Peter Lynn: Kite Designer Extraordinaire OR self proclaimed “Master of Disaster”

“Very lucky” was how Peter Lynn described himself when reflecting on his time at Ashburton High School. Peter attended AHS from 1960 to 1964, the final year it existed before becoming Ashburton College.

Because he was a seventh-former in 1964 and there were only 19 pupils in 7th Form, the teachers were very aware of each pupil’s strengths and weaknesses. Peter’s close friends at high school, Lindsay North, who became a senior partner at a major law firm, and Errol Wood, who became a scientist, had also attended kindergarten with Peter and continued on to university with him.

Peter didn’t hesitate to admit that bullying was “fairly rife” at secondary school in the 1960s. This mostly took the form of surreptitious pushing, shoving and hitting and, because he was small, he “copped quite a bit of this”. Peter took refuge in academic subjects, although he was determined not to study French and took horticulture as an alternative until fifth form. He struggled with English back then, which he attributed to immaturity, but later became a proficient writer and the author of a widely read newsletter and various social commentaries.

Influential teachers mentioned by Peter included Sandy McGregor, Tom Philips and Laurie Davies.

Peter enjoyed some sports and became “an obsessive fives player”, referring to a version of handball.

Although a teacher told him he was “not really up to it”, Peter entered the national scholarship examinations in 7th Form and performed well enough to receive an attractive scholarship from NZ Forest Products Ltd, which supported him through his engineering degree. Thinking ahead, Peter also took units in accounting and law, which proved useful later in his career.

Peter had been interested in kites and kite-building from a very young age. He and his late wife, Elwyn, moved to Australia in 1970, where their first daughter, Kirri, was born and Peter was employed as a design engineer for a forklift firm. While there, he invented a groundbreaking portable sawmill design that was later patented.

Eventually, kite-making and design became an all-consuming business. The foundation of the business was the world-famous Octopus kite, created in 1976, of which more than 20,000 were produced each year for many years. These kites were particularly popular with young children and their families because of their distinctive curved-edge design. Even when young children ran with one, the kite would turn itself and naturally begin to ascend, unlike other designs.

Peter considered breaking into the American and European markets his greatest achievement. During the 1980s and ’90s, these markets were heavily controlled by the “kite mafia”, who effectively prevented Peter Lynn Kites from selling independently by withholding other products from shops that bought directly. Peter eventually broke through with product innovations, such as the kite buggy, that became too popular for them to suppress. At that point, they joined forces.

Peter paid tribute to his late wife, Elwyn, who remained at home to raise their three daughters and two sons, all Ashburton College graduates who became lawyers, an economist and engineer, and ran the business while Peter was “overseas having fun” at the more than 500 international kite events he had attended.

Sadly, Elwyn and Peter were diagnosed with cancer on the same day in November 2025. Elwyn tragically lived for only five weeks following her diagnosis.

From 1987, kite traction, including kite buggying, snow kiting and kite surfing, became a second focus for the business. Peter’s 1990 invention of the kite buggy was a turning point for kite traction and eventually contributed to the worldwide popularity of kite surfing.

From the early 1990s, Peter Lynn Kites Ltd pioneered the shift from single kites to much larger, themed, ram-air-inflated shapes, driving significant growth in international kite festivals. Some of these events went on to attract hundreds of thousands of spectators and received strong support from tourism authorities.

These large “show kites” and the even larger Guinness record kites, seven in total at the time, were made possible by a fabric-strengthening construction system also pioneered by Peter Lynn Kites. Most show kites flown at international events went on to use this system.

Peter was quick to admit that he had experienced “more failures than successes”, but he saw this as an essential part of innovation. Later, while working in an advisory role, he saw the business’s central challenge as staying ahead of kite-makers around the world who were extremely quick to copy PLK designs.

Peter believed this task was well suited to the exceptional talents of Simon Chisnall, originally from Hinds and a part-owner of PLK, and Craig Hanson, whom Peter regarded as “the best show kite designer in the world”.

At the time this profile was written, Peter was battling the effects of cancer treatment but nevertheless remained upbeat. AshColl Alumni thanked him for the patience and passion he showed in sharing the story of his long and tremendously successful career.

Postscript: Peter passed away on 11 April 2026, having lived an amazingly full and fascinating life. His message to us all was: “If you want to do something special, persistence beyond is necessary.”