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  • Felix

    2012 events, provisional list

    By Felix

    Oh well, another year! <grins> Nothing is confirmed, as yet. 1st January 2012 12-16/04/2012 Berck-Plage, France 21/04-29/05/2012 Cervia, Italy 05-07/05/2012 Weymouth 26-27/05/2012 Exmouth
    25-27/08/2012 Portsmouth Margate
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    • 1,015 views
  • West Australian

    Flight Log and Thoughts about My Rev Kit.

    By West Australian

    No Arvo Flight Yesterday, Responsibilities are beginning to creep in on my flying time Well I Joined up to KiteLife… Very Happy about that. I feel that the Contribution that KiteLife makes to the Community needs to be supported. And all those Sweet Tutorials are Pretty good too I have been Downloading them onto My Ipod Touch. To Paraphrase SparkieRob, I have a John Barresi In my Pocket. This morning was nice, Light to Moderate winds when I set up the STD with 3 Wrap and 80# lines I got in about an hour of Side Slides and Hover Position Practice. Also doing some Power Dives too, that sudden stop is so sweet. I was about to pack up when the wind dropped right down, A smile came across my face as I remembered my recently created 50# X 50’ lines. Away went the regular lines, Out came the 50’s, Frame change on the standard to 2 wrap all round. In under 5min I was ready to go. My First though when I was standing there, handles at the ready, “Hey the Rev Looks bigger up closer” Then it was only a matter of remembering all the Light Wind and Sail Loading stuff from John’s vids.... With A couple of Refresh looks at the Vids (Go go Pocket JB!) I was away. I was able to Power up to a good height with 4 steps backwards and do Inverted Glides with 9 steps forward. Easily making up Ground.. Yeh! I got the Side-Side climb going a few times too. All in about 3-5km/h (2-3mph) Ok not super light but Much lighter than my Previous flying efforts. Awesome Morning. Two Great winds. I would like to take a moment to talk about my Rev Kit. I Have: B Series Blue/Black STD (3 Wrap) B Series Purple/Black VTD (4 Wrap) 2 Wrap Frame Second 3 Wrap frame 2 x Standard Handles with the B series Leaders 50# x 50’ Lines 80# x 85’ LPG Lines 150# x 85’ LPG lines 2 x Weight sets for the B’s Golf Ball stake (Given to me by SparkieRob, thanks again) (Soon a Mid vent Lime/Black will pop itself in there on the spare 3 wrap, Sail only on the way) All of this is kept in a Hard case from a Dual line kite I have had for ages. One thing that is awesome about this is, I can fly with my Kit slung across my back like a quiver. I even have my Wind meter on the Strap. I can walk around as I fly without needing to stay close to my stuff. If anyone needs the Area I am in I can walk the kite elsewhwer and not need to go back for anything. I highly recommend keeping your kit easily portable if you can. Of course if You bring a dozen Rev kites with you that’s great too. WA
    • 3 comments
    • 1,643 views
Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

13/01/2019 Blackheath

A bit of a contrast to last Sunday, the wind still from the west but 15+ gusting 30+mph. Very bright, almost sunny with a mix of thin high and lower cloud. Full vent 1.5s were clearly overpowered so it was the RSS kites again.  Even they felt like a bit of a handful in the higher gusts. Still suffering from a lingering ‘cold’ which has the rest of my household in their beds today! Portsmouth and Scarborough events are going ahead in 2019 and we have fliers lined up but not finalised. Felix
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

06/01/2019 Blackheath

A bit of a struggle to get out today due to a lingering 'cold' that stopped me in my tracks on New Years Eve. A light westerly breeze so Zens with green race, a great configuration. Landfall by Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet was a bit 'moody' but interesting to 'fly with'. There was variable high cloud but that was doing nothing to stop the UV getting through. A very dark sunglass day. We should be confirming Berck arrangements in the next day or so.  We will then be making arrangements for the JMH kites in Aarhus to be packed and road transported back to the UK. I am hoping to set up a weekend on Blackheath in March devoted to checking and test flying the kites, some of which are illustrated here:- https://www.felixmottram.com/jmh/ on the linked pdf. Felix
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

30/12/2018 Blackheath

The tops of the Canary Wharf towers were hidden in the curiously luminous, low anticyclonic cloud this morning. On Blackheath it was very damp underfoot with worm casts in addition to the goose shit.  Not exactly the stable surface I had hoped for!  The breeze from the west was somewhat stronger than forecast, probably about 9mph, gusting higher. So not the conditions for flying both stacks side by side today but I did try the full1.5 version.  The slippery surface really was an issue but I did get to add some more ‘forwards’ assisting takeoff and parking the stack comfortably at the top of the window.  The bits in between were not so pretty in my risk adverse mode. I found a ‘less tedious’ breakdown sequence, bunching the kites together LE up and tying the centre and outer link lines before removing the vertical spars. Then on to a more suitable kite for the conditions, mid vent 1.5 with race rods… That will have been the last fly for 2018.  I may be tempted out on New Years Day but at this stage it looks as if the gloomy anticyclonic conditions will still be in place. Felix
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

23/12/2018

Early rain was forecast and as I had to collect from the local butcher this morning I had decided to miss the flying session today. Ordered some SLK flying line in preparation for some further work with the JMH rokkakus. Cervia flights are booked and a lineup for Berck is becoming clearer now. We should be back on Blackheath on the 30th.  A Boxing Day flight looks unlikely as I may be attending a ‘kite related’ lunch! Felix
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

16/12/2018 Blackheath

Clear blue sky over Hackney as we set out but we could soon see the approaching high grey cloud to the south west. The light southerly breeze was just what we needed after a windy spell going back to early November.  I set up full sail 1.5 with green race which worked ok.  Ashley had a diamond LE with green race uprights.  MW was working on her Rev 2 stack. My intention was to do some more work on the 1.5 JMH stack today.  I had done a bit of fettling of knots and link lengths on Saturday at home.  Now for the moment of truth!  The first four kites seemed well behaved compared to how they had felt in a stronger breeze a few weeks ago.  The link lines between the two sets of four had been tied and ‘put somewhere safe’.  They were quickly ‘found’ and initially tied to the leading edges of the back four kites.  I had been worried about the tight loops but setting the larks heads was fine. As with the Rev 1 JMH 8 stack at Dieppe we got a very satisfactory ‘first fix’ result… The cloud had thickened substantially by the time we left Blackheath, the sun long gone, but the rain was not due until later! Felix
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Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

09/12/2018 Blackheath

No rain to contend with today and while it didn’t feel it, the temperature was probably a bit over 10C.  More silly coloured cloudscapes today, the sun was very bright when it did break through occasionally. A mostly brisk westerly breeze so we were on the RSS kites again for further familiarisation.  While nothing was called the sails do cope quite well with the lulls, they certainly do not drop out of the sky! This was probably the last ‘not so many of us’ meeting before the New Year.  Maybe this year we will aim to have a New Years Day fly. Felix
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

02/12/2018 Blackheath

There was drizzle in the air on the hill up to ‘Sun in the Sands’ roundabout but it had stopped by the time we got out onto the ‘heath’. The wind was forecast at 13mph upwards so I had extracted the team RSS set so that we could get some ‘hands on’ time if conditions were appropriate.  That was certainly the case today and I think that we all appreciated the ‘forgiving’ wind range of these kites. Nothing called but there was a lot of close and slow interaction interspersed with faster broader moves as well as some interesting stacking.  Curiously the holes in these kites allow an element of ‘overlapping’ in a way which would not be possible with ‘full’ sails. We were treated to some ‘silly coloured’ dramatic cloud scapes as well as a persistent rainbow and a couple of light showers before most of the low cloud cleared and left us in very bright sunlight! Felix
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

25/11/2018 Blackheath

It was a token session today really.  The damp easterly breeze was fairly consistent under low grey clouds with an occasional brighter moment. Somehow the combination of a cold damp ‘strongish’ breeze was not conducive to contemplative ‘flying’.  It was certainly not good for fettling the stacks.  I might have to do some more measurement checking indoors rather than waiting for ideal outdoor condition. I hope to do some more work on our Jørgen Møeller Hansen project soon.  In the meantime this is the link to the site that Karen has recently updated:- http://www.jmollerhansen.dk Felix
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

18/11/2018 Blackheath

Bright and sunny with a brisk easterly breeze today, probably 12mph gusting much more… Full vented with green race mostly, I was on the RSS again which meant that I occasionally needed to move a bit faster.  Some called moves today, nothing too challenging but it was the free flying interaction that impressed me most… I have located this text and all that precede it in an orderly manner at www.felixmottram.com/kiteblog.  I will eventually deal with the remaining ‘translation’ issues where characters, mostly punctuation, were not handled properly.  Some of the invisibles took a bit of finding! No ‘stack’ work today as it was a bit windy and a bit cold too! Felix
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Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

11/11/2018 Blackheath

I arrived on Blackheath today in bright sunshine with a mostly blue sky.  While showers had been forecast I had for some reason assumed that they would be elsewhere but on the SW horizon there was a very dark area of cloud.  After a few minutes it was apparent that it was approaching fast. I set up an RSS ( it was a fairly brisk SW breeze) assuming that it was going to be a fairly sharp shower and that the rest of the kit should stay in the dry.  It was only when the sun was obscured by the leading edge of the cloud that a brightness could be seen on part of the horizon.  The darker, unmistakably wet part of the shower was going to pass to the south of Blackheath. There were a few spots of rain and then the clouds cleared and we were able to proceed with setting up the stacks that MW and I had tied during the week.  First up was MWs Rev2 stack fronted by a relatively new vented sail.  Some of the bungees on the old sails were mostly perished so will need replacing.  For the time being they were tightened anyway.  The stack flew very well for a first fix, four sails so far with maybe five or six to be added… I then set up the first four of the JMH 1.5 stack.  I knew that there were some discrepancies in the line lengths but it flew ok despite being somewhat overpowered.  I’ll do further adjustments when the breeze is more appropriate and when we can rig the whole eight stack. On leaving Blackheath there was another ‘anvil shaped cloud’ approaching from the SW… Felix
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

04/11/2018 Blackheath

I have noticed previously that the high level cloudscape can be particularly varied and interesting in the remains of Atlantic hurricanes that have been swept up by the jet stream that delivers the weather to the UK.  Today was one of those occasions, with temperatures well into double figures as well! Light SW breeze so mostly full 1.5s with race rods.  Nothing called today, not least because minds (and some bodies) were elsewhere… The sleeved kevlar turned out to be too tough really for the link line application but fortunately the alternative arrived just in time from Holland.  Today we started MW on re-rigging a Rev2 stack that was flown occasionally back in the nineties.  The sails are still bright so had obviously not seen much ‘daylight’.  We may include the additional Rev2 ‘prototype’ that came into my possession at some point early on in Rev history! I decided that preparing the link lines for the 1.5JMH stack would be an indoor job so that delivery can be quick and easy on the field, as with the Rev1 stack at Dieppe. Felix
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

28/10/2018 Blackheath

At 9:00am the rain looked steady so the prospect of flying today appeared remote.  The forecast was mixed but in the event there was a break in the ‘showers’ around our normal start time. Full vented with green race and an RSS in the occasionally brisk ENE breeze. There was some warmth in the sun but was definitely ‘gloves’ weather; the first this Autumn.  We did not last long as there was an approaching shower.  More rain back in Hackney at 2:00pm. I have located and ordered some 1.2mm kevlar cored polyester line so should be knot tying next weekend… Felix
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

21/10/2018 Blackheath

Clear blue sky with steady westerly breeze, probably 4 gusting 8 mph.  Wet underfoot to start but soon dried out… Zens and CRs with green and black race rods mostly.  There was a bit of called flying but nothing too energetic.  A neat transformation from circle to vertical line and the reverse suggested a whole range of novel moves that just need to be ‘called’. Once the ground had dried a bit I ran out a new line-set for the stacks, the standard 100ft 200lb (thanks to Vliegertak Kite Lines) replacing the shorter 300lb set used previously.  It was good to see the two four stacks flying ‘together’.  Still not so much for the fliers to see though! The next task was to locate 8 sets of 1.5 ultra light/3 wrap spars.  With a couple of donated sets I was able to find enough bar one centre spar so I substituted a green race one for the front kite!  I hope to rig the 2008 JMH 1.5 sails to match the Rev 1 set.  Just need to decide on the appropriate link line as the kevlar cored pink polyester would be overkill… and I am not sure if I have enough anyway. A longer session today, not least making up for last week. Felix
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

14/10/2018 Blackheath

No repeat performance today after last Sunday!  It did not look as if we would have any flying today but at 10:30am the radar was no longer showing  heavy showers approaching from the South so we ‘took a chance’. Full sail 1.5s with Race rods mostly in the NW breeze before the rain arrived again. So that was our token OSOW effort for another year…  I note that last year Chris Murphy first visited us on the second Sunday.  It looked as if we had much more flying on that occasion! Felix
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

07/10/2018 Blackheath

Sunshine to start and with a light northerly breeze we were flying into the sun.  Zens with green race to begin with… We then set up the two four stacks and ‘everyone’ took them for a spin.  I managed to get a couple of photos as well!  High cloud had moved in by this time. As the wind was occasionally dropping down I decided to join the stacks and try the longer handles on the full rig.  Forward flight was really not happening when the handles were on full forwards.  I will be interested to try this setting in a ‘higher’ wind speed in due course. Everyone got to fly the full stack and I am hoping that we can do a ‘repeat performance’ next Sunday for OSOW… Felix
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

30/09/2018 Blackheath

Sunny to start with a light westerly breeze c10:30am.  I set up the full eight stack of Rev1s as at Dieppe but found that the ground surface was less consistent and provided less grip so quite quickly opted to split the stack into fours…  MW was more than happy to fly the four on the 200lb set of lines while I checked over the shorter 300lb set that I used to use on the six stack. After some considerable corrections to this lineset we had the two four stacks in the air for quite some time before setting about team kit maintenance. Switched green race leading edges back into the 1.5 JMH full vents, re-installed diamond leading edges in the 1.5 JMH full sails and de-spared the Not Zens for winter storage… Then, back to the four stacks for a short time.  I had used a set of 15 inch handles for the 300lb lineset and found the extended range of movement to be advantageous as expected but without feeling too risky with ‘full on’ power.  I will try them on the full eight when the opportunity arises, in a lighter breeze!  We did witness ‘popped’end caps so might want to tighten the LE bungees at some point… We may have the full contingent of Blackheath regulars on site next weekend! Felix
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Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

23/09/2018

I had hoped to sort the team kites today as the last night that we were in Dieppe was the night fly so we had made up a  temporary ‘small’ bag… The weather forecast had not been looking good all week and this morning it was very wet but without the high winds originally expected. Suffice to say sorting the kites will have to wait another week, at least; the current forecast for next Sunday is not great! Time to think about the schedule for next year.  It looks as if we will not be needed at WSIKF to make up the numbers… Given the potential cost that is a ‘good thing’ really. There may be some more interesting projects developing closer to home, post Moscow… Felix
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

17/09/2018 After Dieppe

Travel to Dieppe went smoothly and we had a chance for a stroll around town before registration and heading off to the gite in Puys. We had varying numbers of fliers for the first three days but then were settled on eight from Tuesday morning onwards. I had tentatively hoped that the opportunity to rig a stack of 8 Rev1s would arise during the week.  We duly tied two linked 4 stacks and the first fix was very successful.  I flew the stack alongside the 1991 20sq meter JMH parafoil which was a great sight. The graphics on the JMH Rev 1s work extremely well in the stack… The post Moscow project got an airing on Friday evening reasonably successfully but the ‘joke’ title of the group in Moscow needs to be discarded without delay.  Curious to be flying moves that I drew back in 2010, finally.  We did not get to do the full Dutch Windmill which was first flown at Portsmouth… Great to be flying in a large group with consistent ‘graphics’ but there is massive opportunity to create something much more exciting than plain black! Our journey back from Dieppe on Sunday was slow after arrival in the UK.  It took almost an hour to get out of the port at Newhaven and the M25 was blocked so we had to do a cross suburban route back to Blackheath and the Blackwall Tunnel… Felix
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Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

02/09/2018 briefly Lytham St Annes

Travelled to Kendal on Friday and on Saturday walked out of Sedburgh up Winder on a circular route.  Later in the day travelled up the River Brathay valley and over the Wrynose Pass.  The cyclists that we saw at the top of the pass travelling in the opposite direction looked very excited to be heading downhill… It was a brief re-introduction to me of Cumbria. On Sunday we stopped off at Lytham St. Annes to see the event in action before heading back to London. We are all set for the early start on Friday heading to Dieppe! Felix
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Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

26/08/2018 Blackheath

There was only going to be a narrow window of opportunity today before the rain arrived. The southerly breeze was reasonably consistent probably 8-10mph so mid-vents with race rods felt comfortable most of the time.  Still getting to know the 15 inch handles on a new set of leaders but there were no issues today. At the end of July Blackheath was brown underfoot.  It is now mostly back to a new growth of green. The rain started soon after 11:00am and is still steady in Hackney at 12:30… Felix
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

19/08/2018 Blackheath

Cloudy with a mostly brisk SW breeze so we were on full vent 1.5s with race rods.  We used the RSS kites in Scarborough but apart from that the last time we flew full vented appears to have been in Cervia… Nothing called, just a relaxed fly.  Jade joined us for the first time in a number of years. We expect to be at Blackheath next weekend but will be travelling the following weekend with a brief visit to Lytham St. Annes a possibility.  Dieppe follows taking the next two weekends.  It will then be the 23rd September when we are back on Blackheath! I am hoping that Dieppe will see the development of the Super 16 concept following on from the Moscow event. Felix
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

12/08/2018 After Portsmouth

Travel to Portsmouth was a bit dramatic for some of the team with repeated torrential downpours. The event on Saturday was very well attended.  We set up close to the War Memorial as the 'other' end of the south side of the arena was dominated by ‘commercial operations’. Not Zens were used extensively early in the day but the JMH mid vents came into play later… Sunday was going to be wet but we had a narrow window in which to get prepared before the rain started.  It was a ‘one-kite’ day, that being the mid vent.  It did get very wet on site but by the end of the afternoon we were actually able to pack everything ‘dry’. Interesting to meet with fliers who had originally met the team in Germany in 1989… Felix
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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

05/08/2018 Blackheath

After last weekend’s respite we were back to high summer today.  Intermittent light breeze from the SE generally but switching 90 degrees to either side.  No sign of the swifts which is what I would have expected… Zens and CRs again but I set up some 15 inch clipless handles on a new set of lines.  The increased brake provided felt very ‘familiar’ so walking ‘fast’ downwind in a very light or no wind situation was now ‘possible’ with the larger sail.  I can now see that limiting the ‘forwards’ option, (more brake) prevents the sail load spilling in light wind and can appreciate that it would be very difficult to hit a ‘close to’ full sail loading just by feel! The full vented JMH 1.5s LEs have been checked and oversewn where necessary.  The re-sewn JMH Not Zen sail arrived from San Diego so everything is ready for Portsmouth. The weather forecast for next weekend is cooler and maybe a bit wet! Felix
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