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
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
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
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
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
There was quite a bit of heavy rain about first thing and it looked as if it would be slow to clear but the sun broke through as I was leaving Hackney.
It did not last and Blackheath was under a curiously well articulated and varied cloudscape with brightness on east, south and west horizons. There was a steady NNE breeze which measured up to 6mph briefly but was mostly 4-5mph.
It was noticeably muddy underfoot but the Zens with green race did not really need much walking.
Approa
A damp and dark grey morning. The cloud was not thick enough to filter out all the UV light so it appeared to me even darker through the filtering lenses. There was a breeze though, 4-8.5 mph as measured but with a few lulls as well.
Zens with green race with Miles Davis In a Silent Way and Kind of Blue to keep the silent flying moving. It will probably be good to try these tunes with a larger group at some point.
I’m going to be doing a bit of metal work with the 3mm stainless stee
Very wet underfoot and covered in worm casts but the suggested 4mph westerly breeze was mostly steady and measured 4.8mph in a ‘gust’. There was even some sunshine through the varied high altitude clouds with some blue spaces in-between.
So Zens with green race rods as expected and for a while the right hand side of the window showed the sparkly characteristic of the white sails.
Less apparent back in the centre of the window but some Frisell/Morgan ‘Small Town’ kept us occupied along
The combination of the first weekend of lockdown and the prospect of very light wind and wet, muddy grass led me to suggest on Thursday evening that we should not attempt any flying today. The breeze on the day was even lighter than that forecast previously so it seems like it was a good call.
I did set out to do my usual cycle circuit instead but the pedestrians and others in Victoria Park were out in such numbers that I reverted to my alternative road route.
I will certainly hope to
Took a chance on the weather and while it was wet at about 10:30am the shower cleared and there was a good long break before the next one was closing in about 2 hours later.
The wind was measuring 17-20mph on the wind meter with stronger gusts and occasional lulls relatively speaking so the RSS Rev 1.5 sails were a handful but not overpowered most of the time.
We continued the no calls video recording but, somewhat as expected, the wind noise was too much for the camera to cope with so
It was raining quite heavily as I set off for Blackheath from Hackney this morning. There had been an indication that showers would clear by 10am. On Blackheath there was some sign of clearing from the west but the shower cloud was slow in moving.
We set up full sail 1.5 Revs while it was still raining and were eventually rewarded with blue sky and sunshine. The wind was SSW and steady but nowhere near the forecast 11-22mph.
No JMH kites today as it was just too wet underfoot and th
The synoptic chart was lacking in isobars so I was not expecting much flying today. Zens with green race were ok when the air was moving. The new meter did show 2.5 - 3mph maximum.
Having figured out some minimal editing with iPhone video I have been planning to try the GoPro5 on the field again, on a tripod mount. I will do some more work on this but suspect that the best viewpoint is going to be at head height which should be possible if the tripod is weighted. Did a small trial today but
There is still talk about changes in the Pandemic regime but we did get to fly today without issue. The breeze was quite variable when I arrived on Blackheath and it was really full sail 1.5 Revs that worked in the lighter moments.
With the Revs it is quite easy to take them all and choose the appropriate one on site. For the JMH kites a little more planning is required. The forecast was for 8-9mph gusting 16-20mph. On that basis I had hoped that we would be able to fly the 1990 and 199
Low flat grey clouds occasionally thinned to fleetingly show the disc of the sun. There was a Northerly breeze which measured about 11 - 15mph once I found the magic key press on the new wind meter! It was initially showing ‘hold’.
RSS Revs were fine until shortly after 1:00pm when there was a longer lull which provided a convenient hint that it was time for lunch off site. Terry Riley Assassin Reverie, Tread on the Trail played by Arte Quartett had just come to an end as well…
Ear
The week of the Dieppe festival in 2014 was sunny throughout but we were not there as a team. It was another sunny day on Blackheath with a fairly steady NE breeze, mostly about 8-10mph.
Full vented 1.5s again were ‘on rails’, a pleasure to fly. After a Terry Riley piece ‘Tread on the Trail’ we had Bersarin Quartett, Methoden und Maschinen, Composer: Thomas Bücker on the sound system. Quite a change! Some of the silent calls worked very well today <grins>.
On the JMH front I
It was hot on Blackheath as forecast but the NE or E breeze held up most of the time so we had a good starting session with full sail 1.5 Revs.
I had decided that any other kites flown should be simple to put together or even requiring no frame at all as in the parafoils.
Having prepared a new spreader for the JMH 1987 Delta I obviously was hoping for the right conditions after the previous spreader break at launch.
I might have been a bit overcautious today but we set the kite on
