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  • 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 i
    • 3 comments
    • 3,768 views
  • 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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    • 1,528 views
Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

31/10/2021

Our routine visit to Blackheath was interrupted by the arrival of a fairly intense low pressure system bringing heavy rain and high winds during the course of the morning.  While the rain had mostly passed soon after 11:00am the blustery condition intensified in the early afternoon.  So no kite flying today! After last Sunday’s incident I had a fairly manic day and a half at home with a window replacement project.  Two week had been suggested by the contractor but the initial installation w
Felix

Felix in Decs

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

24/10/2021 Blackheath

During the early part of the past week I had undertaken repair work on some Revolution leading edges where the mesh had become brittle and partly broken.  Over sewing with a triple step zig zag has served us well in the past. We needed the 1.5 full vent sails in today’s breeze which was a pleasant change from the stillish air of late. I was also excited at the possibility of flying the Jørgen Møller Hansen Flare Kite Stack from 1987.  We flew it in September 2019 and I had noted at the
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

17/10/2021 Blackheath

Grey with a light southerly wind which was mostly a bit above 6mph but occasionally dropped away.  It was quite wet underfoot as autumn is under way. We flew full sail 1.5s mostly with Bill Frisell as accompaniment.  I was flying on a new knotless leader configuration.  This worked extremely well at the first outing today.  I’ll probably have to wait another five years or so before being able to confirm a complete success. Four sets of four ply bungee are now made up for the 1992 Jørge
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

10/10/2021 Blackheath

It looked as if there had been heavy equipment in use after last weekend’s event but the site was mostly litter free. Low grey clouds and a westerly air movement were the precursor for eventual fine drizzle.  I was pre-occupied with setting up and flying the JMH Sanjo Rokkaku kite from 1991 with a lightweight frame.  The very light breeze was almost enough to get it airborne on 200ft/60m of spectra line with a four strand bungee at the line anchor point.  Zens were flown on standard team li
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

03/10/2021

Today Blackheath hosted the start of the London marathon and I had decided that a rest would be a good idea.  Alternative venues could have been available… I have acquired a pair of upholstery pliers which may help with the replacement of D rings on the JMH kites.  Slots in the blades and a spring hold the open ring prior to closing into the end cap.  The Composite Kite (Della Porta): Eight Rhomboids 1993 is the next one to tackle.  It has 12 caps so reasonably manageable.  The Asymetric Ki
Felix

Felix in Decs

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

26/09/2021 Blackheath

Happy to have a proper southerly breeze today on Blackheath.  It might have been in double figures some of the time so plenty to try the new bridles on the 1992 Roakkakus but not too much for the Zen sails on 150ft/45m lines. I was somewhat surprised when preparing a launch for the first re-bridled kite as it seemed that I had hit the right spot in the configuration.  Only a slight adjustment was needed after a settled period of flight.  The second kite was good too, a slightly different sm
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

19/09/2021 Blackheath

So, today just topped off the last few weeks of low breeze with an almost absolute calm ‘gusting’ occasionally to 2 1/2 mph.  Little more than a cooling effect from one compass point or another. We did wind out long lines for the Zens and had them in the air for a few minutes. I decided to get on with preparing lines for the 1992 JMH Roks and re-set the two sets of spectra line to equal lengths and attached the second anchor point bungee element.  The configuration of the bungee elemen
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

12/09/2021 Blackheath

Another almost windless morning with 2mph forecast but no clear notion of direction. There was occasionally an indication of a breeze, a cooling effect one side rather than the other.  Zens worked some of the time and we had set up with 150ft/45m rather than 120ft/36.5m lines and long handles so as to maximise the reverse sail control for floating downwind.  This was also to have the required altitude to interact with the 1992 Rokkaku, potentially. As there was less wind than last week
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

05/09/2021 Blackheath

Following on from last week the wind was a bit lighter and from the north east but there were breaks in the cloud cover even as we travelled towards Blackheath this morning. An event on the heath meant that our usual site and local parking were not available.  Parking inside Greenwich Park is expensive and the walk to the flying field is longer but once a year is not a problem. Zens were just fine but I was not sure if the 1992 Rokkakus would fly.  A quick test suggested that there was
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

29/08/2021 Blackheath

A light northerly breeze was what we got today; 6mph and sometimes a bit higher! Full sail 1.5s and an accompaniment by Bill Frisell ‘Valentine’ got us under way.  There was a dark cloud to the SE but it was local and eventually it drifted onwards. I had hoped to fly the late JMH Composite Kite (Della Porta): Four Squares but knew that the wind was on the light side.  We set it up and I got a few pre-launch snaps but even if there was enough breeze to get the kite into the air there wa
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

22/08/2021 Blackheath

A breeze from the NW was forecast and it was likely to be on the light side so nothing too challenging was planned for today. Full sail Rev 1.5s were very comfortable throughout the session.  I think that the breeze was about 6mph but it was reasonably consistent. Tread on the trail by Terry Riley was the starting accompaniment. I had found a very old set of spectra stack lines and had re-sleeved it with a view to trying out various lengths with the 1992 JMH Rokkakus which now hav
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

15/08/2021 Blackheath

A gentle 10:30am start on Blackheath, slightly drizzly and overcast to begin with but then clearing to a sunny SSW airstream with some cloud blowing past! Full sail 1.5 Revs today with Bill Frisell ‘Blues Dream’ to start. After a slight shower and with the sun beginning to appear I set up the blue 1992 JMH Rokkaku on 2.5mm spectra, about 30m and after a test launch and a slight adjustment it flew, anchored, with only the occasional moment when it veered off to one or other edge of the
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

10/08/2021 After Portsmouth

The team had an early start on Saturday 7th August on Southsea Common.  We were flying soon after 8:30am on the car park field with a medley of team tunes… We re-located to the Art Kite field before the 10:00am start of the event proper and set up the JMH banners.  Flying the RSS Revolution kites continued beside the field until a call was made for us to do a session on the main arena.  A technical issue meant that this was a PA free performance. Soon after midday I decided that we cou
Felix

Felix in Decs

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

01/08/2021 Blackheath

Light breeze again, from the SW this time. We set up Zens and were flying some of the time to the accompaniment, once again of Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan. Jake arrived as the wind took a break.  We transferred team kites and JMH Parafoils to his car and then proceeded to have a session of called flying even as a light shower passed over. Then, picking up from last weekend, I set up the late JMH Delta as a target for video recording.  The c6mph breeze was perfect for the kite a
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

25/07/2021 Blackheath

A northerly breeze was forecast again but there was also the possibility of thundery showers today. The Blackwall Tunnel southbound was closed for maintenance today but we did not know that approaching from the north and assuming the warning lights were left on from the normal Saturday night closure.  The queue for the Rotherhithe Tunnel extended from the exit lane but it moved steadily, if slowly. The road to Deptford was carrying the same traffic so we arrived at Blackheath somewhat
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

18/07/2021 Blackheath

The forecasts had indicated high temperatures and a slight northerly breeze. The northerly breeze was occasional so we occasionally flew Zens. Pino Palladino & Blake Mills were accompaniment for a time followed by Ron Miles. I flew the Malinski Modell Deutsche Seewarte 1904 x 0.65 aka Hamburger Diamant Drachen initially on 3mm braided line and then on the deep sky reel with 1.5mm line. We remarked again, how little evidence there was of flying wear and just to prove the point
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

11/07/2021 Blackheath

Light winds were forecast again so I had taken the JMH Edo thinking that I might get some photo practice as well as flying. The clouds were thickening after a sunny start as we approach Blackheath.  There was less breeze than expected, 3 gusting 6 mph probably though I only measured the 3 mph moment. We set up Zens and started to fly with Pino Palladino & Blake Mills as accompaniment. When the moment seemed right I set about running out the Edo bridle and setting the spars.  M
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

04/07/2021 Blackheath

We were not quite sure what the wind was doing as we set up this morning.  In the end full vent 1.5s worked comfortably.  I ran out a new set of lines at the start, which is always a treat. Smooth wraps for a while, anyway, quite apart from exact equal lengths! I had taken along a JMH Rokkaku that was in our care temporarily after the event last weekend.  I had replaced a rusty component and secured some fraying line ends so it seemed appropriate to give it some air time as well especially
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

27/06/2021 Hampstead Heath, Kite Hill.

We arrived on site with quite a few kites (actually over 200…[grins]) including the JMH 1985 Rhombus Kite Train consisting of 81 kites.  I had hoped that we would be able to fly the complete train for the first time since I started the restoration work. We succeeded! There were a couple of times when the breeze dropped slightly and we had to bring some sections down but eventually there was a period of about one hour when the train was mostly flying from the barge pin stakes.  Train in flig
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

20/06/2021 Blackheath

It certainly did not feel like a midsummer day this morning at 10:00am on the way to Blackheath.  There was a thick heavy drizzle limiting visibility somewhat, accompanied by a surfeit of optimism.  The optimism was not completely misplaced and on arrival at Blackheath there was no falling precipitation, just very wet grass. I had prepared a set of new 100ft lines from an old 120ft set and all that I had hoped to do today was check that they were ok before heading back to sort kites and kit
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

13/06/2021 Blackheath

Another summer Sunday on Blackheath with just an occasional passing thermal introducing a semblance of a breeze, momentarily! As it was expected we set up Zens which were flown intermittently.  While having transported the kite trains I was interested to check the pilot kites, the original Peter Malinski and also the two facsimile kites that I made for his train, one of which we used as a pilot on the Jørgen Møller Hansen this time last year. We flew all three, briefly.  One of the two
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

06/06/2021 Blackheath

Light winds were forecast somewhere between west and northwest.  There were actually moments of dead calm but the gusts did get to 7mph as recorded. We had set up Zens and then did a bit of a line checking routine making sure that 100ft lines were available for a forthcoming event. I also had a look through the kite case to check for missing ‘spring line stops’.  It seemed sensible to check the other SLK lines and also the PL pilot kite which I flew briefly. I also set up the Alai
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

30/05/2021 Blackheath

A chilly easterly breeze and a featureless grey sky greeted us onto Blackheath today.  We flew full sail1.5s with an accompaniment by Trilok Gurtu to get warmed up. A bit of brightness appeared on the south eastern skyline and gradually the flat grey cloud became more articulated and brighter.  Finally the disc of the sun could be seen through the cloud and hints of a blue sky followed. The temperature notched up and eventually we were flying in full sunshine and a mostly blue sky.
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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