17th in Hardelot, 18th in Mote Park

17th May saw a few of us head off to the annual Hardelot Plage kite festival, just south of Boulogne. The weather forecast wasn't good, but we were hopeful of at least being able to fly. Well the forecast proved wrong, and whilst we weren't bathed in glorious sunshine as in previous years, we didn't get any rain - unlike at home.

It was the windiest I've ever seen Hardelot. So I thought it was a good opportunity to get some kap images. I'd made sure the camera and rig batteries were fully charged. Unfortunately I didn't check my kite bag! I started out with a Premier 78 inch rok. But this was being overpowered by the conditions. So I brought that down and headed back to get my 56 inch rok. Well I searched and searched but it wasn't there. So I spent the rest of the afternoon flying my trident. Great fun, even if the wiond was very strong.

Sunday I decided to pop down to Mote Park in Maidstone as I wanted to KAP the pavilion. Again the wind was strong and blustery. The pavilion is in an awkward spot, being in a dip at the bottopm of 2 hills, and at the lower end of a tree lined avenue. I had little choice but to try a flowform 30, as it was the only kite I had available. I knew it was going to pull hard, but wanted to try it anyway. The kite flew nicely to start with, and wasn't pulling too badly. But then it became a little unstable. Flowforms are known for their low flying angle, but in this case the kite flew directly overhead a couple of times. This is very worrying with a flowform as the sail can collpas, leaving you with no means of rescue. Fortunately, this didn't happen, but it was difficult to keep the kite, and therefore the camera steady. And a few times, the camera plunged towards the ground before the kite recovered. I did get a couple of useable shots, but plan to go back at some stage to get some better results.

WWKW 2008 day three

Argh - no wind! Well there was some earlier, but by the time I'd finished my chores and got my act together, someone had left the door open and the wind had escaped! I went over to Aylesford, hoping to KAP the old bridge and riverfront. Stopping off in Ferryfield to test out the wind conditions, there was a huge fairground set up, a potentially interesting subject. There seemed to be a steadybreeze, so I decided to set up with a rokkaku, but no good. Too heavy and for some reason very unstable. It felt like the sail has shrunk considerably.

So I swapped the rok for a maxi dopero. The kite launched straight away and stayed pretty steady in the sky, so I set about getting ready to KAP. While preparing the rig, I noticed the kite line seemed very vertical. Hey The kite is overflying and coming down the other side. Letting some line out and catching a bit got the kite right way up, and now we're flying 180 degrees to where we launched. OK this could be a problem, but everything is now ready, so I'll put the rig on th eline. Kiss of death or what! The wind disappeared. Then it flipped round through 180 degrees again, and switched backwards and forwards three or four times before running away to hide. So, leaving the dopero grounded.



And that was it really, no wind and no hope. So I wandered over the bridge to see what might have been...

Worldwide KAP Weekend - Day 2

Still a struggle on Sunday, with, I think, even less wind than yesterday. This afternoon I took myself to Giddyhorne Lane pavillion to see whether we could get aloft. The kite of choice today had to be a maxi dopero by Jones Airfoils. It was a struggle to get aloft, and getting up to about 100 feet was difficult. One there, the kite steadied. But with the camera on the line, and trying to get some extra height proved even trickier. A few times, the kite overflew, turned round and strated heading for the ground. But each such dive was easily recovered. Eventually I got enough height to hold everything steady for long enough to get some shots. I should think about half an hour in total.

This is from high above the pavillion


There is currently some construction work going on to build a new children's play area. This is what it currently looks like.

Worldwide KAP weekend

For those who have been hiding on another planet, this weekend (3 - 5 May 2008) is the Worldwide KAP Weekend 2008. For the full story, take a look here.

Saturday came, and it looked like I might not get out, but at 5:30 I decided to go and at least try. So popped down to Mote Park. Driving up to the gates I see a big notice saying the car park is closed. OK so I'll park in the leaisure centre next door and walk in. The reason soon becomes clear. A huge area of the park is closed off to prepare for a rock/pop concert next weekend.

There was very little wind, but my flowform 30 inflated easily and soon climbed skywards. There was a gentle but not strong pull, but th ekite was quite steady, so I decided to set up the camera. Of course at this point the wind always fades, but soon picked up again. So with the kite aloft and the camera attached, I decided to wander round and see if I could get any pictures of the leisure centre. Unfortunately, the kite wasn't providing sufficient lift to climb high enough really, but I did manage to get a couple of pictures. Hopefully we'll have slightly more wind tomorrow. Don't know where I'm going to go yet. I was going to a do in Canterbury, but had to be on site by 9am - on a Sunday!

Here's something to be going on with