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.

Mote Park on a January day

Well, for various reasons, I've not been out to KAP for about 3 months and was definitely getting withdrawal syptoms. But at last, I didn't have to work, the weather forecast was reasonable and I had no other commitments. So I arranged to meet som e mates in Mote Park in Maidstone to fly some kites in the afternoon, and I was determined to KAP.

The wind at home in the morning was brisk, and the tops of the trees were swaying, so it looked like being a strong wind day. But when I got to the park, which is only about 3 miles from home, there was hardly any wind. So we spent the afternoon playing with assorted kites. Idecided to ty a 4 metre delta and even put the camera rig on the line, but whilst it would occasionally lift off the ground, it wasn't getting high enough or stable enough to be worthwhile. It did show up one problem though. I wasn't getting a lot of response to attempts to pan the camera. A short inspection showed that the locknut on the gears for the pan servo was slightly loose, enough that it couldn't turn the rig. An easy fix!

Well I got bored with a soaring and floaty delta, so decided to try a 2m rok, at least it would pull a bit! After about half an hour, there was sufficint lift that I didn't have to constantly work at the kite to keep it airborne. So decided to attach the rig and go for broke. Initially things were a bit slow, but eventually, we were airborne. So I wandered over towards the cafe to try to get some photos there. Starting at low level, I slowly allowed the kite to climb, probably not entirely legal, but at least we got sufficient height to get some nice pics. The low sun and clear skies meant things were getting picked out by the sunlight nicely.



After finishing up by the cafe, I traversed along the children's playground, stoppping for a chat with an interested bystander, and ended up in amongst the trees with the camera over the corner of the play area.



Working my way back out, I wandered around the skate park into the trees there and got a couple of shots here before the wind dropped.



With the dind droped to nothing, the rig was decending into the skate park, so some quick work recovered it to land at my feet, then some more quick pulling to keep the kite airborne and out of the trees. Eventually I managed to get the kite ito land beside a small tree. And that was that, no wind, no lift but a worthwhile day and some good pictures. Next time out in Mote PArk, I want to move around the lake and get up to the old house to see if I can get some decent pictures of that.

Becalmed at Ally Pally

We had been invited to a charity kite festival in aid of the Prince's Trust taking place at Alexandra Palace Park in north London. So after yet another early start, we turned up on the flying site to find absolutely no wind. This has got to be the most frustrating kite flying October on record.

Well we dutifully pitched our equipment and waited for some wind. Every so often there would be a gentle blow from the east, but by the time I had got the dopero 50 feet off the ground, the wind would disappear again. This was to be the format of the day. The announcer kept apologising for th elack of wind, thanked all th einvited clubs (GOKF; BKF; WHKF and KKF) for coming, an dhoping that if the wind arrived, WHKF would teddy drop and we would KAP.

The day drew longer and longer and still no wind. The display teams did their best, but were also fighting a losing battle. Even Team spectrum seemed to give up! The high point of the day has to be Chris Goff's magnificent display in no wind. It included him getting grounded in a corner of the arena, jumping over the barrier to re-launch his kite, then 360ing back into the arena, again jumping over the barrier without landing. Spectacular, energetic and extremely skilful.

By far the high point of the afternoon was when a helicpter flew down from the north towing a huge England Flag in support of the RWC final that night.I cannot start to descibe how big the flag was, but if there had been any wind, I think the pilot would have found himself in extreme difficulty.

Late afternoon, the wind picked up to the point where I actually put a camera on the line. It floated around a bit before coming back down to earth. I think I managed to get above head height temporarily, I might even have got a photograph. And that was it really. So we packed up and went home, to meet all the crowds coming out of the Emirates Stadium - Arsenal had been playing at home!

Hardelot Plage, then Canterbury with no Wind

Saturday 13th Saw the KKF away team decend on Hardelot Plage for Christmas lunch. If you want to understand the story behind that, then go to the Kent Kite Flyers home page. We were booked on an early ferry and got to dover in plenty of time. However our navigation in France let us down, and we came off the wrong motorway junction and ended up heading into Samer. To make matters worse, as we followed the map to get to Hardelot, we carried straight on, instead of going left. Things looked ok, until the narrow lane we were going down petered out into a dirt track. At this point Matt suggested we turn around as we appeared to be heading off to Royston Pavey!

Well we eventually got to Hardelot, and we may have been last to arrive, but I was first to get flying as the dopero took to the sky. It looked promising as there was plenty of lift to get the camera aloft. And after pre-flight checks, we were off and up into the sky. But the wind was only playing with us. Well I managed to keep the kite aloft, then headed up onto the sea wall. I was really hoping to be able to get into the little play area just behind the restaurant. Unfortunately the wind was rapidly disappearing. I stood helpless on the sea wall as the camera dropped too fast for me to reel in without hitting the wall. So with perfect judgement, or was it luck, the camera landed on the sand just in front of the sea wall, and the kite settled onto the sand on the waters edge. Though it did fall backwards so that it got a good salt water washing.

Ahe well, that was it for KAP for the day. The journey back was uneventful, except that this time we missed the exit for the car ferry, and were heading off towards Dunkirk, so missed the ferry by minutes.

So on SUnday we met up again for OSOW in Canterbury. There was even less wind than there had been in France. I managed to get the Dopero aloft, and even put a camera on the line, but we weren't going to get enough lift to do anythin worthwhile. However it was a good opportunity to get the kite dry in glorious sunshine. Oh well. We're off to Alexandra Palace next weekend. Hoping for a little bit more breeze so we can KAP away like contented little bunnies.

Bewl kite weekend

After much umming and erring, it was finally decided pretty late in the season that the kite weekend would go ahead. So armed with a car full of kites I headed off for Bewl on the Saturday. The weather forecast looked good, and we weren't to be disappointed. A good strong breeze blew all day, and with the occasional sun, we were able to keep kites in the air all through Saturday, and even managed to get in a little bit of night flying.

Sunday was to be a different story. Having had a quite busy Saturday, I wanted to try and get some KAP done on Sunday. When I got to the site at abot 11am, things didn't look good. But I decided to try the dopero and see what happened. Well it took over an hour of hard graft to get the kite airborne and stable enough to trust the camera to. I managed to get some half decent photographs, but it was a constant battle to keep the camera aloft. We were also surrounded by mist. Whilst we were flying on top of the hill, down in the valley and overlooking the reservoir, everything was just a little dim.



Just after I brought the camera rig down the wind dropped completely, and it wasn't long before the kite was lying on the ground. It looked as if that was going to be it for the day. But at about 3pm, or maybe a bit later, a breeze picked up, So I deceded to try a premier 80inch rokkaku. The kite picked up and flew very nicely, and it wasn't long before I was willing to entrust the camera to it. I wanted to get out over the boat park, and if possible try to get high enough to get some decent shots down towards teh dam. This time, everything was going just right. So feeding out line, the camera was climbing steadily, and every so often I'd stop and take some more pictures. This is possibly one of my favourites, looking down the reservoir into the sun, which gives it a nice moody feel.



I think there is about 1,000 feet of line on my reel. We had permission to fly up to 1,000 feet from the CAA, and so I decided to make reasonable use of the sky. I think I eventually had out about 900 feet of line, and the camera was about 200 feet below the kite. Given the angle of the line, I would guess that at its highest, the camera was somewhere between five and six hundred feet above ground, and was working perfectly. Its at times like this you discover things you never knew from the ground. Out behind the boat park, there nestles a house and nursery.



And this is my favourite of the reservoir and dam, from when the kite was probably at its highest.



Finally thanks to Ray who volunteered to wind in line while I walked down the kite from its highest point. He's the guy in the leathers in this photo.

Maiden KAP flight for Dopero

My Jones Airfoils maxi dopero pro arrived in January, but has had relatively few outings so far. In fact, it had to wait until Berck Festival in April before it took to the sky. Whilst it has had a couple of other flights, today was to be its first outing with a KAP rig.

Conditions couldn't have been better for it really. We had planned to fly at Dunorlan Park in Tunbridge Wells and Gerty had given directions to park in Bayhall Road. When I got there, Bill and Gert were already there, and there was the gentlest of breezes. So it seemed an obvious choice to give the dopero an outing. At the time, I wasn't sure that I would get any KAP done, as I didn't think there was enough wind. But the dopero launched easily and climbed steadily into the sky, and there was sufficient pull on the line to make me determined to get some KAP.

After last weeks problems, I had spent some time during the week playing with camera settings and getting some test shots. I hoped I had got the camera configured in a way that would give me some decent output.

So with the rig fixed about 100 feet below the kite, I let out line until the rig was about 50 feet off the ground, and wandered off to see what we could see. I was determined to get some photos of the lake, but I had no idea what else was around (I haven't been to Dunorlan Park before).After getting some low level shots, I decided to allow some more lineout to see if we could get some more shots from on high, and to see how the kite reacted. The kite was absolutely brilliant. It did tend to clmb overhead, and a couple of times when the wind dropped away to nothing, the kite was floating on thermals whiile the camera stayed suspended, gently coming down, then a sight breeze would add tension to the line, the camera would start to climb and then so would the kite.

A very successful afternoon KAP. I will go to Dunorlan Park again, but next time I go, I will try to get into the carpark on Hall Hollow Road. The event field is great for general kite flying, but the field on the other side of the hedge near the lake seems to have plenty of space between the trees, is accessible from the carpark, and offers a far greater range of photographic subjects. As usual, the photos are on my flickr stream, but below is a sample:

Margate photos

Well I've managed to get most of the photos from Margate sorted and adjusted so we can at least see them. As usual, they are on my flickr photostream. But here is a sample. Ladies, and those of a nervous disposition should look away now!

Margate big sky - day 2

Another fabulous day at Margate, this time much more windy though. In fact too much wind for much of the day. When I left home Maidstone was shrouded in fog and there was absolutely no wind. It didn't look very promising. By Faversham, the fog had gone, but it was still very cloudy, but Margate was in sunshine.

Gerty Nagged me to launch either the (new) leek, or the owl. In the end, we went for both. The leek is most impressive! Before long, the wind was at its playful best, resulting in most of the lifters coming to the ground. The owl was allowed to fly on its own for a while, and the leek was left out all day as a ground bouncer, and still worked fine.

To more mundane subject and KAP. I'd repaired the rig and was ready to go. In the conditions, I decided to take pity on Matt and come down to a 56 inch Rok. The conditions were very playful, which meant we did not get very stable flight, but we toured the main arena clicking away. However, when we recovered kite and camera, I was disappointed to find most shots were over exposed. I'm using a custm setting of shutter priority with Canon "safeshot". I have the speed set at 1/2000 and the idea is that safeshot should adjust the speed to the highest it can get away with in the conditions. Looking at the exif data for some of the photographs, it seems as if it is taking all pictures at 1/250 and f4. This is most annoying, but I will have to experiment with the settings to see if I can find out exactly what is going on. I may be able to recover some of the pictures once I have processed them. I've been experimenting with RAW image data. The file sizes are mighty big, which take a long time to write to the card. This means I can't get as many shots per outing as with jpeg files. I will have to lok at tweaking the file size. I've also got a fairly steep learning curve in understanding how to process the raw files to get the best out of them, but hey, its all good fun? Meanwhile, I'm seriously of going back to the digital Elph 400!

So hopefully, I'll get a couple of decent images out of the trip, which will end up on Flickr.

Margate Big Sky part 1

Saturday arrived and time for the new kite festival in Margate, so pootled off to arrive there at about 9:30, after all the work had been done, but before the events started.

Met up with some old friends again, and made some new ones into the bargain. A fairly windless morning meant that most kites were lying on the ground, and the display teams were having to work overtime. After lunch the breeze picked up a little, so I decide to have a go at some KAP. Everything tested so I entrusted the rig to my favourite rok and set off to get some photos, with Matt piloting the kite.

Spent a good while moving round the site and hoping for some good shots, and eventually recovered the camera. Took a look at the results, and only three images saved. Only 2 of them were anything approaching usable. So what's wrong here. Some diagnostic tests show that there is a problem with the IR. I can't fix it on the field, and don't know whether it is the LED or the sensor. All I know is that the receiver is getting the signal fine. Looks like a busy night.

So as the wind dropped as the tide changed again, I headed for home and went straight out into the workshop to try to find out what the problem is. Fortunately I've got a 360 LED that I can use to test the camera. This shows that the camera is fuctioning fine, so it must be the standard LED that is the cause of the problem. Again fortunately, I've still got the finger servo fitted to the rig from the days of using my other camera. Unfortunately the shutter button on this camera is in a competely different position, so time to go to work. An hour later, the rig is back together, having drilled out the rivets, moved the servo, added some extra spacers, fixed everything back together. Time for a test, yep working fine. So provided we get some decent weather tomorrow, we can go out and try again.

Long period of absence

Well I've not been flying kites much this year, so I've had precious few opportunities to KAP. There are many reasons for this:

I'm now vice captain of my archery club, so spend a lot of time at compteitions
The weather in the UK has been generally awful, limiting opportunities on my flying days
Lack of decent subject matter to inspire me.

Still this last weekend I went out determined to KAP, only to be disappointed.

On Saturday, I attended a "Japanese Festival" in Gillingham. This sounded like it would be a good opportunity to KAP. Unfortunately the weather was definitely not on our side. I think we had sufficient wind to fly kites for about half an hour. Other than that I spent all day struggling to keep a roller airborne, by working the line all the time. Glorious sunny day though and made some new friends. Even if I had been able to get airborne, there wouldn't have been much to KAP as all of the sideshows were under the trees, so I wouldn't have been able to get close enough to get any decent shots.

Surely Sunday would be better. I was attending tghe Wick Country Park kite event at Wickford in Essex. When I got out at about 8am to move my car, there was a reasonable breeze, and this looked promising. But when I got to the Wick at about midday, the wind had picked up considerably, and was very gusty, turbulent and basically horrible. I decided straight away that there was no way I was going to entrust my rig to a kite line, and made do with some ground based shots of the kite, which are on my Flickr pages. Maybe next year.

Next weekend is the first Margate Big Sky kite event. I'm hoping for better conditions, so I can get some aerials from there.

Sunday 24th

Well my batteries are charged and I'm ready to go, the only problem is - its raining. Doesn't look very promising at the moment, but you never know, we may be able to get out later. Here's hoping as I haven't been out flying, let alone kaping for a couple of weeks now.

What a plonker

Well I checked all the gear the night before, before carefully packing it away. Loaded the car and left home at half past six to get to Matt's house for seven to pick up Matt and Bill before heading off to get the 8:40 ferry. Some light drizzle in the air, but I hope it isn't going to develop.

Queued at Dover for a while before boarding, and into the restaurant for breakfast. Another long queue, but breakfast was worth the wait. P & O should give cetring lessons to Little Chef!

Arrived in Calais, and seemed to take a while getting off the ferry. THis was probably due to the fact that a coach had broken down right at the gangway on our side, so we all had to reverse out and go down th eother side. Then just as I got to the gangway, they were towing the coach, so we had to wait again. So by the time we arrived at Hardelot, it was getting on for lunchtime. Ho hum, how we suffer. Strolled thorugh the town for a while then had a very pleasant lunch. Then headed back to the beach to get in some flying.

Right, lets get some kap in. Good steady wind, just right for the large rokkaku. So launch the kite and tie it off temporarily while I get camera set up and loaded in the rig, suspend the rig from the line and let some line out to keep i airborne. Line is tight, kite is nailed to the sky, sun is shining, everything is righ with the world. Turn to the transmitter. OH NO. The power switch looks like it is half way between on and off. Turn it to fully on. Nothing! Dead as the proverbial dodo! A few nice english expletives follow, which I hope were lost on the local people. I haven't got my autokap rig with me, so I'm completely stuffed, and I spent ages debating whether to bring it! Really annoyed now as I had found something of interest to kap! Hopefully the other KAPers (I saw two rigs flying) did better than I did.

So pack everything away again and just fly for the afternoon. Like I say, fabulous afternoon, so managed to fly a couple of kites and hung some spikey balls off the line. Someone came and took some photos. Then as the afternoon drew on, decided to have a two line session. Out with the Trident lite on long lightweight lines. Really getting into it, getting lots of lewises, and yo-yos and wrapped up fades and things then just pulling an axel and twang - line break. So spent the rest of the day flying on short (20ft) lines. Not nearly as much fun, but could still get some action out of the kite.

Time to head off. Its been a nice long relaxing day. No rush, and no worries. We've got plenty of time before the ferry, but not enough time to eat, so we take a gentle drive through the country up to Boulogne, then take the motorway back to Calais. Arriving at Calais about 45 minutes before the ferry, get through check-n and are early in the queue for boarding. Just settle down for a snooze when they call us forward for boarding. Unheard of! We're on the ferry and in the restaurant. Poor Matt, no vegetarian options, so he goes off in search of something he can eat, while Bill and I tuck in to some nosh. We've finished before the ferry is due to leave harbour. Totally uneventful crossing as the sea is flat calm

Great day out despite the kap disaster. If you want a relaxing kite festival somehting like Teston with wind, then I strongly recommend Hardelot. If you've never been there, the houses as you drive down into the town are magnificent, it really is a pleasant little town.