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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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    • 1,051 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 i
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    • 1,736 views
Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

17/11/2019 Blackheath

Lighter again today, maybe 2mph from the north but with little thermal variation so the Zens with green race stayed in the air, if nothing else.  That will be the fifth week running so a bit of a Zen autumn!  We did some quite extensive no call flying against a slowly changing high cloud background with some curious almost lenticular like features. I did not expect to get very far with the Hexagonal pilot kite but we did get it in the air briefly, enough to make some adjustments and then br
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Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

10/11/2019 Blackheath

North easterly breeze today starting with mostly clear sky but cloud gradually developing.  Once again, a light breeze so mostly Zens with green race.  Despite their age the Zen sails still sparkle when flown into the sunlight. I took time out to see if there was a quick solution to the bias in the two Eddy kites that we flew last weekend.  I did find a fix which worked, as if by magic, and just need to translate it into something more permanent.  Needless to say it was counterintuitive!
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

03/11/2019 Blackheath

Our regular field was being cleared of firework debris and crowd barriers so Martin had set up to the east of the road. Zens with green race again and a south westerly breeze meant that we were not looking into the sun today. Clear blue sky above to start but a bank of low cloud loomed from the west.  I had hoped to test fly the two Eddy kites in ‘sunny’ conditions and  that almost happened.  The first one that I put up seemed fine at first but then it became apparent that it did have
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Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

27/10/2019 Blackheath

I should probably have stayed in bed today but determined to take advantage of the clock change and get to Blackheath at about the ‘normal’ time. Light north westerly breeze was lighter than last weekend so the Zens with green race were in use again. There really was not enough breeze for the JMH Double / Single Eddy stack 1989 so I resorted to checking the Vienna pocket sled in lighter breeze.  There is a point where it does not inflate fully and can spontaneously go into a spin as a
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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

20/10/2019 Blackheath

A light northerly breeze so Zens with green race were comfortable but sometimes just a little overpowered really. I had in mind two possibilities for today and in the event we put up four sections of the Peter Malinski Eddy kite train that had been collected from Hamburg recently.  I have been making sleeves for the five sections of the train, one more to do when the fabric arrives. Some of the sails have been seriously stretched but only one seam has given way.  I’ll attend to that so
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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

13/10/2019 Blackheath

I had almost given up on the weather today but the forecast improved somewhat during the course of Saturday.  In the event there was a delay in the arrival of the rain so we were able to do a small OSOW ‘fly’.  Full vented 1.5s with green race eventually felt overpowered as the rain approached. The trip to and from Hamburg during the week was somewhat arduous.  Visits to the Elbephilharmonie building, the Kunsthalle Hamburg and the Deichtorhallen were rewarding even if we managed to walk ab
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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

06/10/2019 Blackheath

Solo today for the second time this year.  So after a quick spin with a full vented 1.5 with green race I put up a section of the JMH Rhombus-shaped kites 1985 81 kites. I had taken the three top sets of the train and found that the orange set had an extra length of line after the last kite suggesting that maybe a pilot kite had been used previously.  It was my intention to try adding the pocket sled in the Vienna Kite Club colours that we had each been given last weekend as I suspected th
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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

01/10/2019 After Schloss Hof, Austria

We had a good trip to Austria.  It was a bit wet on the Saturday with a little wind from the north west but sunny on the Sunday with a good breeze from the south. The highlight was probably flying the JMH Triple Malay stack on Sunday but we also flew the 1999 Rev 1.5s, the original Decs JMH Rokkaku, the late Delta and the 2008 1 and 1.5 Rev stacks on Saturday, the big Parafoil, the Della Porta 4 Rhomboids along with the 2009 vented and mid-vented 1.5s on Sunday.  We had taken the late set o
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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

22/09/2019 Blackheath

A medium southerly breeze this morning, about 9 gusting 16mph or thereabouts so full vents with green race.  Must get a new anemometer, the last one wore out its bearings! There was a short time this morning between belts of rain so I was back in Hackney by One. No JMH kites today.  I have completed repairs to the 81 kite train and plan to try combining elements from it and using a pilot kite.  I will start by trying a small wind proven delta and if that works will make some neutral co
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Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

15/09/2019 Blackheath

Mid September anticyclonic weather patterns made for a full on sunny day with light west to north westerly breezes.  Zens with green race were fine but did not get a lot of air time. The 1995 JMH Edo was perfectly suited to the conditions so having put it together and sorted the bridle lines we all took time on the line. This kite pulls up fast and then floats away taking even more line.  I was flying on the 3.5mm spectra for ease of handling as opposed to weight considerations. T
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Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

08/09/2019

It did not actually rain today, saving it for Monday morning by the looks of it. Central Hackney was closed for the Carnival and I had decided not to make a big deal of making alternative arrangements for getting kites out and back.  Just have a rest and reflect! We are still waiting to see how the BA pilot strike unfolds and whether our flights on 27th September will be cancelled and if alternative arrangements will get us to Austria for that weekend event. A week after that I wi
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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

01/09/2019 Blackheath

Back to normal temperatures today but in the sunny conditions we still saw evidence of the Blackheath thermals spinning past us, not a real dust devil but windblown material looping about. Full Rev 1.5s with race rods and some relaxed and sometimes intricate no call flying.  The rule is that no-one speaks and the evidence is of a concentrated effort to do nothing that is inconsistent.  The kites ‘interact’ moving together and apart, rolling across the wind window and back, expanding and con
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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

25/08/2019 Blackheath

For a change the weather was back to summer mode today, unusual for a Bank Holiday weekend.  We were on Zens with green race rods except in the lulls.  I had brought a chair for those occasions! I knew that the JMH 1987 Delta kite was framed in bamboo and so we might be looking for replacement components or different framing.  Given the size of the kite I was not able to pre-assemble it at home. There was a slight puzzle in piecing the frame together as one of the ‘notched’ ends had be
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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

18/08/2019 Blackheath

At the last moment I realised that there was going to be heavy rain coinciding with our usual arrival time on Blackheath so delayed departure.  I was then able to finish putting back together the blue section of the 1985 JMH kite train that we flew briefly at Portsmouth last weekend before setting off. Light westerly/south westerly breeze so full sail 1.5s with race rods.  I had expected stronger breezes. We put together two sections of the 1985 JMH train and had some good flying time
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

10/08/2019 After Portsmouth

The forecast played out surprisingly accurately.  On Saturday the wind was about 30mph steady but gusting to about 50mph.  We did not try to fly anything. On Sunday the breeze was about 20mph gusting to 30mph plus I think.  We did do a number of ‘routines’ but were somewhat hampered by an underpowered PA system. Ashley did manage to call a routine for a small mega fly along the lines of the Italian black sail performance.  It is quite long but I got the impression that it was appreciat
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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

04/08/2109 Blackheath

Writing this on Monday afternoon as I was busy dealing with images yesterday afternoon. It was a diverted outward journey to Blackheath because of the London Cycling event.  Martin had set up a Zen on green race and that was entirely appropriate in the light SE breeze so we flew close, no calls for an indeterminate period of time. Then, as had been previously suggested, I started to put together the JMH Triple Malay stack 1988.  During the course of the last week I had established that
Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

28/07/2019 Blackheath

Westerly 13-15mph gusting 20 plus so it really was at the limit for testing kites today.  I waited for a lull and did manage to launch the JMH Flare kite from 1986.  It has recently been spotted with Jørgen in photographs from the 1989 Washington International Kite Festival in the UK. I had replaced the missing lower spreader and was concerned that I had not made it tight enough against the retaining knots.  Indeed, it might be that it was missing because it had fallen out in flight and no
Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

21/07/2019 After Shropshire

There was a deluge on the M40 as we headed out for lunch and an after lunch stroll on Friday before the event. The selected accommodation seemed fine on Friday evening. Saturday weather was mostly dry but with a variable wind rolling over the field boundary of houses and trees.  We did, however, manage to launch Expandable box kite 1996 after some helpful advice and energetic contributions from the gathered kite fliers who also confirmed the source of the design, Eiji Ohashi.  It did n
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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

14/07/2019 Blackheath

Arrived soon after 10:30 am which was about the time that Jake had suggested he might get to the heath. We had not had the chance to fly the JMH kites together for some time now and this was an opportunity to check some of the kites we may be able to fly next weekend in Shropshire. First up, almost was the 8 diamond Della Porta.  Not quite enough wind again but it is clear that this ‘composition’ is completely viable. The 1990 Parafoil which I have been partly re-bridling was the
Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

07/07/2019 Blackheath

A light easterly breeze so Zens with green race today.  The high and low cloud threatened drizzle but it didn’t happen.  The ground was very wet from overnight rain and the plantain heads had sprung up over the last week. Nothing called and there was an occasional lull which had us walking back, every which way, it seemed.  We had a visitor today who had seen the Revs from a passing bus.  He was a Blacksmith student at an institution in Herefordshire having completed the first of three year
Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

30/06/2019 Blackheath

Only revs today as there was a running event taking place and the wind forecast did not look great. The high cloud was receding so fair weather cumulus but not very developed most of the time.  The westerly wind was typical summer Blackheath, on the strong side this time, but consistently variable.  Opting for mid vents with green race made a certain amount of sense until the arm ache set in! Very little called as the variability of the breeze really was not conducive to team flying.
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

23/06/2019 Blackheath

I did take the personal revs to Blackheath today but managed to ‘forget’ the handle bag.  As no one else was expected that really didn’t matter but I had also left the SLK toolkit behind as well.  That might have been irritating! The challenge today was to set up the Edo kite solo.  After the kind assistance of the team at the beginning of June I knew that I had to establish a method to accomplish this.  I know that ground stakes are only to be used ‘carefully’ and as conditions were relati
Felix

Felix

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators
 

16/06/2019 Blackheath

RSS kites today in contrast to last weekend.  Today there were also very localised heavy showers to contend with on the brisk SW breeze.  We were mostly lucky but were dressed accordingly anyway. Extended no call flying watching the highly contrasted clouds passing by. The plantain seed heads that were becoming prevalent in recent weeks had been mown so really no issues today! No JMH kites today as it was clear that conditions would be a bit fierce. Happy to have the ‘drum ki
Felix

Felix

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