Encouraged ATM to work on leading edge down hover. He was making good progress. Suggested walking forwards to get gradual descent, backwards to gain altitude. I will have to suggest the angled hovers next weekend. The visual feedback is critical....
I then went into reverie mode trying to pin the kite to a position in the sky in horizontal hover with varying wind speed and direction. c20 minutes later I thought it was time to take a break.
Some good 'treacle' flying with long arm moves
Light variable wind today with 180 degree shifts. The fluctuations in wind speed meant that, at times, the 4 wrap spars were taking the strain in the JMH Rev 1 sails. Lighter sparing would have been risky!
The sail I picked up had not had the vertical bungees tightened but once adjusted all was well.
Following with Jacob, Jade and ATM was not inspiring but some parallel work looked quite neat with some crisp 180/stops, up and down.
I have identified one difficulty in 'long arm' technique wh
An early start today in anticipation of 'afternoon' showers.
Blustery conditions '18mph plus' provided the opportunity to try some long arm, treacle effect flying with the vented 1.5B. How slow can you go?
I wonder if we should actively avoid any 'following' team routines. Apart from the line wraps it is not really very interesting IMHO.
Heavy rain later after rising wind speed justified the early start.
PS Jade showed me the Prussic knot which could provide incremental adjustment for lead
Light breeze on Blackheath today. Johnny turned up (by bicycle) and with the help of Jade and ATM we put up 5 of the JMH Rev1s with 4 wrap spars. Precision in turning is where everything seemed to focus for all of the fliers.
I am very interested in the latest news on the Revolution site:-
"Also, look for the introduction of the new Blast being flown by Team iQuad at a festival near you."
I have mentioned my interest in the speed series kites previously.
I wonder if anyone can remember w
ATM flew in with Jacob, Jade and I today.
He had been flying the 'on the spot' 90 degree turns including 'leading edge down' earlier. (following on from last week)
Jacob called The Decs 'opening manoeuvre' as well as 'ladder-up/down' which call for some focus and space limits. ATM said he could do the moves as long as there was plenty of escape space. My observation would be that it is possible to get an inexperienced flier to do some very cool moves (read that as 'not trivial') so long as t
Today after putting Jade in a close following scenario* we tried 90 degree, on the spot turns. Facing left, down, right, up, left etc. then reversing. MW didn't quite get it and twice careered through threatening to take everyone out. ATM got the idea but wanted to work on the face down hover. I suggested that momentary stopping was the way to go.
Leading edge up, grounded, stepped rotations proved an interesting consideration of brake/forward set-up. 1/4, wing tip, 3/4 points all need p
After a string <grins> of high wind days c3-5 mph was on offer at Blackheath today. Jacob turned up and eventually we put up a set of team Rev1's and had Jade and ATM doing some basic moves. The JMH graphics looked great. Too busy for pics!
Jade and ATM quickly found effective control of the Rev1 with 4 wrap spars!
5 fliers. 3 1.5JB, 1 Anniversary, 4 JMH Rev1.
On Blackheath today it was 15mph plus, I guess, from the East with snow flurries blowing through and great cloudscapes.
I have been trying to see how far the long arm technique can be extended into high wind situations. Rather than using the forward/brake control of the handles I have been trying to hit the balance point where the wing of the kite only moves forwards with a full pull of the arms.
Instead of adding brake by adjusting line lengths I have been shifting my grip on the handles wa
So, in the pouring rain today I was rotating the kite slowly in the middle of the wind window about a kites width above the ground, and I mean... slowly!
Flying Rev 1.5B vented, standard spars. My concern is arm span and the angle of the kite to the wind. I have to move back briskly when the kite was face up which gives an indication of the actual wind speed. Face down is less of an issue as we are aware and I was probably moving forwards at that point to compensate. The transition from lef
Blackheath wet and muddy, no clear evidence of Canadian Goose shit today. They were down by the pond!
Wind N to NE, vented speed to begin with but fading as the front passed.
ATM had trouble with wet lines sticking with symmetrical twists but having got through that managed to grasp the concept of the 'bow and arrow' position for lateral passes and to hold the kite in a hover and move forwards (downwind).
We had adjusted lines to assess the 'feel' of the kite and to correct an incorrectly
One role that needs to be addressed for future events will be a 'field organiser' who would get the fliers lined up and correctly spaced and then keep an eye on the fliers positions on the ground during a performance. (This should probably not be in the callers/leaders remit except for determining the overall configuration)
Another possible role is for a 'spotter' to home in on any flier who is having difficulties and to guide/advise them accordingly and may also involve relaying a '2nd strik
So if each flier is on 4 x 120ft = 480 ft.
There are 36 fliers so 480 x 36 = 17,280 ft.
There are 5,280 ft in a mile if my memory serves me correctly so that make 3.27 miles of line.
With 54 fliers, 480 x 54 = 25,920 ft which is 4.9 miles.
With 100 fliers, 480 x 100 = 48,000 ft which is 9.1 miles.
Quite a lot of string!
So, never having Blogged before please let me try to understand what is expected. (apart from the last two!)
I fly Revolution kites most weekends on Blackheath in SE London, sometimes with the team, The Decorators.
There are anecdotes and observations relating to this and related matters which I may want to record for my own and potentially, (who knows) other's interest!
I first posted (in 2007) on the Revolution Forum in respect of organising the Portsmouth/Bristol events in 2008. Occasiona
David noted in his REVisions : Grid Economics article:-
'But, Felix Mottram, founder of The Decorators <snip> had an idea one night. Maybe it came to him in a dream, or he looked at something and an idea popped into his head, but he began to try and get some of us to get our head around it. And to be honest it made no sense to me initially, I know I had problems visualizing how it would work. I don’t think I “really” got it until such time as Felix worked a group of us through it in Uchi
Early morning snow followed by rain finally cleared around midday so a late trip to Blackheath.
Bright sun for a while and then a passing shower with a complete, perfect rainbow.
Variable breeze, vented 1.5B for me and 10 year old vented for ATM who is getting the hover and 180s with leading edge vertical some of the time.
Looks like the clock 12:25 on the edit page is on New York time!
