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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
    • 4,582 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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    • 2,039 views
Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

23/05/2021 Blackheath

The forecasts suggested SW 15 mph gusting up to 30 mph and a risk of showers.  The wind meter confirmed 15 mph but gusts weren’t noticeable. It was Xtra Vent and RSS sails, somewhat as expected and we flew for a while with Skúli Sverrissons Strata (featuring Bill Frisell) as accompaniment.  Dark clouds were looming from the South West and we caught the edge of a shower. Having packed the Revolution kites it looked as if there was half an hour or more before the next shower and so I did
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

16/05/2021 Blackheath

Showers, potentially turning thundery were forecast for today with a SW airflow. I arrived on Blackheath as a small shower approached and set up a Rev1.5 full vent.  The rain shower, when it arrived did not last long and it looked as if there would be about an hour before the next shower arrived, judging by the clouds on the SW horizon. I had contemplated setting up the JMH 3m Rokkakus and did take them onto the field.  However, the rain radar showed a substantial band of rain rather t
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

09/05/2021 Blackheath

Last Sunday we didn’t actually get to fly a kite but considerable progress was made towards the eventual flight of the Peter Malinski Hexagonal Kite Train. This week I had anxiously watched the forecasts as the near gale force winds subsided to something more manageable.  We got 13-15mph gusting upwards but mostly fairly steady.  This was, I considered the optimum for the JMH Composite Kite (Della Porta): Eight Rhomboids which I have been hoping to fly again.  This was in part to get some g
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

02/05/2021 Blackheath

There was very little wind forecast for today and there really wasn’t much more than an occasional breath! We might have flown Zens but as showers were more likely later we set about pulling out the 23 sails of the lower half of the Peter Malinski Hexagonal Kite Train in order to fit the missing sail and attend to the broken central bridles. We took the precaution of securing the top lines at both ends.  At one point a small gust from the side set the whole train rolling and with the a
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

25/04/2021 Blackheath

A cool brisk easterly breeze this morning with a mostly cloudy sky to start.  I was seeing 8-14mph on the meter which was at the low end of the forecasts.  There were lulls but not low enough for us to opt for anything other than the RSS kites. Once up and running we flew to accompaniment by Marc Johnson, Shades of Jade and then upping the tempo a bit, to Pino Palladino & Blake Mills, Notes with Attachments.  No calls, of course but interesting to see the range of flight developing thro
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

18/04/2021 Blackheath

There was convergence in the forecasts today but wind speed and direction and the amount of cloud cover seemed at odds. In the event what little breeze there was came from 3 out of 4 compass points occasionally.  We set up Zens and found them to be at 180 degrees from the wind direction given where they had been landed previously a couple of times at least.  The question was whether to walk the 240ft or just wait for a new lull and switch. None of us were prepared to run the Zens into
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

11/04/2021 Blackheath

The northerly breeze was mostly a bit under the 8-9mph that had been forecast.  We set up full vented Rev 1.5s and they were quite often a bit under powered. Occasionally the sun was quite warm but there was enough cloud about to leave it feeling cold overall. I had hoped to fly with Pino Palladino & Blake Mills ‘Notes with Attachments’ to see if it could work with the kites.  My impression was positive but it would need a good sound system! I didn’t think that wind speed woul
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

04/04/2021 Blackheath

So we were finally able to go to Blackheath and fly kites today.  The last time was the first weekend in January! The forecast had been good during the week but it looked as if the windspeed was likely to be less than originally suggested.  When I arrived at 10:15am there was very little air movement but having walked to our usual location and looked around a slight breeze kicked in from the NW. I set up a Zen and was soon joined by Martin and Maggie but the wind was intermittent.  I h
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

28/03/2021

So the weather wasn’t really good today, the last lockdown day for the time being.  I will now be closely following the forecast for Sunday 4th April when we will fly kites on Blackheath for the first time since 3rd January 2021. Work on the Peter Malinski Hexagonal Train continued and the two 12.5m fuzzy tails are cut and ready for the final 105cm lengths for the kite attachment legs to be made.  That will be a quick process by comparison.  The 10cm strips were folded and sewn, cut and the
Felix

Felix in Decs

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

21/03/2021

I did manage to catch the online Kitemakers Conference contribution from Frank Sazama on Saturday afternoon and later the end of Scott Skinner’s session.  Interesting to catch technical details in both cases and also to wonder about the documentation of the Jørgen Møller Hansen and Peter Malinski kites restoration process.  I think that I have probably recorded just about enough of the process to date. I think that we should be able to fly kites next Sunday but cannot find any clear indicat
Felix

Felix in Decs

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

14/03/2021

So, two more weeks remaining for the current lockdown.  Elsewhere in Europe things appear to be getting worse again and the Cervia beach is off limits from Monday. I cut out the Hexagonal Train centre fitting but have not drilled it yet.  I have been contemplating making tails for the missing sails.  I’m not yet sure how the fabric was cut into the fringe edge wondering if it was a hot knife, blade or scissors?  Whatever is was, a fair amount of work will be involved. Shropshire Kite F
Felix

Felix in Decs

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

07/03/2021

The fabric samples duly arrived and I slightly amended the colour values drawing hoping that the one missing sample will be available and in line with expectations. Dieppe has announced that it will be going ahead at the previously given dates in September but that international travel may still not be possible.  Not exactly an encouraging idea really but a local event may be better than nothing. Over the last few weeks I have been somewhat envious that it was possible to fly kites on
Felix

Felix in Decs

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

28/02/2021

Soon, turns out to be the end of March, which is when, subject to continuing success in the reduction of pandemic numbers we will be able to meet in a small group and fly kites. This news came almost at the same time as an announcement from Artevento that the dates for the next Cervia event would be 25th September - 3rd October 2021.  This gave me hope that things would be returning to normal but of course there are many details to take into account before booking that flight. Split ri
Felix

Felix in Decs

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

21/02/2021

There is a possibility that meeting a small group for outside sports activity will be allowed again soon.  The announcement may occur on Monday evening; tomorrow! The Peter Malinski Hexagonal Train replacement sail is almost complete.  Just the centre fitting to cut and drill and the main flying line attachments sewn.  I’ll then have to fit the split rings on this set of 24 sails.  It will be a fiddly task but, I think, worth the effort long term for ease of attaching/detaching the tails on
Felix

Felix in Decs

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

14/02/2021

An icy week was somewhat lifted by the invitation I received on the Monday morning to arrange an appointment for my first vaccine injection.  Duly arranged for Friday morning a 10 minutes walk from home across London Fields and dispensed within a matter of minutes by one of about a dozen medics assisted by many others. No cycling this week because of the ice… The second set of the Peter Malinski Hexagonal Train are in better condition and only two pockets needed attention.  There were,
Felix

Felix in Decs

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

07/02/2021

I took deliver of a 1992 Rev 2 sail on Monday 1st February after a search for a Rev 1 sail that has been progressing slowly since last May.  The project was to get a set of the Jørgen Møller Hansen 1992 design re-made in the Zen format.  I had not remembered that there might be a problem in re-creating the graphic as it had been somewhat compromised in the manufacturing process.  Jacob duly advised that this was the case. So with reference to the Rev 2 sail, the images that we have of the R
Felix

Felix in Decs

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

31/01/2021

Another lockdown week has passed quite quickly as I did succeed in re-arranging the kite room and work on the first set of the Peter Malinski Hexagonal Train proceeded smoothly.  There are just two more spar pockets to fix and two flying line attachments on one sail.  Then I can move on to the second set. I have to take the bicycle in for annual service this week.  I have already discussed the work needed and I will have a complete new drive train in place by Wednesday all being well.  As I
Felix

Felix in Decs

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

24/01/2021

Another lockdown Sunday and today the weather prevented a bicycle circuit.  In younger days a sprinkling of snow would not be a deterrent but more recently slippery conditions are simply too difficult to handle. I have sewn 50 ‘spar boot’ pockets for the Peter Malinski Hexagonal Train and hope to start fitting them in the coming week.  This will require some re-arrangement of the kite room and setting up a work surface with additional support for the bulk of the sails. I had hoped to p
Felix

Felix in Decs

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

17/01/2021

Second Sunday in the lockdown and I did get out in the sunny conditions to do a near normal bicycle circuit.  The parks were very busy so it was on the roads around Victoria Park.  QE Park was busier than normal and the River Lea was fast moving although not as high as I have seen it. The package of kite components arrived from Denmark during the week and the presence of two 1cm D-rings led to some speculation regarding the JMH 120 cell Expansible Box Kite from 1996.  The D-rings in it are
Felix

Felix in Decs

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

10/01/2021

Today was the first Sunday in the new lockdown and I did not get out on the cycle route as we had a broadband and landline outage.  An engineer called first thing this morning to check that access to the termination point was available! During the week I received images of the Peter Malinski Hexagonal Train and we can now date it as 1987 or earlier.  The images were from Sylt, Germany in spring 1987.  I had started to look at the restoration issues and have purchased 10mm split rings in sta
Felix

Felix in Decs

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

03/01/2021 Blackheath

There was a bit of rain in the air on my way up to the Sun in the Sands junction but it had passed by the time I arrived on Blackheath. The NNE breeze was light but steady 6 rather than 8mph but I didn’t measure it.  Full sail 1.5s with race rods were just right and we flew for an hour or so before the cold crept in to Martin’s finger tips.  He was more than ready to stop but was determined that it should not be his call. I had taken the Hex Pilot kite that I made in 2019 and flew succ
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

27/12/2020 Blackheath

Having expected the overnight storm to clear slowly I did not expect to fly today but as the indications were positive first thing this morning I decided to go and have a look. I arrived on Blackheath at about 10:45am just as the sun cleared the trailing edges of the last heavy shower associated with the storm. While it was not exactly warm I did fly for an hour or so before the low level cloud built up and breeze strengthened.  I had been flying a full vented 1.5 with green race today
Felix

Felix in Decs Sunday

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Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

20/12/2020

The weather was looking promising but sadly circumstances changed on Saturday so it was another ‘no fly’ day today. First off, I had an unfortunate accident while fixing a bicycle puncture Saturday morning.  Two finger tips quite deeply cut on a shard of glass that had penetrated the tyre.  This was enough to count myself out for Sunday morning. Then there was the revision of pandemic measures which set us back to the two person outdoor meeting limit. I’ll just have to focus on ki
Felix

Felix in Decs

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