King kite flyer spits the dummy

Peter Lynn. Photo / Supplied

He may be the man the world looks up to in kite flying, but Peter Lynn is no match for Indian slumdogs.

The 63-year-old kite maker from Ashburton was flying two tiger kites, worth $520 each, in an international kite festival in Ahmedabad last week when the young slum dwellers struck.

Their paper kite with glass attached to the string flew across Sabarmati River and slashed the tigers, the Times of India reported.

Lynn shouted for help and, with festival volunteers, searched for the offenders who had cut his kite.

The New Zealander, who judged one of the contests in the festival, was furious.

Lynn said he refused to be part of a festival involving kites with glass pieces attached.

"I have kites which are worth thousands of dollars, and I can't lose them to boys on other side of the river," he told the Indian newspaper.

The police scolded the slum boys after finding them.

Flying stopped for 30 minutes while the fighter kite was pulled down and restarted after police guarded the river bank.

One of Lynn's kites fell on the festival pavilion and the other was found a distance from the festival site.

About 200 kite flyers from 36 countries took part in the Gujarat Uttarayan International Kite Festival, flying kites shaped as creatures such as dragons, angels and birds.

Considered kite flying royalty, until recently Lynn owned a $100 million kite-manufacturing company with branches in China, New Zealand and Holland.