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About this blog

My personal observations

Entries in this blog

08/09/2013 Blackheath

As a special treat to celebrate the end of the event season I rolled out a new set of lines today. Apart from being equal lengths the lack of friction when wrapped made a really big difference to the flying experience <grins>. Vented 1.5s with Race rods again… Rowan joined us again today. He missed the Portsmouth and Bristol weekends. Interesting to see him owning the inverted hover and LE left/right as well. Still not mown on Blackheath so very snaggy. The SW airstream presented a

Felix

Felix

01/09/2013 After Bristol

It was great to be back at Bristol this weekend after the Olympic ‘holiday’ last year. We had two days of sunny weather with good wind mostly, if a little variable/turbulent at times. Standard JMH 1.5s with race on Saturday worked 'all day'. We started with standard JMH 1.5s with race on Sunday then switched to JMH 1.5 vented with 3 wrap but were back to the standard 1.5s for the last performance. No ‘Mega Fly’ opportunity but the sequence of arena presentations kept the ‘very large’ audienc

Felix

Felix

26/08/2013 After Portsmouth

The Decs arrived on site on Saturday morning at about 9:00am. The ‘Rev arena/two line preparation area’ was nominally in place and lasted until the lunchtime mega fly on Sunday at which point it was over-run by visitors to the event. There were plenty of arena spots for the Rev teams including 3 Mega Team performances. Stephen Hoath did a great job in calling the grid. Monday morning was bright and sunny. The wind still from the north and lighter again so we were not able to attempt ‘large

Felix

Felix

18/08/2013 Blackheath

Another bright day and it seems that the 1.5 vented with race rods is becoming a fixture this year. When was the last time we flew the Zens this summer? We were in conversation about handle termination today and have set out to try tying variations on the short connector to the pigtail leaders with or without staking loops. We’ll be using the pink polyester sleeved kevlar so limiting a point of failure without a visual clue. Rowan flew in again today and seemed much more relaxed in dealing w

Felix

Felix

11/08/2013 Blackheath

Mostly bright and breezy on the heath today with just a few drops of rain. Standard vented 1.5s with race rods worked just fine. Rowan joined the line again today and evidently enjoyed the challenges of following some simple routines. He was also asked to lead the line on occasions! Groundwork continues to be somewhat risky on the field but the football pitches are being marked out now so I expect the mowers will be out soon. After cycling c190 miles over 3 days during the week I was aware

Felix

Felix

04/08/2013 Blackheath

The A12 approach to the Blackwall Tunnel was not accessible at Hackney Wick this morning so it was back doubles to Crisp Street and the A13 before we could get back on our usual route. Not as bad as this time last year for getting to Blackheath, of course! More south than south westerly today and mostly brisk again so standard vented and green race seemed about right. We were distracted by an incident on the A2 but did manage some interesting silent free flying. Some further serious snagging

Felix

Felix

28/07/2013 Blackheath

I do know that sun screen is needed even when there is cloud cover… and we did not get to Dunstable today! Blackheath is looking very brown after the last few weeks of summer weather but it was quite damp underfoot after last night’s ‘torrential’ rain. A mostly brisk SW breeze so it was Xtra Vent with Race Rods today. Rowan was in the line again today so he was led into inverted side slides ‘just for fun’. As we were told back in 1991 it’s best not to think about it too much ‘just do it’.

Felix

Felix

21/07/2013 Blackheath

A cooler start today under full cloud cover. The breeze at c5 mph from the NE occasionally dropped out completely but full 1.5 sails with 3 wrap mostly worked OK. I was flying the Diamond spars again and having finally tied on a set of ¼ inch stepped leaders enjoyed the fine tuning and snappy responsiveness <grins> I’m still puzzling about the best way to secure the leaders to the handles and how to incorporate a stake loop. Sad or what? We persuaded Rowan that he should join the line

Felix

Felix

14/07/2013 Blackheath

Blackheath was in full on summer mode today. The recently cut grass is brown but the plantain seed heads have carried on growing to provide plenty of snagging opportunities. The forecast suggested light winds and it was 0-6+ mph predominately from the NW but with big swings either side. It was another opportunity to test drive the Diamond spars but, while the spars are great, flying directly into the sun without sunglasses makes appreciation of the ‘top of the window’ capabilities a bit diffi

Felix

Felix

07/07/2013 Blackheath

So it was ‘Race for Life’ again on Blackheath today. Maggie phoned ahead having parked up in Greenwich Park at about 10:00am. I arrived a bit later having encountered a slow bus (108) in the Blackwell Tunnel. In the spirit of the day we flew pink kites but with a twist. The ‘Diamond Spars’ really are very good indeed. We used the iQuad training sails two SUL sails (pink and purple) and one Standard sail (pink/gray) and put them through their paces against a 2 wrap set. The weightless ‘glid

Felix

Felix

30/06/2013 Blackheath

The forecast was for a proper summer’s day and that indeed was how it was today. Arrived on Blackheath at 10:00am and initially the breeze felt fairly light but I set up the full vented with green race rods. Over the next 2 hours the breeze gradually increased and by the time we wrapped, heavier spars, or the Xtra Vented sail, would have been more comfortable. Needless to say the new Diamond rods stayed in the bag. The current forecast for next Sunday looks promisingly light but such forecas

Felix

Felix

23/06/2013 Blackheath

Blustery summer wind on Blackheath today with occasional dark clouds spitting a few raindrops. Xtra Vents with green race were occasionally at the limit. I did not get to change to the latest refinement of close knotted leaders but adjusted an incorrect placed figure eight knot in the current set fairly quickly on the field. Knowing that a knot can be broken open with a little persistence helps a lot! Having finished final exams at secondary school last week my son Rowan joined us today and

Felix

Felix

16/06/2013 Blackheath

Leaving Hackney at 10:30am it was another grey day and it looked like rain was approaching. Another summer day! Full vented 1.5 kites were once again the best fit on Blackheath, mostly with race rods to coast through the lighter moments. The swifts were out in numbers, but high up, not flying through the kite lines. Talk today was of 'holding the handles'. The consensus was finger tips only, no fist shaped grip, with the possibility of the small finger in opposition. Light wind technique f

Felix

Felix

09/06/2013 Blackheath

Arrived 10:00am at Blackheath to find that the plantain heads had taken over from the dandy-lions. Loads more line snagging potential until the next mowing! Cold 13C NE wind, low grey cloud, vented with green race rods flying solo did not last long. Further acquaintance with the new leaders convinces me that this is a good thing. 3/8in step more brake worked a treat today! 1/4in might have been better so I'll get tying this afternoon <grins> Sounds like it was bit windy in Weston-Sup

Felix

Felix

02/06/2013 Blackheath

Another sunny summery Sunday on Blackheath even if the temperature was not consistently in the t-shirt range. Two in a row must be good! Another 'mostly wrong sail' day today with some careful line adjustments thrown in for good measure. It's amazing how 'wrong' line sets can be and how much better it feels flying on correctly set lines. Light winds, dropping off completely sometimes, made for occasional hard work but we did get some neat 'no call' interactions going in the air. I have been

Felix

Felix

26/05/2013 Blackheath

It really was a sunny Sunday despite worries about climate changes and the dismal cold weather during the week. Another light wind, wrong sail day. Mostly full vented with race spars, kites occasionally falling out of the sky only to get snagged on the dandylion heads on the recently mown field. Some fluent interaction without calls and plenty of attention from passers by! Felix

Felix

Felix

19/05/2013 Blackheath

The swifts have finally arrived in Hackney and at Blackheath. Their fast/slow interactions in flight are an inspiration every year and their screaming calls the signature of summertime. A light wind exercise on Blackheath today. The premise being that the full vented B1.5 can be flown in light breezes with extra input from the flier and that the physical moves learned will translate to moves required with the full sail in really light conditions. I personally have no doubt that this will be

Felix

Felix

12/05/2013 Blackheath

The trees in Greenwich park have turned full spring green in the last four weeks. It was a quiet day on Blackheath today compared to the rigours of the previous 3 weekends. Mid vented 1.5s with race rods were good to start with at 10:00am but the windspeed gradually freshened over about 2 hours so we changed to full vented 1.5s and finally Xtra Vented 1.5s with 4 wrap spars. The Xtra Vented kites are so 'smooth'. <grins> Along the way I made time to re-shuffle spars in the team kites a

Felix

Felix

06/05/2013 After Weymouth

Arrived Saturday midday and the strong westerly breeze rolling across the buildings was not really 'flyable' so as it was not a day that was formally part of the event we retired early to a late lunch. ;-) Sunday was sunny but the wind, although lighter, was still from the west and given the available space on the beach it was far from clean. We tried various sail configurations, JMH 1s, 1.5s and 1.5 venteds along with differing spar sets and did not find the 'right' configuration for the diff

Felix

Felix

28/04/2013 Cervia

Another full day at Cervia ending in the arena with Team for Fun. Zens to Vented today, mostly sunny with very light showers falling from blue sky! Off to Mare Vita shortly followed by the Sicilian 'meeting' <grins> Felix

Felix

Felix

21/04/2013 After Berck

Arrived back in London from Berck c7:30pm this evening. The team used everything in the team kit during the four days in attendance. Xtra Vent, 1.5 full Vented, Standard 1.5 and the Rev1s. Once again, a very good event. The team kit had to be transferred to the flight case this evening which meant de-sanding all the kites as well. We just hit our weight target for the Cervia trip. Early start Monday morning, 5:00am alarm call! <grins> Felix

Felix

Felix

14/04/2013 Blackheath

The isobars were close together on the weather map this morning but the expected temperature was way up compared to the last few weeks. The strong (c20mph gusting 30?) southerly breeze saw us checking 80 and 100ft line sets ahead of Cervia with a quick run through of Moby with Rev2s on the 80ft lines. As some of the fliers had rarely or never flown the Rev2 before it was a bit twitchy at times but eminently do-able. The transition to the Xtra Vents 4wrap on 120s was quite amusing, suddenly th

Felix

Felix

07/04/2013 Blackheath

There was a light breeze, there was some sunshine, It was Zens rather than Xtra Vents, quite a contrast to the last few weekends. The circus was still in place and we were early so heard the build-up to the 11:00am show and then flew with background music highlighted by the crash of the cymbals. The 'extra brake' setting for the high winds the last couple of weekends were just right for the low wind conditions today. My kite floated off the top of the wind window on one occasion but the s

Felix

Felix

31/03/2013 Blackheath

The clocks changed so I was late on Blackheath today. Still cold so some of us went for Xtra Vent with race rods. The extra movement on the ground did help in keeping warm and it was interesting to see how well this configuration coped in the wind window against a standard full vent sail. I guess the windspeed was averaging 10mph so occasionally light wind flying tactics were required. I like the 'speed control' feel of the Xtra Vent and also the reverse flying characteristic which seems p

Felix

Felix

24/03/2013 Blackheath

Late March gloom with an overnight dusting of snow did not present any real obstacle in getting to Blackheath today but the wind chill on site made it feel colder than any other flying day this winter. Full vented with green race for me again was over stressed on a couple of occasions even with extra brake. My kite and others with different frames were landed safely to ride out the squalls. Conversationally it was decided that free flying as we have been 'practicing' recently does not really

Felix

Felix

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