diff --git a/rowers/views.py b/rowers/views.py
index 554d9083..2d7be89f 100644
--- a/rowers/views.py
+++ b/rowers/views.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ from matplotlib.backends.backend_agg import FigureCanvas
 import gc
 from pyparsing import ParseException
 from uuid import uuid4
-
+import codecs
 import isodate
 
 from django.shortcuts import render
@@ -1867,7 +1867,7 @@ def course_kmlemail_view(request,id=0):
 
     kmlfilename = 'course_{id}.kml'.format(id=id)
 
-    with open(kmlfilename,'w') as fop:
+    with codecs.open(kmlfilename,'w','utf-8') as fop:
         fop.write(kmlstring)
 
     res = myqueue(queuehigh,handle_sendemailkml,