And so to Berck

So off to Berck we head, and the weather forecast looks good, at least for the first couple of days. This year, I decided to try the new LD Lines service from Dover to Boulogne. Despite the early start on Thursday morning, I've got to say that I was impressed, and I think Bill was too. So following a safe arrival in Boulogne and a short drive down to Berck, we arrived at about 10 am in bruight sun, if somewhat chilly conditions.

The weather was to prove good throughout the weekend, though on one morning the wind was blowing extremely powerfully. So much so, that Bill persuaded me to play with a mini-gem. ME FLYING A BENSON?! Well I enjoyed it soooo much, I bought it. Unfortunately, the wind was to prove extemely fickle throughout the weekend. On the Friday, it was extremely difficult to get anything to stay airborne. I met up with some fellow KAPpers, who were bemoaning the wind, but enjoying the fact that there had been no rain (so far).

I don't know whether it was the wind conditions, or economic climate or what, but the number of kite flying attendees seemed very down on previous years. So throughout the weekend the sky seemed bare. In fact, two of the single line arenas seemed positively deserted and one of the German teams went home on Sunday morning. Also the wind garden was a mere shadow of its former self. It did mean that Bill and I probably spent more time flying than at any other Berck, but unfortunately, conditions were not really good for KAP, and whilst I managed to get aloft for a brief flight, getting where I wanted to be was impossible, so I had to make do with some shots of people on the beach. However, my KKF rok and Janet's KKF roller both got an airing.



Despite the glorious sun most of the time, there was a distinct chill in the air, which forced us to keep well wrapped up. And so the weekend was spent flying, sitting in the bar(s) looking around the shops and various displays and generally chilling out! Come Monday morning, and the day of departure. There had been some overnight rain, and the wind was blowing very strong at the beach. So a wander up to the museum (like the rest of France - closed Mondays) an eventually time to take our leave and head back to Blighty. Certainly a relaxing time, and I think Baz and Janet enjoyed the trip too.

Long awaited photo

Well it seems like along time ago that I promised a phot of the new rig, so here it is nestling in its carry case. Top left is a handheld viewer for the wireless video camera. Just next to that is a small 35MHz frequency scanner, to check that no-one is on the channel that I plan to use. At the bottom, between the rig and the receiver is the Swan nighthaw wireless video camera.

Successful first flight

Its been a long time coming and weather conditions have not been favourable. However today I was determined to get a successful launch no matter what the conditions. This was largely because of the upcoming Worldwide KAP Week (WWKW). The rig, camera transmitter, etc are all new so were badly in need of a test flight.

As usual for Capstone Park, the wind was tricky, swirling on the ground, turbulent at low level and pulling like a train once you get above tree level. Not to be put off, I decided to go with my favourite KAP kite, a Premier Rok. After a bit of a struggle launching we eventually got the kite into the steady wind.

So the rig was attached, powered up and tested - PAN fine, TILT fine, Shutter fine, vide downlink fine. Time to get some height. Another problem with Capstone is its proximity to Rochester Airport, so we are limited to 100 feet, just enough to get out of the worst turbulence. The final problem is that it is just fields, there is nothing there to photograph - or so I thought.

Up above the hedgerow that separates the event field from the barbecue field and with the camera pointing towards the barbecue field there were a group of cars in the far corner.



You can see the full size picture by clicking on it. So after a successful first flight, time to pack everything away and prepare for the trip to Berck festival and the WWKW.

Not a good weekend for testing

What a glorious day it was on Saturday. Unfortunately I was busy, so planned to go out flying at Hythe on Sunday. Sunday arrived and the weather was distinctly dull, but a gentle breeze at home gave promise. So with the car loaded I made the trip down to a site beside the Royal Military Canal When I arrived, things looked pretty good with what seemed like a strong breeze blowing. But as time drew on, it became clear that the breeze was very playful, with sudden lulls down to nothing at all. After playing with a couple of kites, I had a 4m delta hoisted aloft and reasonably steady in the breeze. So I decided to try attaching the camera rig to it. To do so, I needed to bring the kite down a bit due to height ceiling regulations. Brought the kite down and was back into the playful air again. Well I attached the rig for about 5 minutes, but the wind was so difficult that I decided I didn't want to cause any damage so took it off and put it away. Maybe another day?

Finished

It is finished and tested, well indoors anyway. The rig is complete all connected up and working, and I've even managed to take a couple of photos triggered by CHDK. With a bit of luck we'll get a real flight test next weekend!.

I'll try and post some photos of the rig when I get a chance.

Almost a disaster

I spent most of today working on the new KAP rig and would have finished but for a minor disaster, which led me to spend the last hour of the day reworking. Let me explain...

As I've already mentioned, the camera is a Canon G9 with CHDK loaded, and the shutter will be released by USB, which becomes available under CHDK. I had ordered a GentCHDK connector this week so that I could release the shutter via radio control, which arrived on Friday.

I spent today working on the rig finishing off various parts, like mounting the camera cradle into the upper U and forming the cutout for the USB connector. Having almost finished, I decided to "dry mount" the camera one final time. Up to now, I had mounted the camera into the cradle, and checked that the cradle would comforably fit into the upper U. So now, with the cradle firmly mounted, the camera cushioning fitted, etc. I mounted the camera. Then Tried to fit the USB cable. With the camera oriented straight down, the USB cable fitted snuggly into the connector on the camera, but as I moved the cradle towards horizontal, disaster, as the strain relief on the cable fouled the upper U. How was I going to overcome this one then?

Well after much umming and arring, the solution appeared. If I changed the bends in the upper U from 90 degree to 45 degree, and added another bend about a centimetre down then I would gain some additional width. My biggest concern was that doing this would move the camera to one side, which would significantly alter the balance. But I figured I could overcome this by swapping the battery pack with the receiver. So it was time to strip down the rig and make the necessary bends. Well it is no longer pretty, but it does work, so the upper U now has shoulders!

Time to refit everything. However, having signinficantly increased the gap on one side of the rig, I no longer had a 4mm bolt long enough. this isn't a problem as I have lots of 4mm studso just cut off a legth of that and fit a self locking nut on the end. This done, I remounted the cradle into the upper U. time to check that the clearance was sufficient - it certainly looked plenty. At this point disaster number 2 struck.

Because the locknut is significantly larger than the panhead screw, the camera would no longer fir into the cradle. Now when I say that, the camera actually still has plenty of room, but the hole for the tripod mount no longer lined up with the hole in the cradle. So out came the rats tail and the hole in the frame was widened in one direction until the holes lined up again. With the camer fitted I fitted the USB cable and it now just fits snuggly. So finally, time to refit the pan servo and axle box.

Well that was time up for today, so next weekend, I need to modify the electronics and mount the battery. Unfortunately the battery connector won't now reach the switch, so I'll have to figure out a way of extending the cable run, which will probably involve robbing a cable from somewhere else!

Hopefully we'll finish next weekend and be ready for testing. Not often I ask for bad weather, but on this occasion I'm willing to make an exception.

More progress on the new rig

Another hour or so work this afternoon on the new KAP rig. Today, work centred on forming the lower U.

For those not familiar with the terms, the upper U is an inverted U made out of aluminium strip in this case. The upper U is suspended by an axle at the center of gravity from the kite line. Gears and a modified servo are used to allow the rig to rotate continuously around the axle, giving the rig a pan capability. The lower U is again made from aluminium strip in this case, and sits within the upper U. It is not inverted and incorporated a hole through which a tripod bolt can be screwed into the camera's tripod mount holding the camer in place. The lower U is fixed via an axle to the upper U. At one end the axle is formed by a servo, giving tilt capability. At the other the axle is allowed to rotate freely within the upper U.

Well today the strip for the lower U was cut out of the aluminium stock. All was going well until my nibbler gave up the ghost!, so rather than spend time tryuing to fix the problem, and as its work was largely done, I resorted to a junior hacksaw to finish the job.. With the strip cut and cleaned, holes were drilled to take the axle and camera fittings, and cuts made to allow a lip to be formed to add rigidity. Then the strip was bent to shape and the lips formed. Finally a trial fitting of the camera took place, just to be sure that it would all fit together nicely. Fortunately it worked!

So there is now lots of finishing to do, cleaning up rough edges, knocking off sharp corners, adding all of the electronics, fitting everything together, finishing off the picavet cross, etc., etc. But with a bit of luck, if I get some good time next weekend, I think I should have the servos fitted, the rig parts assembled and tested. I just need to source a Lipo battery, a battery saver, some boxes and make a voltage regulator and sort out some switches and I'll be done!

Progress on new rig

Well I finally got the chance today to do some work on my new KAP rig. So far I have cut out and shaped the top U and cut out the holes for the pan and tilt servos, drilled various holes for fixing the servos and for the axle for the lower U. Looking good. It will be interesting to see the all-up weight once everything has been fitted.

Little progress

Christmas and new year saw me battling against the combined armies of my wife and manflu, so I've made precious little progress to date. About the only thing I have achieved is to successfully download and instal CHDK onto my G9 camera. Being a complete CHDK virgin, I will probably spend a little time palying with the settings.

Work commences

Been a long time, but I haven't been totally inactive. Whilst I've not been able to get out flying for various reasons, my brain has started to work and a new rig design is on the drawing board.

First up was a search for a new camera. There were several criteria I was looking for. Small, fairly lightweight, good optics, large pixel count, and ideally remote controllable. News that the guys over at CHDK had ported the firmware to the Canon G9, and the fact that a one month old camera appeared on eBay for less than £150 clinched it, and the Canon was added to the equipment. I've given it a couple of ground based runs.

Meanwhile some bits of equipment were sourced...
Aluminium sheet (for the cradle)
Aluminium angle (for the picavet)
360 degree converted servo and gears (for pan)
some electonic components (for a voltage regulator)
2.4GHz video tx and rx
Casio 2.5 inch handheld TV
New (well secondhand) R/C tx and rx

So here's the plan. The rig will carry the G9 with full pan and tilt capabilities. Shutter release will be via CHDK using a Gentles CHDK USB cable (yet to be sourced). Power will come from a 3s lipo pack, through a battery saver to prevent going below 9v. Power will pass through the voltage regulator to regulate to 5v for the R/C receiver. The video tx requires 12v so will bypass the 5v regulator to draw 11.1 volts.

The plans have been drawn and the layout of all the components worked out. I've still got to source some bits, enclosures, switch, battery and battery saver. The picavet cross has been cut out and is ready for finishing. Next step is to build a template to cut out the holes for the servos, and shape the ends of the aluminium strips to take off any sharp corners. Then serious work commences. I'll keep you posted of progress, and may even post a photo or two.

At last - more KAP

Its been a long time. In fact I think it has been for ever, but I finally got out to do some KAP. Mind you, I've not been totally inactive.

September saw me spending some time in Dieppe at the international kite festival. I didn't do any KAP, but I did spend some time with a group of French KAPers whom I met over on Cris Benton's forum. We spent a very pleasant couple of hours together while I helped as they KAPped. We also signed each other's Worldwide KAP weekend book, so it was well worth the trip. I di manage to fly my Fled on the Monday morning before heading back home ;-)

Also, I've been planning a new rig. I've acquired all the bits, including a nice Canon G9 to fit into it. Now all I need to do is build it. But while I'm still playing nursemaid (pictures of me in suspenders and stockings should be rapidly erased from the mind) I'm afradi that might have to wait. Never mind, I still have the trusty Brookes rig.

So my latest effort was at the OSOW weekend in Canterbury. A gloriously sunny October day. Well I had three kites in the sky, and the wind was steady, so I thought I would try a little KAP. It was at this point that the wind dropped and all the kites came down.After trying for a while, I put away all my kites and got out the maxi dopero from Jones Airfoils. This launched cleanly into the air and had ample pull for the rig, so I decided to have a wander round and see who, or what we could Kapture. The Reeves family were sitting in the middle of the field nattering and eating, so I parked over the top of them and got a straight down.



While I was there, I got reasonably close to the BT tower. Not as close, or as high as I would have liked, but not bad.



While taking this shot, I looked up and thought the camera looked a bit odd. I recovered it and noticed that the lens barrel wasn't fully extended. I guess I must have pressed something while fitting the camera into the cradle, so wandered back to base, anchorded the kite and reset the camera. At this point, a family ho had been watching with interest wandered ovr to see what was going on. Their little boy was very interested in how everything worked - a future KAPper perhaps



So I relaunched and wandered off again, gaining more height as I went. I got over by the BT tower again, and the camera was higher. I was taking advantage of the 1500 ft height clearance granted by the CAA. I managed to get a couple of nice pictures of the tree shadows, but now the wind at altitude was getting up and the kite was pulling hard.



Before long it started to lean tot he right and fly towards the ground. This is a known "feature of rollers and doperos. It happens when the kite gets overpowered. Without corrective ation, the kite will fly down to the ground level. But I couldn't afford for this to happen as this would hae parked the camera in the tree line! Time to rapidly give some line. No I wasn't wearing gloves! But I was pleasantly surprised at how easily the kite responded to crrective action. One loop of line and the kite was gaining height again. I walked it up wind, having to stop a couple of times to correct dives. Eventually I got to a point where I had enough space to anchor the kite and start walking it down. It took a while but eventually we got back to the ground safe and sound. One of the problems of letting out about 1,000 ft of line, is you have to wind it all in again.

So ended a successful day. A little scare to keep the blood flowing, but other than that, a very pleasant experience.

Its been awful quiet in here

And you have my sincere apologies. Unfortunately my wife has been in hospital for the last 3 weeks and any thought of kiting or KAP is the last thing on my mind at the moment.

But it is Brighton festival this weekend and provided the weather holds and I can escape for a short while, I'm hoping to pop down there on one of the days. May see you there.

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

Camera problems

Well I posted some of the mages from my Berck trip on Flickr, and lo and behlod, along came a couple of messages poiting out that according to the EXIF data the flash had fired and this might be the cause of the problem. The camera might be locking the maximum shutter speed so that the flash synchronsation works. So back to the camera and check it, and yes indeedy, it was set to fire the flash. Unfortunately, the flash button is conveniently placed so that it can be easily pressed. So I guess that when fitting the camera into the rig I accidentally pressed the button and didn't notice it. One more thing to check, but cheaper than a new camera ;-)

Berck and beyond

Well its been almost a month since my last update, and it has been a pretty disappointing month for many reasons. Weather conditions in dear old blighty for kite flying have varied between c**p and just plain awful. High winds snow, hail, rain. you name it we got it. there might have been a little bit of sun in there somewhere too.

Anyway. Over the easter weekend, the sewing bug caught me, so I decided to make myself a Fled. Designed by Michael Anderson and Brooks Leffler for low wind KAP. So the kite was completed and had its maiden voyage at East Malling towards the end of March. Winds had dropped to almost nothing so most of the day was spent trying to get the kite aloft, but eventually it stuck to the sky and proved a very capable performer. Here's a picture from that day



Then a couple of weeks later it was off to Berck for the annual kitefest. Unfortunately Berck was to prove a bit of a disappointment this year. The weather was bitterly cold for most of the week, but th eproblem was the lack of flyers there this year. Don't know what the problem was, but flyers stayed away in droves. No problemw ith the public though, it was school holidays so the place was packed with normal people.

Anyway, I had a problem with my camera. I tried to get some KAp in on the last Sunday, and spent some time in the evening wandering around the beach by the large old hospital complex just in front of the lighthouse. I got good lift from my kite, the radio control was working fine, the rig performed well, the camera shutter was firing. What could possibly go wrong. Well when I retreived the camera and looked at the images they were all dreadfully over exposed. In most the picture was bearly recognisable. And in many it was just a whiteout. So waht was the problem? Well looking at the exif data all the images were shot at 1/250 shutter speed, instead of the 1/2000 the camera was set at. I've tried it since and had much the same results. So it looks like the camera is no good. I've always been a little disappointed with this Powershot S60, so I'm currently looking out for a new camera on ebay, trying to pick up a bargain pro 1 or G6. If I get a new camera, then I will also be building a new rig, so I've just ordered up some aluminium and we'll see how we get on.

East Malling 30th March

The day started with heavy rain, then during the morning more heavy showers made it look as if I wouldn't be getting out to KAP before going to Berck. But come lunchtime and the clouds rose, the sky brightened, there were even some shadows. I'd arranged to meet some people at East Malling so headed off to see what conditions were like there.

This was to be the first outing for my new Fled. This is a kite designed by Michael Anderson, and enhanced by Brookes Leffler specifically for low wind KAP. Well the day was certainly low wind, as there didn't seem to be any. I set the fled up and managed to launch it, but it quickly came back to the ground. But after about an hyour of accasional draughts we finally managed to get off the ground, and once the tree line was cleared, the kite was stable and pulling consistently.



I left it flying high and watched as it occasionaly drifted downwind and occassionaly overflew. As the afternoon drew on, I decided to try attaching the rig to the line. So I tied off the kite to a passing goalpost and started getting everything ready. Of course, at this point, the kite started to float downwards. But not to be put off, I put the kite on the line and started paying out line. The rig was spending its life no more than 6 feet off the ground for th emost part. So eventually I decided to bring it all back to earth at which point the wind picked up. So I managed to get a couple of shots.



But it was defintely not a day for trying to maneouvre the kite anywhere. So after a brief interlude, and with the rig once more on the ground, I decided to pack up. Of course at this point, the wind picked up, but too late for me.

I need to check out why the camera shutter is releasing of its own accord. It is being fired by a Gentled shutter, but for some reason, seems to be firing at random intervals. Something to sort out this evening, and also take the shutter servo off the rig to lighten the load a little bit.

Blean Woods 9th March 2008

It seems like ages since I last had the opportunity to KAP, and it has been about 6 weeks. So after the KKF AGM at Blean, a couple of us went over to the flying site beside Blean Woods and I decided to try some KAP. I put up a premier 78 inch rokkaku, and probably spent about half an hour trimming it to handle the conditions. The wind was very variable, but I was determined to get as close to the communications tower as I could.

This was the first outing with a new gentled shutter release, my previous one having failed at Margate kite festival. Pleased to report it worked fine!

So having got the rig on the line and having let out line so kite and rig were flying out towards the tree line, I made my way towards the tower. There is a gap in the trees just in front of the tower, and I was hoping to get through this gap and get the camera close to the tower. Unfortunately, the wind was very difficult, gusty and lumpy, so I eventually decided to stay well away and get some area shots. The conditions were presumably the precurser to the storm conditions expected to hit the UK tonight.



I was quite keen to let out some more line if possible, and get higher and closer, but the wind had picked up and the kite was pulling very strongly, so I couldn't release the larkshead holding to to my belt. So I had to make do with whatever pictures I could get.



So I headed back towards the carpark to attempt to bring the kite and rig down. With the kite pulling this strong, it was definitely a case of stake it downa nd walk it down. While I was there, I got a couple of shots towards Canterbury and the university.



Finally, I'd just got the kite packed away and the line on the reel, when the heavens opened as a squall hit. Not bothering to pack the rig away, I decided to decamp to the car. By the time I got there, we were all soaked and being hammered by hailstones. Definitely not pleasant. A couple of photos worth keeping but not really one of my better days.