a tow boat to kite himself in his adaptation of the Ryan flexible-wing craft, a version of the stiffened Rogallo-wing kite in September 1963. Dickenson's designs for man-lifting kites and gliders earned him several awards, with some organizations calling him the inventor of the modern hang glider. Fellow Australian Bill Bennett continued to develop and sell his Delta Wing series through the 1970s. The invention of the parafoil kite in 1964 and gradual adoption further enabled kites in watersports, as parafoil sails provide tremendous lift and can be controlled as a multiline kite. Parachute-powered kiteboarding or kitesurfing spread around the world as a sport by the 1970s. Over the next two decades, parafoils were increasingly seen alongside parachutes, and single line lift systems were replaced with steerable multi-line configurations. References Notes Bibliography David Pelham. 1976. The Penguin Book of Kites. Penguin. Kites Chinese inventions