Aerochic Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 My video from the iPod I had on my cap. Means more to people who were in the grid than the general public so I tried to include some notes for non-flyers. It's actually quite very cool to see this in a pilot's POV! Thanks Bart!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwmf Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 .... MY stomach was in knots and I wasn't breathing just watching that !!!! It was only this weekend that I started flying in the same space as my girlfriend (on 80' lines), which wasn't too bad .... 64 look TOUGH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartman Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 Breath dude! It only looks difficult. Really, a lot of fun and not that bad getting through it. Give it 5 years to evolve and the skill to ramp up and I think then it will be amazing to be in and to watch it! This is just a baby step IMO of something bigger. Bart 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwmf Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 LOL ... I'm pretty relaxed flying with my girlfriend, but that's 60+ kites away from what you guys did. I'm certainly hoping to make it across the pond and do a group fly one day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morrunya Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 Breath dude! It only looks difficult. Really, a lot of fun and not that bad getting through it. Give it 5 years to evolve and the skill to ramp up and I think then it will be amazing to be in and to watch it! This is just a baby step IMO of something bigger. Bart Haha! I love how this is coming from Bart! That is awesome! Actually doing it completely reversed his view on it. He sounds like the rest of us when we were trying to convince him to do it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartman Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 LOL ... I'm pretty relaxed flying with my girlfriend, but that's 60+ kites away from what you guys did. I'm certainly hoping to make it across the pond and do a group fly one day. It is worth coming to WSIKF even if you do it only once in your life. That was my plan and now I'm already planning for next year. Just figuring out what to sacrifice to save the money. Does the house really need to be above 50F in the dead of winter... Haha! I love how this is coming from Bart! That is awesome! Actually doing it completely reversed his view on it. He sounds like the rest of us when we were trying to convince him to do it! I freely admit that I was so wrong on this and so overthinking it that I must have set a new record for myself analyzing it all for six months. I do did not need to do that! But that is part of my mental process so it is what it is. With one under my belt and time to digest it all I can also tell people what you guys told me - it really is not that hard to wrap one's head around. I was a skeptic, now a believer. I can hardly wait to give it another go! Bart 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Foster Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 Bart So glad you enjoyed yourself at WSIKF. We don't even try to keep the house above 50 in the winter. We just hook up our travel trailer and head south. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JynxKites Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 I freely admit that I was so wrong on this and so overthinking it that I must have set a new record for myself analyzing it all for six months. I do did not need to do that! But that is part of my mental process so it is what it is. With one under my belt and time to digest it all I can also tell people what you guys told me - it really is not that hard to wrap one's head around. I was a skeptic, now a believer. I can hardly wait to give it another go! Bart Bart and I spoke of this late Saturday, after the record was set, and WSIKF was winding down... I admitted to him (and others) and now to the (kiting) world that in the early days of this forum stream I was so excited to see all the kiters signing-up... then it got technical... and I began doubting myself and wondered why I (who flys solo 99% of the time) was about to spend the time and money to travel to Washington to sit and (probably) just "watch" this whole thing take place! Yes, I lacked faith in myself and the whole process. I then made-up my mind to "delete" (without reading) the entire stream... and go for bust! ...and I'm so GLAD I did! Between John and Felix... they made ALL of us, no matter how mega-fly experienced, challenge our doubts, and Just Do It! Though I didn't understand all the forum tech stuff, THEY knew what had to be done and were more than ready for it. The attempt was so totally organized, with Felix's preplanning and John's calm voice directing us, and many of the Greatest Skilled Rev'ers unselfishly standing-out to assist us... we did it! We achieved not only the record of 64, but achieved something much more important to me... a feeling of Self-achievement and Team Camaraderie. It was totally AWESOME! …Words cannot express! THANKS to ALL of YOU who made this possible for US! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 Breath dude! It only looks difficult. Really, a lot of fun and not that bad getting through it. Give it 5 years to evolve and the skill to ramp up and I think then it will be amazing to be in and to watch it! This is just a baby step IMO of something bigger. Bart Hi Bart, At the beginning many fliers were sceptical about the possibilities. That was two and a half years ago! There was a 'leap of faith' at Portsmouth/Bristol 2008. What was achieved at that point was extraordinary. I agree with your notion that in another two and a half years it will be at a different level. <grins> Felix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 <snip> Between John and Felix... they made ALL of us, no matter how mega-fly experienced, challenge our doubts, and Just Do It! Though I didn't understand all the forum tech stuff, THEY knew what had to be done and were more than ready for it. The attempt was so totally organized, with Felix's preplanning and John's calm voice directing us, and many of the Greatest Skilled Rev'ers unselfishly standing-out to assist us... we did it! We achieved not only the record of 64, but achieved something much more important to me... a feeling of Self-achievement and Team Camaraderie.It was totally AWESOME! …Words cannot express!THANKS to ALL of YOU who made this possible for US! Jynx, Thanks very much for your post. I think that I did have a mandate to line the fliers up on the ground as I saw fit though I do not recall precisely when this was invoked. Anyway, I have to thank all the fliers for accepting the directions on the day and also for the level of discipline exhibited by all the participants. 'Just Do It!' is a catchphrase used by The Decorators over the years when new fliers doubted their own ability. There is plenty of opportunity to take skill levels higher and I hope that everyone who took part will be prepared to 'up their game' in the future. Thanks again Felix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HedgeWarden Posted September 7, 2010 Report Share Posted September 7, 2010 My video from the iPod I had on my cap. Means more to people who were in the grid than the general public so I tried to include some notes for non-flyers. Tough to squeeze it down to under the 15 minutes as there really are a lot of cool moments. Some of the conversation was funny! Bart Bart, thanks for taking a video of my personal kite in the Megafly. Guess that happened by accident when I flew in the column next to a very inventive videographer. Interesting aspect of aging, I confused the three days (Thur, Fri, and Sat). I remembered being the first casualty of the 64 grid, having to set my Lime B on the ground when my eyes rebelled against the bright skies by watering up until I was flying almost blind. Very early in the flight, but I chose to wimp out rather than risk taking out other fliers. However, that happened, luckily, on the first (Thur) Megafly. The biggie on Friday was fine for me - I found some dark clip-on sunglasses to go on top of my prescription sunglasses, which saved my eyes on Friday and Saturday. [Hint: Friday kite was not Lime.] So your video refreshed my memory and allowed me to see my contribution to the 64 Megafly. Thanks. I'm glad you found you were more comfortable in the Megafly than you anticipated (over-thought). Heck, you did a better job than I and a lot of other fliers. It was a blast. Again, thanks to JB, Felix, Peter (no, no, that was Steven or Stephan), and Baz, and all the other master fliers who all were fantastically patient with, and even more helpful to, us bottom fliers. I can hardly wait until next year - 81 definitely, 100 maybe! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartman Posted September 7, 2010 Report Share Posted September 7, 2010 Hi Howard. So you are the guy who went up the column that I mention as looking worse than it really was? I'm a little confused. That video was on the Friday with 64 and you said you were fine Friday, no problems. That being the case you weren't the run away kite in the video. Watching it now is rather cool. A good example of how things can easily go wrong, but really didn't overall. At the time I only saw it out of the corner of my eye and remember thinking it looked bad. Looks to me like it really went up between columns, but from the camera perspective it looks like it goes through the column. Obviously it didn't. I know what you mean about the sun. I have to wear big sunglasses around my normal eyewear as clips ons aren't enough. Very sun sensitive. Prescription sunglasses aren't enough for me. Even with that I had to land out of a small group one of those days when sweat/sunblock was running in my eyes and I couldn't see enough to be safe. Bart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manny1704 Posted September 7, 2010 Report Share Posted September 7, 2010 I then made-up my mind to "delete" (without reading) the entire stream... and go for bust! ...and I'm so GLAD I did! Between John and Felix... they made ALL of us, no matter how mega-fly experienced, challenge our doubts, and Just Do It! Though I didn't understand all the forum tech stuff, THEY knew what had to be done and were more than ready for it. The attempt was so totally organized, with Felix's preplanning and John's calm voice directing us, and many of the Greatest Skilled Rev'ers unselfishly standing-out to assist us... we did it! We achieved not only the record of 64, but achieved something much more important to me... a feeling of Self-achievement and Team Camaraderie. It was totally AWESOME! …Words cannot express! THANKS to ALL of YOU who made this possible for US! Hear Hear! Thanks for taking the time to write down my precise thoughts on that:blue-love: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HedgeWarden Posted September 8, 2010 Report Share Posted September 8, 2010 Hi Howard. So you are the guy who went up the column that I mention as looking worse than it really was? <snip> Bart Bart, I was in the column to your right, just above Paul's wife (Candy?), who by the way did a great job in that turbulence at the bottom. Yeah, our column was pretty ragged much of the time. You'll see my Rainbow blowing toward your column (toward your kite, I believe) until I could finally adjust to the side wind properly. Then a few dodges that were a bit dodgy, even ending on the ground until the kites that scared me regained composure. I'm not criticizing anyone in the grid - everyone did their best, and it was very good. It will be better when we go for the record 2011. Overall, great fun. And us Nor'Westerners need all the protection from the sun we can find! Sunshine is not in our genetic code. P.S. I've captured the video from YouTube, but it does not have your "note balloons". Of what software is that a feature? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartman Posted September 8, 2010 Report Share Posted September 8, 2010 Okay, got ya. I thought you were saying you were the kite that zoomed up bumping you and Candy's kites. I watched it again and I guess you were unnoticed, so to speak, because you didn't do anything to scare anyone! You looked very stable the whole time. I was fighting things a bit too much backing up. I should have not had the mid-vent out for it as I needed just a bit more than what I was able to do with my skill and that kite. I guess I can say the wind down low was very similar to what I deal with every day as the flying looked about the same as it does here! Looking at Carol's video and mine I think all the columns were a little ragged. The columns didn't really line up when the threads stopped, but really no critisim from me either. I think it looked great and next year it will look even better! The whole idea of spending some time each day in practice grids should aid next year too. The balloon bubbles are a YouTube function I discovered that can be overlapped on a video. They aren't actually part of the video itself so that's why they didn't download. I can add or change them without needing to re-compile the video and uploading. Bart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theresa Posted August 2, 2011 Report Share Posted August 2, 2011 Bumping this up as there are some new folks that may not have read this thread, and this thread has LOTS of great info about WSIKF in gereneal, like motels, driving directions.....etc etc....and just a good read too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Posted August 2, 2011 Report Share Posted August 2, 2011 Bumping this up as there are some new folks that may not have read this thread, and this thread has LOTS of great info about WSIKF in gereneal, like motels, driving directions.....etc etc....and just a good read too! Thanks for that Theresa, I revisited some of the posts. Aside from the practical details it was an extraordinary event.. I hope that we can achieve some magic at Portsmouth again at the end of the month. Felix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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