Palm Bay on the 18th

Well I didn't do any KAP, cos it was too cold. My tiny hands were frozen, but I wasn't to be put off flying having not been out for some time.

I arrived at about mid-day, along with Barry (Arfman) and Len (Ochiltree), and we soon had some kites int he air. It was cold, and there was a good, but gentle breeze. So I decided to forgo the pleasure of setting up the KAP gear, and play with sports kites. Out came the Trident and I had a good hour refamiliarizing myself with trick kite flying. It didn't take too long to get back into the groove.

Time for lunch when Bill arrived, so off we went to the cafe to see what was on offer. A good old fashioned plate of english cholesterol was the order of the day! full and warmed up again, we headed back along the cliffs to Palm Bay where the others were playing. The wind had all but disappeared, but I gave the Trident another outing.

Eventually, I was having trouble keeping the kite aloft, so decide to christen my Christmas present - Trident Light. Yes I got this on Christmas day, and it has only been out of the bag to check that everything was well. So now it was going to feel the (lack of) breeze. I like the Trident a lot, and I really didn't think that Mark could repeat his success, but he has, and I think I like the Light even more. It didn't take long before I was performing my full (but still somehwat limited) repertoire on this kite, and it just gave everything up so easily. A joy to fly!

Oh well, time to head off home and speculate on what might have been with the dopero!

Damp underfoot at Canterbury

Well I went flying at Canterbury yesterday, but didn't manage to get any KAP done.

When I arrived at the site, there was a good strong breeze blowing, definitely not the conditions for trying out the new Dopero, so I resorted to my trusty rokakku. Having got the kite into the air, I decided to attach the camera rig and try to get some photos. I didn't realise quite how wet it was until I put my foot down and spalshed muddy water everywhere!

Anyway, I got the camera rig on the line and tested the shutter release - nothing. I'm now using a Canon S70 with infra red release and using a gentled. But nothing seemed to be happening. So while I fiddled with the camera, the kite came down, then went back up again, then went down, then up - you get the picture about the weather conditions!

So I decided to take the camera off and investigate the problem. For whatever reason, it had lost the setting for infra red release, and it took me about 20 minutes to find the correct setting. Its not in one of the menus, its in the functions screen. So feeling a bit fed up, I now had the camera working and sure enough, when I fired up the tx and pressed shutter release, I got a comforting click, whir and flash from the camera, yes it was getting pretty dark, and by the looks of things we were about to get a squall. So I decided to give up on photography and just go for the flying.

Well the squall hit, but wasn't as hard as the couple I had driven through on the way out, but enough to give the rok a good soaking, so it had to stay flying for a while to dry out. THen I tried out a Gomberg shadow delta that I bought last year but was still in its original bag. The kite flew nciely, but the leading edge sleeves were too tight for my liking and the glass fibre rods much too flexible, so it may all get changed for carbon at some point.

Enough of this, getting cold and dark so time to head home. At home, checked out the camera, and I think I've now got the IR setting saved. I hope so as having to set this every time I want to use the camera for KAP would be a major pain in the A***.

Likely to be off to Palm Bay in Margate next weekend, hoping for better KAP luck and some decent weather. See you all soon.

Camber was windy today

Went down to Camber today with a group from KKF. When I got there just before 1, they were already in the cafe. The tide was as high as I've seen it - lapping under the deck of the cafe at times, and the wind was blowing strong.

So I'd already decided today was not a day for KAP, but for flying. Had breakfast int he cafe, then ventured out as the tide receded. Paul put up his counter rotating box, and bill flew a pair of bugs, but apart from that, very little was int he sky. Then as the tide receded further out, so the wind abated a bit and I decided to try out an old kite.

Out came an old Pro Spectrum from Rare Air Kites of South Africa. This kite has got to be a good 10 years old. But on long lines it is slow and steady and flies like it is on rails. Had some great fun with it, then lent it to Andrew and Bill to play with for a while. The term "being connected" to the kite is certainly the case with this one as it pulls like a train!

As teh skies darkened it was time to head off home. Don't know where we'll be next week. It rather depends on what the weather holds I guess.

A Grand Day Out

Today saw Matt, Bill and I head off for a day out. Unfortunately the weather wasn't ideal being chilly, windy, grey and damp. But we made the most of it. We took ourselves North out of Calais towards Dunkerque and explored some of the coastline along the way, stopping off in Grand-Fort Phillipe, Gravelines and Loon Plage before finding our way to Dunkerque, where we managed to get a short fly on the beach. The sand at all of these locations is simply unbelievable and well worth a visit if you can make it. The panorama below is taken from the monument at Grand-Fort Phillipe. The lighthouse is in Petit-Fort Phillipe. The bloke in teh foreground is Bill. More photos are on myu Flickr pages. If you want to know exactly where this is in Northern France, then the photo of the monument on my Flickr page is geotagged, just click on the map link.

Damaging day at Capstone

Well it was quite breezy, and proved too much for safe KAP. After I arrived I spent some time rigging a small HQ rokkaku to cope with the conditions. Eventually I got it flying stable and at a nice angle, so decided to try to get my rig aloft. With the kite just about at tree top level, and about 100 ft of line out, I didn't expect to have many problems. How wrong can we be?

So with the rig fixed to the line I started to gently pay out line. With the rig now at about 50 feet, everything looked good, so I fired off a shot.


Then the wind picked up. The kite started to traverse the sky dramatically, and the rig was being thrown about the sky from side to side.


Then the worst possible thing happened, the kite went into a big loop and the rig hit the ground at force. The kite continued on its way and dragged the rig along the ground before lifting it back into the sky. So at this point, I decided enough was enough and tied the line off to a nearby post and walked the rig down. The battery pack was dangling and the legs were bent, but I couldn't immediately see any other damage. A quick check showed that all functions still seemed to be working, but enough already, lets bring it down and pack away.

Closer inspection at home shows that the whole of one side of the rig has been buckled, however it is not a write off. A couple of hours in the workshop will put it right I think.

Dieppe in Panorama

Well, back in September, Bill, Matt and I visited Dieppe. I've recently taken an interest in creating virtual panoramas, so this is my first effort based on three photos of the Dieppe skyline taken from the castle. Enjoy!

Glorious Camber

We decided to spend a day down in Camber today, and what a glorious day it was too. There was zero wind in Maidstone, but Metcheck and Windguru both said there would be a steady 10mph in the afternoon. Will and I got down there about 12:30 and sure enough there was a good breeze blowing almost straight down the beach. So I decided to take out the camera and flowform and try and get some photos. Not far from our usual flying spot was a whale that had been washed ashore during the week. It was being closely guarded by the coastguard and was surrounded by ghoulish onlookers. Not to be outdone, I managed to get my photos from a slightly higher angle!



Then I wandered down the beach to get some photos of the houses and the glorious reflected sunlight off the sea.





Returning to Will's flying spot, Matt and Bill had arrived and assisted in getting the kite and rig back safely on the ground. Time for lunch and to look over the images. A full memory card was then swapped and off for another go in the opposite direction down the beach, where the flats and dunes could be examined from the air.





Another full memory card and a few spots of rain meant it was time to bring everything back to earth and start packing away. I think this must count as amongst my best ever days kapping. It was certainly one of the most enjoyable. The kite performed perfectly, there was a good steady breeze, no turbulence and clear conditions. Th eonly down point was I never quite managed to get the whale framed properly, and I discovered that I had my camera set on super fine resolution, which reduced the number of images I could save.

Oops!

Well Sunday was at Mote Park in Maidstone. So I turned up at the field and took rig and kite onto field. Got the FF30 nicely into the sky and secured. Took out my rig and everything was fine. Took out the tx, and OOPS. The power was on and the meter was showing a compelte discharge state. No spare battery - IDIOT!!!!!

G'day from Camber

Blimey what a scorcher! Had a great day at Camber today, despite winds being light to non-existant! But I'm definitely in need of a dopero!

Got there this morning to find the car park full, teh sun shining and a gentle offshore breeze blowing. As the tide was well out, made the most of the conditions and flew the trident for a couple of hours. Must right to Mark and get the colour swatch for teh ultra light version as I am trying to persuade someone that it would make a nice Christmas present.

Anyway, at about 1:30 the tide was well up the beach, so we headed for the Kit Kat cafe for lunch. Under new ownership but the food is still good. Not only that, they will be willing to open anytime there is custom!!!!

After lunch, went out to play with single line stuff. Given the conditions, I decided to try a Premier large Rok. Well it took some effort, but eventually it was well out over the sea, flying at about 60 degrees. So I thought I'd give the camera a try. Well it stayed glued to the ground, absolutely no lift from the kite at all. So I took the camera off and just flew the kite. Lovely conditions, and occasionally had to work to keep the kite out of the sea. And it was just by luck that we were underflown by two microlights scooting along the seaa line at about 20 feet. Had I got their numbers I'd have reported them to the CAA, cos I'm sure what they were doing wasn't legal.

Apart from that, lovely day which came to an end all too soon as the sun disappeared. We're apparently going to try Tonbridge again next week.

KAP at Kenilworth Castle

John Williams of Midland Kite Flyers had organised a day at Kenilworth Castle on 21st October for UK KAPers to meet up. Unfortunately, on the day, a coule dropped out due to ill health, and with the "scottish contingent" heading off to KAPICA, our numbers were rather diminished at 2 (John and I)! To make matters worse, due to some poor organisation on my part, I was running very late, and having already told John that I wouldn't be there before 12, it was just before one when I finally arrived. John had been busy all morning, so was in the car park having a rest, and after the drive, we decided that first things first, lets head to the pub!

Rested and revived we headed back to the castle to try our luck. Having put on some wet weather gear and got ourselves organised, I decided to try the Premier focus rok. John had warned that the wind was a bit fickle where we were flying

so he helped me out with a long launch. And guess what. It was then that we got the first heavy shower. Sure enough, after a short while, the wind picked up to strong and gusty and the kite and camera rig were being thrown all over the sky, so there was no opportunity to get "up close and personal" with the castle wall. But the wonders of digital photography and computers mean that a lot of problems can be corrected.

And after a short while, I had to stop for a rest as my arms were aching from the pull of the rok.

Meanwhile John was struggling to find the right kite to fly, having started out with a dopero, he moved onto a flowform, then settled on a delta. Eventually, the rain stopped, and before too long we were bathed in wall-to-wall sunshine, and the wind dropped to acceptable levels, which meant we suddenly lost all lift. But then things settled down and we were able to spend the rest of the afternoon getting some reasonable photos from over the castle wall

and of the surrounding area.


Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. When the flash started firing on my camera, I knew the light was fading and it was time to pack up and head back to Kent. Many thanks to John for organising the day. Sorry I was so late getting there, and hopefully, next time we can get a few more people to come along.

Bewl Sunday

Wet and Windy - enough said. We managed to fly in th emorning, though the wind was so gusty and turbulent that kites were swinging through about 90 degrees. Only a couple were really brave enough to fly. Then in the afternoon we had several heavy showers that drove the small public, and most of the kite flyers running for home. Shame, conditions were certainly not good enough to try KAP.

Bewl Saturday

I arrived late in the day having had a few chores to deal with first and was greated by a pretty good display of kites. All the usual suspects were there.

So I put up the flowform 30 with two tails to keep it steady in the bouncy breeze, put three spiky balls on the line and borrowed Rob's big one to make a show and left it there flying all afternoon.

Picked up Alexis' rok from Rob's bargain bucket, then went and untangled some string. And by then the day was drawing to an end, so brought the balls down and decided to try some Kap on the FF. Well we were up, iarborn and ready, but for some reason, I had no control over the rig. Everything seemed to have power, but nothing seemed to be working. However when I brought everything back to ground we were ok again. Now I know I'm using a short range "park" receiver, but I can't believe it was out of range!

Anyway, packed everything up, and set the BIG delta up for night flying. "You'll never get that up" wanna bet!!!!! Up she went with all lights flickering nicely. Looked great as the dark clouds rolled in and the heavens opened. So we got soaked and I will have to fly again today to dry it out!

See ya all tomorrow

Teston in need of a Dopero

Today, Bill and I decided to give the club meeting a miss and go to Mote Park. Best laid plans and all that, I got to Mote Park to find a funfare on the field. So we made a decision to go on to Teston. Teston is a lovely place, but a real pig to fly with a huge elm tree in the field, well know for eating kites, and with the wind in the wrong direction, cuting out the breeze from the field.

Still it was worth a try, and while Bill played with some brazilian fighters bought at Dieppe, I decided to try some KAP. Because of the light wind, I decided to use my favourite Premiere Rokakku, with the focus pattern. I just got it sitting above the trees, but needed to constantly tend it to keep it out of the damn things. So attaching the rig to the line and getting set up was "challenging".

Eventually we got set up and let out some line to try and get some more lift, but not a lot was happening, As I went across the field I got right in the shadow of the tree and that was it. Everything came rushing to the ground.

So a re-launch was necessary, and after a while I got high enough to get a couple of worthwhile shots. But it was a constant struggle, and I couldn't move downwind at all. Oh Peter, where is my maxi Dopero. If ever it was needed it was today.

Nice day though, relaxing and pleasant.

Dieppe, etc.

Well, we're back from Dieppe after a long weekend of fun frolics and a certain amount of medicinal red wine. We were unable to get a hotel in Dieppe, so had to settle for one in Quiberville, a little fishing village about 10 miles away. Arriving on the Friday evening and conditions were pretty perfect, so I put up the flowform and immediately discovered it was going nowhere with the tails on, so took them off and managed to get enough lift to raise a camera.

Saturday started out pretty miserable, but warm. It took us about half an hour to drive into Dieppe. Parking was a piece of cake, and we were on site by 10am. Dieppe has a magnificent array of ethnic kites you will never see in this country. It is worth the trip just to see wau bulans flying and buzzing. But of course, who shold we bump into but Mike and Linda from Kiteworld, Half of Brighton Kite Flyers and Martin from Suffolk kite flyers. They'd put on a pretty good display of flotail deltas.

Saturday night we struggled to find a reataurant, and Matt being vegetarian was a problem. We found a restaurant with space, but they didn't have anything on the menu for him and refused to cook him an omlette, so he walked out! Ho humm.

Sunday dawned pretty miserable, but still warm. The weather brightened considerably in the afternoon. This was to be a day of culture for KKF. We did a tour of the castle and museum, several bars and and cafes. We also flew some kites and watched some others, before heading back to Quiberville for dinner. Her lies another problem. Along with most of France, the place is closed on a SUnday. We did manage to find one retaurant that was willing to serve us though, and even willing to cook an omlette!

Come Monday and time to head for home. Rising early to glorious weather after a breakfast and checking out we decided to go and fly before heading back home. Having just finished loading the car, the first spots of rain were felt, which preceded a downpour. Matt being young and brave was determined to fly. Bill and I were happy to watch!

And so back to blighty for a well earned rest before going back to work. We'll be heading back in two years time I guess.

A week that can best be described as "interesting"

Well last week was an interesting one for flying, but b awful for KAP. I was off work all week so hoping to find some time to get airborn. My only real opportunity was late Wednesday afternoon when I had a spare hour so decided to take the Trident for a spin at a local field. This turned out to be a complete waste of time. The wind was awful, swirly turbulent, bumpy, all of the things you really want. So after half an hour I packed u and went home in disgust.

Thursday evening I met up with Alexis from Crystal Palace. He'd posted a plea for help on Cris Benton's KAP discussion site. HIs kit and kite had arrived from KAPShop, but he had no idea where to start. So a couple of hours later we had the line on the reel, the tail on the kite and the KAP rig ready to go. He seemed very pleased as he left, and sure enough I got a text on Satruday to tell me he had been up to Blackheath and as the kite had been rock steady in the breeze, he'd put up the rig and got some photos. Apparently they are all self portraits as he is using an auto Gentled, but hasn't got any means of turning the rig. I've had soe thoughts about that so if you're reading this Alexis, we will meet again and get the rig to move.

Saturday afternoon I got a couple of phone calls from guys who had goe to Capstone, to test conditions for the festival on Sunday. Apparently the feild was deserted, but the wind was ideal, blowing across the field.

And so to Sunday and Kites over Capstone. When I arrived, the first order of the day was to get my new gazebo erected to provide some shelter. We'd just got the thing up when the first heavy shower (downpour) arrived. Interesting, whilst it kept most of the water out, it let through a fine mist, bit like being in the tropical houses at Kew. I spoke to a few other people with the same gazebos and all had the same experience! Anyway, bakc to kites, and guess what the wind had turned through 90 degrees, and was blowing in from across the tree line. Anyone who knows capstone will know this makes flying conditions in the main field almost impossible. The arena and childrens flying areas were OK, but the rest of the field was useless. So there were very few display kites flying throughout the day. Fortunately Paul Brookes had managed to get a huge delta up into the cleaner winds, and offered to let us use it for teddy dropping. So an afternoon of dropping ensued, during which we managed to melt one of the pulleys on the drop rig! However we did come up with a 3 point attachment system, that allows the kite to be managed indepeendently of the dropping gear and seemed to work very well, another Andrews special!

I think, all in all a pretty good time was had by all, all we've got to do now is get things dried out. It was good to have the scratch bunnies and flying squad entertaining the normal people. Thanks to Paul for the loan of his kite and ground anchors (available from Kiteworld for all you people with huge kites to hodl down). It was also nice to meet up with the Essex Kite Group again. We must organise a combined fly-in one day at a mutually convenient site. Next stop is Leeds Castle in early September, Dieppe in mid-September then Bewl at the end of September. Hope to meet some people there.

Teston Family Kite Weekend

Well, nothing at all to do with KAP this one, but nothing unexpected if you know anything at all about Teston.

Saturday was rain nearly all the way, and Sunday looked like following suit, but then at about 11 o'clock the rain stopped and apart froma couple of spots of rain a couple of times, it stayed away all afternoon, and by late afternoon we were bathed in sunshine as the front passed by to the north.

But as ever, the winds at Teston were tricky to say the least. If you could get above the tree line you stood a reasonable chance of staying up, but getting up above the tree line was all too much effort for most. So as usual, Teston is a place to gather and chat rather than fly.

I did get a couple of opportunities to try out the new Trident by Mark Clements though, and was very impressed with its capabilities. So were a number of other people who showed a lot of interest in it.

Hopefully we'll have better conditions at Capstone next week.

Melting in Margate

Bill, Matt and I decided to head down to St. Mildred's Bay just outside Margate yesterday. THe weather forecast showed it was going to be wall to wall sunshine and a westerly at about 10mph.

Having suffered the queues on the M2, I got to Margate at about 1pm, and Bill arrived a little later. It was on the journey down that I realised that having taken the camera rig out of the car to recharge, I'd forgotten to reload it all!

I'd got in about 20 minutes flying on the QP before Bill arrived, and I've got to say conditions were ideal. Steady wind blowing along the cliffs meant no turbulence at all. First things first though, off to lunch. Walking down into the bay, I spotted someone trick flying across on the other headland. He was doing rather well. Bill said it could be Steve, but I said that Steve new where we fly, so it wouldn't be. IT WAS! He'd got lost and found a nice spot so decided to fly there!

After lunch headed back to the site and got the QP out again for a while, then the wind picked up, so decided to give the Paradox a go. At about 4pm, when Julian arrived we decided to switch to single lines and put on a pretty good display. I think at one point we had about 10 kites in the air, and worked up a theme of animal kingdom laundry and kites: Octopus; Whale; Dogs; Elephant; Pig; Owl; Cow. Unfortunately none of us had a camera with us. I've got a couple of images on my phone which I will post to my flickr account if they are any good. Follow the link below.

HYthe Town Festival

Cars, originally uploaded by Pitprops.

Well it was hot and sunny for day one of the Hythe town festival. Day one typically starts with "Free on the Green" where all the activites are funded by sponsors. The only real blot on the landscape was the English fotball match at 4pm. What would happen to the crowds?

Well we arrived at about 11am, and I quickly got the focus rok in the air and hung some spikey balls and a pig from it. Then we set about getting the teddy dropping rig aloft and bunged a few experimental bears. All seemed to be going well. You can see fromt he phot, we were positioned just across the footpath and the wind was blowing favourably down the field, so we had a large area to play with. As the wind was almost perfect, Steve decided to spend some "quality time" with his Akuji.

After the burger lunch, I decided to take the laundry off the rok and fit a camera to it, and take it for a walk around the field. Well it was going to be a tough assignment as the wind was light to nothing, but we had to try. However one of the harder coming to grounds managed to dislodge the camera just enough so that the shutter release servo was no longer operating the shutter. Completely oblivious, I carried on clicking away until the transmitter battery failed. Bringing the rig safely to earth was tricky as I was flying in a gap between the Drake & Fletcher new Mazda stand, and all of the classic and kit cars. I didn't think anyone would be too impressed if I landed my camera rig on them, but we got down safely.

The afternoon was busy bunging bears for the children. Apparently a number had been looking forwards to the experience all week. We managed to place one bear in the hedge at the far end of the field. If you know Hythe, you'll get some idea of how far he travelled. We almost had one roman candle, but his chute deplyed in the nick of time. And once again the focus rok was doing sterling service, as by now we had swapped it for the original lifter kite as I had more height.

Good day, good fun, and an hour or so of sports kite flying to end the day, followed by fish and chips. Who could ask for more?

Some Panos from Tonbridge

Had a little time tonight to play with the images I took at Tonbridge and stitch a few together to create some panorama type shots. I've also gone through and enhanced all of the other images as all looked a little washed out - ah the wonders of digital photography, we no longer have to accept what the camera provides us with!

So to the panos. This first is of the family cricket match. I think the guy in the bottom left corner should be concentrating on the cricket rather than the camera. A surorise imact from acricket ball can seriously hurt!


Next up, the children's play area and crazy golf course. Stitched from two photos.


And finally, the KKF base camp. On the left you can see me with Heather and Will, and in the top right are Bill and Steve.

Tonbridge Festival 4th June 2006

Well a few of us popped over to Tonbridge for the day. It was probably the best day for flying of the year so far. The day was suny and warm, but the breeze was a little iffy.

I arrived at just after noon, and Steve had arrived just before me. When I got to the field, there was Andy from All Good Fun already set up and trading.
Steve and I decided to set up base in the middle of the field. Plenty of space as there were not a huge amount of people about. After a while, Bill arrived, soon followed by Andy and Will and then Heather, so the KKF base camp was formed.


After a short while we were joined by a family group who set up camp close by. Unfortunately we can't choose our neighbours, and they were a bit loud and the language left a little to be desired - more what we would expect on the football terraces.


The wind was a bit up and down all afternoon, which meant we had to keep a constant eye on the kites and junk as they had a habit of suddenly deciding to fall to earth. But eventually, the wind picked up and steadied enough for me to put a camera to a rok and go for a stroll. Got a couple of nice photos too. This one looks across the river towards the bridge and behind it the swimming pool complex.

and right across the other side of the park, I discovered this family playing cricket.

But before I could get the photo, the wind dropped and while I was rescuing the rig, the kite landed right by our base camp. So thanks to Andrew for helping me with a relaunch to get me back flying as soon as the wind picked up. I had time for a few photos over the children's play area before heading back to base to recover everything and find out whether we had any useable photos.


Slowly people started to drift away, until it was just me Bill and Heather left on the field. Unfortunately for those who left early, we got by far the best of the weather conditions, as the wind steadied and kept everything nicely aloft. But at about 7 o'clock it died completely and all kites came gently to earth. Time to pack away and reflect on a really good day. This was probably my most successful KAP outing, and certainly the most pleasant days flying of the year so far. As usual, the useable photos from the day are on my flickr photostream. Follow the link at the bottom of the page.