Jump to content

Blogs

Featured Entries

  • 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
    • 4,524 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
    • 0 comments
    • 2,008 views

04/04/2010 Blackheath

This was the last Blackheath fly for a while. The next two weekends will be in Berck and the two after in Cervia. Getting to Blackheath from home is very easy in the car. A quick drive past the Olympic Park, through the Blackwell tunnel, turn right at the top of the hill and that is it! (15 mins max) A bit more travelling for Berck and Cervia <grins> A parallel side slide 360 around the last kite was today's special moment. We actually set the pendulum going as well and as this was almost
Felix

Felix

0

27-28/03/2010 Blackheath

We arrived mid afternoon on Saturday to kick off our pre-season warm-up for the 'complete' team. Rev1s were the order of the day until the breeze dropped off almost completely ahead of a squally downpour. There was time to fly David's Zen before the storm broke. We then retired to 'The Tolly' on Royal Hill. Most of us coped with the clock change overnight reasonably well and we were on site Sunday at c10:00am for a 5 hour session blowing out the cobwebs and getting the winter absentees up to sp
Felix

Felix

0

21/03/2010 Blackheath

Arrived just before 10:00 am to see Jade and Martin with Rev1s set up but zero wind speed. Just for fun, I set up the Rev2s Race Rods on 80ft x 100lb and 15 inch handles. (On reflection now I can see that additional flex in the spars may be advantageous. I had got used to compensating for the lack of flex in the speed series kites. The tracking advantage may be significant as with the fragile bamboo components of a fighter kite.) The Rev2s will work in almost zero wind speed but light weight
Felix

Felix

0

14/03/2010 Blackheath

There was sunshine on Blackheath today. The temperature may have reached double digits (Celcius) for the first time this year! The custom Rev2 Race Framed on the 80ft lines and long handles (15in) was once again set up alongside the vented Rev1.5 JB Pro custom 4 wrap on 120ft lines (13in handles) in a brisk NW airflow (which meant we were flying directly into the sun). The delicacy of touch required for the Rev2 is in considerable contrast to the expansive moves that are required for the Rev1.
Felix

Felix

0

07/03/2010 Blackheath

A complete contrast weather wise today after last Sunday with clear skies, bright sun, but a steady, (most of the time) cold easterly breeze. Put out the pair of Rev2s Race Framed on the 80ft lines and long handles, not least to dry them out. (?) It was interesting to fly out to the edge of the wind window and 'throw' the kite through 'precise' turns. Long arms and plenty of movement on the ground were 'all' that was required. Slo-mo turns worked 'in the mind' rather than by virtue of physical
Felix

Felix

0

28/02/2010 Blackheath

A very wet morning but lower wind speed than forecast provided an opportunity to set up lines and handles for the 2 new Rev2 kites that arrived last Monday morning. For reasons I will not go into here we are using the 15 inch handles. The top leader extensions I had to make measured 11 inches to the used knot. The kites felt fantastically light and extremely responsive and worked very well with long arm slo-mo input. Switching back to the vented 1.5s afterwards was quite curious. The rain f
Felix

Felix

0

21/02/2010 Blackheath

David Ellison was up from Devon this morning so we planned a 10:00am start. At 9:45am driving towards the Blackwall Tunnel the rain was getting heavier and the skies lowering. Happily the forecast for early rain with brighter conditions following was completely correct. By 10:05am the downpour had eased and the sky was brightening from the south. Six fliers convened to run through some basics as well as the 'Burst Felix and Brenda' combo. The there was also an 'e*** axis' thing. My head is sti
Felix

Felix

0

Wind dies

You go out to fly. There's great wind, so you get out your gear, run the lines, assemble and attach your kite... You get back and pick up the handles... ...and the wind dies. Does this ever happen to you? It happens almost every day to me. It is the Anch-Morpork wind on average. I've often considered simply camping out and catching that 6am wind that always happens. In the Summer here that's not so bad, because we have the 24-hour sunlight ... but the Winter isn't quite the same. I still ha
syntaks

syntaks

4

Feb 18, 2k10

Forecast: "Northeast wind 10 to 15 mph except east 40 to 55 mph along Turnagain Arm and higher elevations" I added that because they haven't been right for weeks. They get the wind right everywhere except in Anch-Morpork. Last night's forecast said "variable 5 to 15" ... Right now the wind is swapping North to South every few minutes, making it pretty well impossible for me to do much. I haven't been able to for quite awhile, which, for me, is actually a bad thing as I use the kiting to replace
syntaks

syntaks

0

Days worthy of blog entries...

Days worthy of blog entries... There are some days that are just run of the mill... some you want to cuss at the wind more than anything else.... and others you can't stop thinking about. Wednesday the 10th found us out in Palmer shopping around the typical places to fly, which there are a multitude of out there, but it is a matter of what is accessible. Made one trip around the fairgrounds and the prime location hadn't even had a path plowed through it. Revert to selection #2 where there is
syntaks

syntaks

0

13-14/02/2010 Penshaw Monument

It was strange to fly in close proximity this weekend to the monument which dominates the area close to the Washington Kite Festival event which I first attended individually in about 1987. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penshaw_Monument The local road system presents the monument from many directions and so it can be confusing as an outsider to know one's actual position within the local geography. Two days of gentle weather is sufficient to develop the BDGs mentioned elsewhere. I hope that
Felix

Felix

0

07/02/2010 Blackheath

A low grey cloud backdrop lifted soon after I left the field today. Team fliers were not out in numbers today so I was able to concentrate on the turning interval etc. of the 1.5B/Bazzer sail with Race Frame on extended handles. I have alluded previously to the throw, spin and catch aspect of flying this kite and the similarity in this to a diamond fighter kite. I am still working on the 'long arm' moves, occasionally finding 'body blocked' moments where the full sweep of the arms needs some co
Felix

Felix

0

31/01/2010 Blackheath

A bright sunny day with a westerly breeze, frosty underfoot. Today we flew Rev1s with 3.4.3/3.3 UL spars sometimes at the top end of the comfort window. I wanted to push the extended handle issue and found that in the slightly stronger breeze than last weekend 'too much forward' is very difficult to cope with. If the breeze gets up the kite becomes 'very difficult to control' and feels like it will go off at a tangent if the pilot slips slightly. This is exactly what we see in practice, time af
Felix

Felix

0

24/01/2010 Blackheath

Following on from last weekend but in lighter conditions (2-4 mph) we flew parallel moves, 5 fliers on Rev1 3/4/3-3/3 90lb 120ft and just for fun had Jacob calling from the middle of the team for a while. He was not entirely happy about this which is understandable as callers do like to have an exit strategy rather than being 'locked in'. Parallel 'nailed' wing tip 90s, 180s and 360s looked sublime once everyone had 'clocked' the turning interval. I had set up on long throw handles and as the
Felix

Felix

1

17/01/2010 Blackheath (Interlaced parallel team flying)

We had a very creative few hours on Blackheath today. The sub-title says it all. There were also plenty of parallel 180 degree wing-tip turns, both forward and reverse in the equation. One of the key considerations for grid flying was to keep the individual fliers in the centre of their wind window. The next step is to expect them all to be able to deliver a stationery 360 degree rotation without risk. The slower the better... No wobbles! I think that we should be looking at the 'lowest commo
Felix

Felix

0

10/01/2010 Blackheath

Last year on Saturday evening, the second weekend in January, I tripped and fell, badly bruising my left elbow. Last night I slipped on ice and fell, badly bruising my right elbow. The symmetry is spooky <grins> Anyway the weather on Blackheath was relatively benign today compared to what was forecast. A few inches of snow underfoot (and a smooth north easterly breeze) with slate grey clouds enhanced the appearance of the mixed set of JB vented 1.5 sails. Jacob led 5 fliers in some para
Felix

Felix

0

03/01/2010 Blackheath

David Ellison did the Devon/London/Devon trip in order to attend today. "Kudos" Thanks David... Most of us were on the Heath at 10:00am and the light breeze was OK for the standard 1.5 sails with UL or Race spars. David led us into some slow reverse ladder up/downs to great effect, either wing tip or double kite width. Jacob joined us a little later having recently returned from visiting JMH in Denmark over Christmas. A bottle of Gammel Dansk was broached to toast the new vented sails. We cont
Felix

Felix

0

27/12/2009 Blackheath

Another blustery day today. Jade observed that we were getting into some 'treacle flying'. 'Very slow' 360 degree rotations in c20mph takes some confidence in fellow fliers at close proximity. Some of us flew yesterday as well but as the ground was muddy on Blackheath (again today) I did not get out the new JMH sails. I did take a close look at the format of the JMH vented sails later at home yesterday and find that Bazzer has followed JMH's interpretation of the vent locations and proportions
Felix

Felix

0

20/12/2009 Blackheath

Thanks to Ben, Bazzer and Lolly we are now testing a set of vented 1.5s in a new JMH design:- It was a bit cool on Blackheath today... Felix PS thanks to Jade, Ashley, Martin and Maggie as well... FJM
Felix

Felix

0

13/12/2009 Blackheath

No let-up in the wind today so another vented 4 wrap morning. Great cloudscapes in the northerly breeze but we were blinded by the sun at times. I think that the 'precise stop' (no wobble) is going to be the key factor in team flying in the near future. Many fliers are making the effort hit the mark... I understand that Berck 2010 may have a Rev competition! Felix
Felix

Felix

0

06/12/2009 Blackheath

After a very wet cloudy start to the day the sky cleared from the west and we arrived on Blackheath with a clear sky soon after 11am. The ground was not as waterlogged as last weekend and the Canada Geese have still not invaded. The wind was changeable but predominately strong so we flew vented with 4 wrap spars. I was very interested to see that the other fliers present were using horizontal handles and long arm movements even in the higher winds. It occurs to me that holding a very precise
Felix

Felix

0

29/11/2009 Blackheath

Some of us (Felix, Ashley, David) had a great weekend at Ainsdale last week. The weather was tough but a bit of extra 'brake' was sufficient to keep us flying. This weekend was our team meet event. A short fly on Saturday, late afternoon, saw the other 4 ex iQuad SLE kites checked out. A succession of squally showers were the theme today. I will try to get some images/video of 'long arm/input' in the next few weeks. I noted recently that even an absolute beginner may intuitively adopt th
Felix

Felix

0

15/11/2009 Blackheath

A glorious day after yesterday's storms. There were showers marching eastwards on the southern horizon, maybe over the South Downs or on the Channel coast? On Blackheath we were joined by a new flier. Rowan was taking a break from his usual Sunday lessons. As an 'almost' first time flier I set him up on a short set of lines with the 1.5 Anniversary kite. I added a little forward to counteract the tendency to pull back the handles at launch and away he went. It was instructive to watch him
Felix

Felix

0
×
×
  • Create New...