and he’s already finished second and could be aiming for the French podium in 2026. Without an event, he’d remain much more anonymous.”
We often hear “The federation should…”. What’s the situation?
Marc – “The Federation (FFVL) is a national delegate association: it is the guarantor of regulations and their application, manages the issuing of official titles and has discussions with the State (Ministry of Sport, in particular).
Its main obligations, in this capacity, relate to training and the organization of competition at national level and support for competition at lower levels.
Below that, you have in France :
- Leagues – regional level, in discussion with the Regional Councils
- Les Comités Départementaux de Vol Libre (CDVL) – department level, in discussion with the departmental councils.
- Associations and clubs – local level
Each level is itself an association, and therefore autonomous in its decisions and management methods. However, the CDVL, the Ligues and the FFVL are supposed to help affiliated clubs in their actions, sometimes financially (subsidy) but not only. Often, actions also need human resources (volunteers), recognition/publicity…”
- Subsidies & realities. “Grants follow projects, provided they are justified.” In fact, clubs can apply for subsidies by explaining their needs. The federation, leagues and CDVLs check that “the subsidies they pay out benefit members through their affiliated clubs and for actions in line with the main principles defended”. If the application is accepted, the grants can be divided between the 3 levels.
- Volunteers. “We all too often forget that at the Federation, and in the Ligues and CDVLs, the vast majority of work is done by volunteers. So they can’t be omnipresent and available full-time. They have a job, a family life, friends, other sporting and leisure activities… just like everyone else.”
- Clubs play a key role. The Fédé provides tools, advice and co-financing, but it can’t mount every event: it mainly manages the national level (French championships) and needs a local club for organization on the ground and partnerships.
“But for the regional level, it’s imperative that clubs with competitors in their ranks organize selective rounds to enable them to qualify and thus build up a first-level network”.
Virtuous circle. “No regionals → no beginners → eventually, fewer and fewer competitors → no competitions (regional or otherwise).
We absolutely have to manage to break this cycle, but, for that, it has to come from a handful of locally motivated people in each region to set up selective heats.”
What was your first competition like?
Marc – “In 2014, during the Dieppe festival, I came across Jérémy Maton (leader of the Cerfs-Volants Folie team, competing at the highest levels at the time), who pushed us and put a bit of pressure on me and my pairing partner: “In a fortnight, there’s a regional in Rouen. You’re coming! At the time, we were just beginning to dare to do a few demos at events, but without much pretension and in pure “improv” mode each time. We didn’t really have any music and nothing really written. Just a few routine pieces that I’d announce as we went along, against a backdrop of sound that was rarely well set to tempo.
We showed up, not quite ready, sure we’d be last… And we were, of course! But the atmosphere was great and I liked it right away. It gave me the chance to rub shoulders with the best, to glean advice and learn from them. It also forced me to really write a ballet (in a fortnight), just so I wouldn’t feel ridiculous, because here I was going to have to fly in front of judges and seasoned competitors. In the end, we made more progress in 15 days than we had in the previous six months/one year, when we were awkwardly trying to fly in pairs. And off we went! Since then, there hasn’t been a year when I haven’t taken part in the selective rounds and tried to qualify in pairs at first, then also in individual dual-line and recently also in quad. It’s like a gentle virus that helps you and pushes you forward, to progress.”
I’d like to try it: what are your tips?
Marc – “First of all, welcome! We’re short of competitors, especially young ones. Come to an open round: you’ll have a daily ranking, no pressure. Don’t be afraid: today there are no more toxic rivalries between sponsored teams, as was the case several years ago. On the contrary, there’s a lot of advice, mutual aid and kindness from the older teams towards the more junior competitors, even between competitors in the same category. Okay, on the course, there’s a bit of tug-of-war to try and get ahead of your buddy in the standings, but it’s all good-natured and friendly. Competitors even lend each other their kites in the event of breakage or a CV ill-suited to the weather conditions. The atmosphere is really worth it!
- Find a club that loves competition. “Without a motor club, nothing happens. At EO’Kite, my club, for example, we don’t win too many medals, at least not the top places, but we line up several qualifiers every year in several categories. We even have one of our individual multi-lines competitors, Rémy, who qualified and took part in the last Eurocup (in 2023).
And I’d like to encourage all our members to take advantage of every opportunity to improve their skills through regular training courses. I remain convinced that our appetite for competition drives us to strive for progress, to keep abreast of these courses, to take part in as many events as possible, be they festivals, convivials or competitions, to put on demonstrations whenever possible and thus, in the end, to make even more progress than if we were to fly all alone, in our own corner, without rubbing shoulders with kitefliers offering their experience and advice, and without regularly coming face to face with the gaze of the public and the judges”. - Read the “French Kite Federation” Facebook page. “The official website remains a reliable source for fixed information (rules, figures, results…) and even though we also try to manage news on it, it’s probably not clear enough and a little too niche to be truly followed. On Facebook, you reach a wider audience, friends of friends… and the news passes more easily”.
- Dare to miss. “Nobody laughs at a beginner. At worst, you discover your level. At best, you leave with a trophy and the desire to come back. And then it’s by coming into contact with the best that you glean information. Personally, that’s how I learned everything.
“The hardest part is getting started, getting into it, the first time – after that, for some, like me, getting into the arena for a comp or demo event becomes like a drug: it boosts the adrenaline!”
Can you name any competition-oriented clubs?
Marc – “The Cerf-Volant Club Jules Vernes in Amiens remains a reference for me (it’s the club of the Start’Air team that won everything in pairs and teams).
Aventours, in the Paris region, which is run by one of our national judges and attracts top names, especially individuals, from all over France, such as Richard Debray, Sébastien Karnier and Marjorie Truchet, to name but a few.)
The SMKC in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region is also run by one of our national judges and features several top competitors (Arnaud Duhamel, Sam and Laura from the Axel’R pair, the Connexion team, to name but a few).
There’s also Wind Family, based in Burgundy, home to the Panam’Air team.
As well as Dynamic Bertry, whose president is an individual dual-line competitor, formerly leader of the Aero Ch’ti team, and home to the Guess team).
And then there’s my association, EO’Kite, based near Le Havre, with, to date, 8 competitive kitefliers, regularly selected at French level and divided between 4 of the 6 categories.
I hope I haven’t forgotten any clubs 😅.
In any case, from memory, almost all the competitors we regularly find at all levels of federal competition come from one of these clubs.
A club that’s on the move isn’t necessarily the one that’s winning everything, it’s also the one that pitches its tent, puts out the banners and gets people excited.”
What’s in it for me… and you?
- Competing is a gas pedal: goals + advice from old hands = rapid progress. It makes the discipline and the kitefliers progress – not just hand out medals.
- Ecosystem: federation, league, CDVL, club: each has its own link, but the chain only holds if the ground (the clubs) pulls. No competition without active clubs
- The atmosphere in 2025: no more team wars; mutual aid is the order of the day, and old hands are happy to share their tips!
- A title or a ranking, however modest, opens doors: for a festival, “regional vice-champion” or “5th in the French Championship” always has an effect. Obviously, the higher the title (or ranking), the greater the impact.
I’ll be in Tomblaine (June 13-15) to experience the dawn briefings, the minute-by-minute registration, and capture those moments when the judges finally put away their anemometers. As for me, this discussion just makes me want to stretch out my lines and slide in the question that tickles: why not you?
To find out more
- French Kite Federation Facebook page
- Fédération Française de Vol Libre website
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