During lockdown which ended in the middle of May there was one Sunday when the weather would not have been conducive for kite flying. Since then there was one day when there was no practical breeze so we were walking the Rev Zens. There have also been a couple of windy days!
Today was very wet, relatively cold and very windy so we simply did not make any attempt to fly. When the remaining projected festivals cancelled back in June a decision was made to concentrate on flying, photographi
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
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
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
While it was not actually raining at 7:44am this morning I had elected for a lie-in and was not at all surprised at the steady rainfall an hour an a half later.
After a slow start during the past week the intermittent work on the JMH Della Porta: Four rhomboids 1993 had proceeded successfully. All the rusty steel elements have been replaced. I’ll just need to decide whether to replace some of the spars now or wait until the ‘split ends’ become too difficult to manage. Spare spars are ava
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
Heavy rain did arrive before 8:00am today with a following band at about 10am. There were some very heavy short showers later.
Given that the forecast was for 15-30mph wind I did not plan to travel to Blackheath today.
If the lockdown does end on 2nd December we may only miss two more Sunday sessions. Last year all four November Sundays had light breezes.
I’ll hope to fly solo next Sunday and at the moment one of the forecasts is suggesting a sunny day with a moderate westerly b
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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,
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
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
