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About this blog

My personal observations

Entries in this blog

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

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

13/03/2011 Blackheath

Murky grey start c10:30am gradually resolved into a short spell of rain followed by a lifting cloud base and a moment of spring sunshine. A smooth light breeze so full sails with race rods, plenty of random flying before we fell in to a couple of runs through 'Plan A' the first of which was attempted without familiar team order. That is always a challenge. Home to replace failing rear derailleur cable on the bicycle; a simple procedure in the light of things. (Noticing that it was failing is t

Felix

Felix

16/02/2014 Blackheath

Clear blue skies today with a few ‘fluffy white clouds’ in contrast to the gales and torrential rain up to yesterday and meant full 1.5 sails and race rods. The occasionally shifting breeze allowed us to ‘perform’ for the passing Blackheath audience who were particularly vocal today. It is strange, though, to have to tell someone that, yes, we have been flying on Blackheath with these kites since 1989. We did get to test the initial ‘pass by’ of the ‘free flying’ project but Rowan suggeste

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

01/01/2013 Blackheath

A clear bright start to the year. Happy New Year to all. Standard vented with green race rods worked well for me initially but a slight strengthening of the breeze towards the end of our fly showed just how finely balanced the configurations can be. Hanging on in a cold breeze is not as good as energetic input to keep the chill at bay. The long range forecast for Nottingham (Shipley Country Park) on 12th-13th January is looking cold but not too wet. Should be fun, 'whatever the weather', of

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

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

13/10/2013 Blackheath

Heavy steady rain this morning so no point in an early start on Blackheath today. Time to do the ESTA application ahead of the Miami trip… Careful ‘study’ of the Met Office forecast today suggested that the rain would ease around 1:00pm over East London and that was what happened. Some of the site at Blackheath has now been mown but not the corner where we usually set up. It was very wet underfoot. We flew ‘wrong sails’ today, Xtra vents with race rods, getting some more low wind techniqu

Felix

Felix

03/11/2013 Blackheath

We were four up today in similar conditions to last weekend. Xtra vents with 4 wrap on the usual site albeit with the detritus from the previous night’s firework display underfoot. Not as bad as in previous years but maybe it was a smaller display. Rowan found that the combination of the ‘strong’ breeze and lower temperature today was causing discomfort and while the rest of us resorted to gloves he was not confident that he could maintain control with gloved hands. Eventually the wind chill

Felix

Felix

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

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

20/10/2013 Blackheath

After the c8:30am downpour in Hackney the blustery SW airstream continued today with thundery showers looming on the horizon. The ‘heath’ was not as wet underfoot as last weekend. Vented sails with race rods were just about at the limit occasionally as were the same sails with four wrap rods in the lighter moments. Rowan joined in with one of the iQuad practice set kites today and showed considerable resilience in dealing with unfamiliar situations and regaining control of the kite if things

Felix

Felix

17/03/2013 Blackheath

Showery airflow from the South East today with occasional glimpses of the sun through deep layers of cloud. Full vented 1.5 with green race again for me and unusually I was first on site so time for some 'solo' flying. The first shower passed before other fliers arrived. We then flew freeform only daring to look back when shadows were occasionally visible on the ground. A pattern of moves is beginning to emerge and critically the use of the wind window comes to the fore. We are not trying

Felix

Felix

23/12/2012 Blackheath

It was dull and breezy at 10:30am today. Full vented with 4 wrap. Quiet, so I took the opportunity to try the new leaders. I am convinced that shorter adjustment intervals are the way to go but equally sure that sliding knots are not sensible. Ultimately, equalising the lines is the critical element so finding a way to undo and re-tie the end loops will be the best way forwards. A proper line equalising device makes sense here, not that I currently have one. Having on occasions handed a ma

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

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

27/01/2013 Blackheath

I did not notice that the cable car across the Thames was not operating this morning on the way to Blackheath. This, apart from flags along the way, would be an indicator that the close isobars on the weather map were an accurate forecast. So it was Xtra Vent with 4 wrap that kept things sane as Jacob called some close moves in what would have been very challenging conditions for any other sail/spar combination. Counter rotations were the flavour of the day in linear format or paired. Curiou

Felix

Felix

Mega Team lines

So if each flier is on 4 x 120ft = 480 ft. There are 36 fliers so 480 x 36 = 17,280 ft. There are 5,280 ft in a mile if my memory serves me correctly so that make 3.27 miles of line. With 54 fliers, 480 x 54 = 25,920 ft which is 4.9 miles. With 100 fliers, 480 x 100 = 48,000 ft which is 9.1 miles. Quite a lot of string!

Felix

Felix

01/01/2017 Blackheath

The weather window looked a bit close today but we did manage to have a gentle fly under a changing high cloud base grey sky.  There was a shower on arriving and an occasional brightness from the sun.   It was  a light westerly breeze so full 1.5 sails with race, 2 wrap and diamond spars in the mix.   Traffic was noticeably light both ways today, no queue on the northern approach to the Blackwall Tunnel going home for a change.  The expected rain had settled in by 1:30pm in Hackney

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

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

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

24/03/2019 Blackheath

The forecast indicated light NW breeze and some broken cloud. The breeze was just a bit too light for the Double / Single Eddy stack 1989.  I had replaced the spreaders and found today that the main spars are very brittle which given that they are 30 years old is hardly surprising! Did some more bridle adjustments on the Della Porta: 4 squares but something is not quite right.  Probably need to start from the beginning again! I did remember to take Rev handles but didn’t get a c

Felix

Felix

16/10/2011 Blackheath

Another sunny Sunday. From 10:30am it was a Zen breeze until a residual weather front approached about two hours later. We were four fliers and occasionally fell into team order. Steve (goestoeleven) joined us when we had switched from Zen to 1.5... Steve had obviously enjoyed plenty of flying time since the last time he joined us on Blackheath. We flew ad-hoc and then some called moves. 'Pendulums' and 'rolling balls' were flown. When we were packing up a local person approached us and exp

Felix

Felix

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