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.

Leeds Castle 21st May 2006

castle3, originally uploaded by Pitprops.

The weather was awful. It was dull and miserable, but I did manage to get airborn long enough to get a couple of photos, and this is probably the best of the bunch. Its a view of the castle across the moat. Unfortunately conditions meant it was difficult to get close to the castle. There are a few more photos on my flickr page, follow the link below. AND who left the scaffoling on the castle?

Saturday morning was just dull and miserable with the occasional shower. Saturday afternon we got slightly more persistent rain. Did manage to get a few kites in the air, but had to be carefulk we didn't spook the shire horses. On Sunday the wind had turned through 90 degrees, so conditions were a little better, though still very turbulent because of the trees. The morning was definitely the best of the day, but after about mid-day it was persistent rain, occasionally lightening to a light downpour. So the outcome of all this was a very wet gazebo and kites - we suffer for our hobby!

Oh how annoying

Bill and I spent the afternoon in Tonbridge again. This time, althought there was very little wind to start with, at about 4pm a good stiff breeze got up, sufficient to get a camera aloft methinks.

So armed with a 2m rokkaku, I set to work, and everything seemed to be fine. With the kite at about 300 feet (sh don't tell the CAA), I attached the camera turned everything on and away it went. Time to try out my new line handling kit (carabiner and towrope) which worked fine, so I set off for a stroll round the park with kite attached to me, clicking away merrily and answering questions as I went.

Finally as the wind was picking up and the wether deteriorating, broght everything down to earth and packed away. Before leaving, I decided to check the pictures. Funny no display. Oh well, I'll check when I get home. So having arrived home, I took out the CF card and put it into my card reader. Hmm, according to my computer there are 108 images, well I've got to have at least one good one. NO!!!!!!!! They are all just black.

So after a little experimentation, it seems that my digital elph has expired. It seems to be working fine, but recording black images to the card. As there is no display or anything, my guess is the electronics are fried, so its time to put this oe to bed and see if I can get another. Ebay here I come!

windless in Tonbridge

Despite my good intentions, it seems that the meteorological gods are determined to prevent me from getting any photographs. Last weekend we were in Margate, with no wind and occasional drizzle. This weekend we decided to try the park in Tobridge. the weather forecast didn't promise much but they got it completely wrong.

I got there about lunchtime to about 40% cloud cover and the lightest of breeze at ground level. I decided to try out the new flowform 30 and managed to get it into the air after a short while, but it was destined to come back to earth as th ewind dropped away completely.

The rest of the afternoon was spent tryng tofigure out which way the wind was blowing and what we could fly, settling on brazilian headsticks and a Benson innerspace, and they were hard work!

At about 5 pm there was enough breeze to launch the gflowform, but turbulence off the houses seemed to make it difficult to get too high. Eventually a very long launch came to the rescue and we were airborn, but all too soon it was time to hed away, just one of those days I guess.

Tomorrow is bank holiday and the weather gods are predicting rain all day. I have some chores to get finished so it is unlikely I will get out to play.

Back home in blighty

We're back in the UK after a week trip to Berck festival. The weather out there was pretty awful this year. Being sandblasted, frozen and soaked does not really make for a good festival. In fact, the best day was the Monday as we left!

Nothing truly inspirational this year. Lots of nice show kites, but nothing that made you sit up and say "want one". Some fabulous examples of KAP though. I'll be posting the photos on my Flickr page later, so keep an eye open.

Bonjour from Berck

Well we made it, and haven't been blown away yet.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a bright sunny day with a stiff breeze, so a good day for flying, which we did all day. But today is cold and wet and windy, so the bars are the most attractive proposition for us. The competition teams have no choice but to fly, pour fools.

Had a look round the kite aerial photography display, and there are some magnificent images, together with a history of kap at Berck. It is well worth a visit. I will post so,e pictures of our visit on my flickr page when we get back to blighty.

Lack of activity

Work and weather conditions seem to be conspiring against me at the moment. So I haven't been out ot KAP for some time. Last weekend I went to Blackheath with some friends, but I'm really glad that I didn't take my rig with me. Regular heavy showers (read downpours) meant we quickly gave up on the day.

This weekend is going to be a KAP free zone. Saturday I am at the local library giving a kiting exhibition. Sunday I am "otherwise engaged".

But next week I am off to Berck for a few days to enjoy the festival. I'm not sure whether to take my rig with me or not, but hope to meet up with some expert KAPers while I'm there and learn from their experience. Whilst totally off topic, if I can get to an internet cafe, I will post regular updates on my experiences.

Allington on a glorious day

Well, I've been waiting for a long time, and for once a day off coincided with some sunny and breezy weather. So having done my chores, I set off to Allington Community Association to see what interesting subjects I could find. I only had an hour as I had some other bits to do. But above you can see one of the images I got looking out over the 20/20 industrial park, and can see the new incinerator chimney in th eleft background. More pictures are on my flickr photostream, follow the link at the bottom of the page.

So when I got to the field, I only had some small/medium kites in the car as it seemed quite breezy. But getting out of the car, it felt as if there was very little breeze. About the biggest kite I had with me was a 1.5M Rock from Premier. So I hooked this on the line and let it fly. It was a bit unstable so needed to be trimmed but up it went.

Then attached the camera rig and let it try to lift off the ground. Not a huge amount of lift but it slowly climbed, and I let out lots of line until I was flying out over the railway, with the camera over the trees. Then the wind dropped, and the camera was heading towards this small tree.



So some rapid work to bring the camera safely to the ground and keep the kite out of trouble. It wasn't long before we had some more lift and were able to get some half decent photographs. It was about now, whilst waiting for the camera to stabilise in the wind, that I discovered that I hadn't altered the settings to disable auto sleep, so it kept swithcing itself off! But still not a bad day.

The weather is against us

Amongst other things, the weather is conspiring to keep us out of the sky. Last thursday I went to try a bit of KAP in a local field. Two things were against me, first of all the battery in my camera had died (oops, note to self - check everything before setting out!) But also, the wind droped considerably and left the rig firmly attached to the ground.

Yesterday (Sunday) I was hoping to get some flight time in at Mote Park in Maidstone, but eh wind was so strong and gusty thet I decided that was a really bad idea.

However, we are progressing on another front. I'm now in the process of adding a video downlink to the rig. I've got most of the hardware, but needs ome components from Maplin to build a power supply. I'm hopefull of having everything built ready for testing by the weekend, so I'll be puttiong on an update then.

Camber, another windy day

Gemini, originally uploaded by Pitprops.

Today saw a few KKF members visit Camber sands near Rye, for ritualistic kite abuse. I arrived in the beach car park at about 1pm, and on getting out of the car, decided that another layer of clothes was required. It was a bright sunny day, but the wind was bitter, and blowing hard. I wandered down to the beach to meet the guys, who were playing with various high wind kites. From the KAp perspective, things didn't look promising at all. So being a natural born coward, I decided to follow standard KKF procedure and go an eat!

Suitably sustained for the afternoon, I headed out on to the sand and took with me a 2.4 radsail. Severla of us played with this for a short while before the bridle tags were torn from the sail - OOPS!. OK so everyone now decided to go and partake of coffee to warm up.

Leaving the cafe a little later, the wind seemed to drop to a mere gale. i wandered up onto the dunes to see if it could be true. Well it did seem to be, so out came the camera and and a selection of small rokaku kites. wandering down to the beach again helped by Andrew, but when we got there, it did seem that the wind was still pretty strong. I put up the rok, and brought it down a couple of times to adjust it, but it was still fidgetty, so eventually, it had 50 feet of tail attached, which seemed to dampen some of its more manic moments. To try or not to try...?

Well frustration is a wonderful thing, and I was still looking for my second successful KAP flight, so I decided to brave whatever the conditions threw. With Matt and Andrew managing the kite, I prepared the rig and we let it climb to about 50 feet before clicking away. There was one really scary moment when the kite decided to nose-dive. But Andrew made a stunning recovery just before the rig hit the ground - thanks mate. So we fired off a few shots, and this one is pretty pleasing. Everything was very difficult to control as the rig was being thown all over the place by the wind. In fact, at times it was almost impossible to get any pan as the wind resistance of the rig couldn't be overcome.

Having scared myself whitless, we brought the rig down and examined the results. Given the conditions, they were very pleasing, and can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/pitprops/ This one is a favourite of mine, as it shows Bill's mini-gem from slightly above with the cafe building in the background. Hopefull conditions will calm down a bit and I'll get out again next week.

Hendon 19th January

And didn't it rain! Again we ended up trapped in a hangar with little opportunity to fly. We did manage to play with some indoor air toys, like air-yos and prism triads, but apart from that there wasn't a lot more to be said, so I won't bother. I guess I'm going to have to wait for the british summer to wake up before I can get some decent conditions for photography. Ah well, c'st la vie!

And to really cap (KAP) a wonderful time, got home to discover that my rig had taken a bit of a battering in the car, and teh KAPfeather is broken - Ho Hum!

Back to Hendon tomorrow

We're back to Hendon RAF Museum for the second weekend of the Festival of Flight. I've just checked on Metcheck and it looks like being quite a good day. It will be chilly, with only a very light wind, but blue bits in the sky and no rain.

Looks like it may be a day for the megadelta again. With a bit of luck I'll get enough lift to get a camera airborn this time and get some pix.

On another note, there's a chance I'll get to go to Leeds Castle in May. This is one of the most beautiful locations I've come across, but can be a pig of a place to fly. But if the weather is good, then I'm really looking forwards to it.

Even more disappointed of Hendon

Well I had great hopes, but unfortunately, life was definitely against me. All week leading up to the event the forecast was for overcast and dry. Then the night before, the very last forecast I saw said heavy rain. So how come the change? All I can say is the last one got it right.

So we ended up at Hendon, early on a Sunday morning, in the pouring rain, and had no option but to set up a static display indoors. The day went very well from the point of view of meeting a lot of people and talking kites with them. So there is a good chance that some may come along to festivals in the North London and Middlesex area this year. I pointed them all at kitecalender.co.uk, so if your event isn't listed, get it published.

OK so not a lot to say about KAP, except I seem to have a problem with the pan gearing on my rig. It turns in one direction, but in the other the servo turns but the gears don't. Something for me to look at this week.

We're there again next week, so with luck will be able to get outside. But they have said we can display kites suspended from the ceiling, so I'm hoping to get some form of support arranged, so that even if I can't fly, I can show how the rig works. Oh and by the way, the security guards at Hendon are a really nice bunch of guys.

Disappointed of Tonbridge

Yesterday was a disappointing day in Tonbridge. The day was bright and sunny, and gave the impression of being an ideal day to carry out some KAP. Unfortunately, when I arrived I soon realised that any hopes of getting any photographs were unrealistic.

The wind, when it blew, was gusty and turbulent. I tried flying a couple of kite, that darted around the sky and were completely unstable. Every so often the wind would fall away to nothing and whatever was in the sky would plummet to earth.

So another day of disappointment. As I can't get out next Sunday, I might try Mote Park on Saturday, otherwise it will be the RAF museum at Hendon that forms my next opportunity to try some KAP.

Capstone - At last a successful flight

Yours truly, originally uploaded by Pitprops.

Well its been a long time coming, but at last we got into the air, and managed to get some photographs.

The picture is one of several I took today from about 100feet with the rig suspended from a Seigers Fliegers mega delta. It is of course, your photographer. The other pictures can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/pitprops

The day didn't look to be that good for KAP. When I got to the park there was no wind, and we spent most of the morning and early afternoon struggling to keep ultra-light kites in the air. A couple of roks and a small ghenki were about all that would stay aloft.

Then the breeze picked up a fraction and it looked promising, so I decided to give it a go. I ran out the mega delta and let it lift into the sky. It looked promising as the kite stayed steady at about 100 feet. But when I attached the camera to the line and let it out, the camera flew horizontal and managed to reach teh spectacular height of about 10 feet before returning to earth. It looked as if this was going to be another unsuccessful afternoon as the camera rig lifted and dropped several times.

Then a breeze picked up and suddenly the rig was airborn. Ah. Idiot alert! I'd forgotten to turn the camera on. DOH!!!!!!! So had to walk the camera down and turn it on, then let it climb again. Finally we were high enough to snap away. And the results can be found on my flickr page.

A successful first flight with some pleasing results, but need to lear how to tell the orientation of the camera. Also, I discovered that I could only pan in one direction. On bringing the rig down, I discovered the gear on the pan spindle has come loose, so that needs to be tightened before the next outing. Next Sunday looks like a trip to Tonbridge recreation ground. Hopefully we'll have a bit of breeze and we can get some more photos and I can get used to handling the rig a bit more.

Saturday 21st January - modifications complete

OK, I've now made the modifications to the rig to raise the picavet cross about 8 inches above teh camera cradle. This should give sufficient clearance to prevent the feather either fouling the rig or getting into the shot. This is what the rig looked like pre modification

You can see the feather sticking out to the top right of the rig. It is shrouded in its sleeve, and has the suspensions lines draped over it for safe keeping. But you should be able to see that when opened the feather would possibly foul the rig legs and would certainly get in any shots not taken at a 45 degree angle or more.


This is the rig after modification. You can see that now the feather is well clear of the rig, so that when opened it will certainly no longer foul any part of the rig and should stay out of shot even if I am taking shots int eh horizontal plane.

Its been a really nice sunny day today, so I'm hoping the weather will hold for tomorrow so I can give the rig a proper flight test. Watch this space for more news.

Stud has arrived

But I won't get time to do anything now until the weekend. So Saturday afternoon will be when I modify the rig and test everything with the feather installed. I'll post some photos if I get the chance.

Batteries are all powered up, and I'm hoping to get up to Capstone Farm on Sunday for some flying with some friends. The rangers tell me they've coppiced a number of the trees on the perimeter, which should give cleaner winds at lower level. All we need now is some good weather!

Monday 16th January

I've bought this KAP feather from Jones Aerfoils, designed for use with the BBKK kit (see http://www.kapshop.com) The idea is to stabilise the platform more. The only problem is that the picavet suspension needs to be raised high above the rig so that the feather doesn't get into any shots. It comes with a long threaded stud, but being of American origin, the stud is imperial and we being European all work in metric. I spent a few hours trying to source some long 4mm machine screws.

Eventually a friend suggested that RS components stock 4mm stud, so I should give them a try. How right he was, but their minimum delivery is 5 lengths of 1metre each. Still its relatively cheap so I've put an order in. I'll let you know how I get on when it arrives

Sunday 15th January 2006

Spent Saturday afternoon testing the rig again looking forwards to a days flying on Sunday.

Sunday dawned dull, overcast and chilly but with a good breeze inland. A group of us had agreed to meet up at Camber, on the Sussex coast, to get in some flying. High tide was at about 11:30 am, so the afternoon was looking good. When I got down to Camber, the tide had just turned. There were a couple of the guys already there. Wind was a brisk 10-15 mph onshore, so conditions wre pretty ideal.

Took a stroll along the beach to inspect some of the washed up flotsam. Loads of rubbish indicate there had been sever storms in teh channel in the not too distant past. Got in some flying on a Psycho, before deciding to bite the bullet and set up for the maiden voyage. In these conditions, a small kite was called for, so I decided to try a small HQ rokkaku. This needed to be re-trimmed as I usually use it for fighting, so spent a while tweaking the bridle until it was giving more stable flight. There was plenty of lift, so once airborn and steady the rig was attached. Turned on the receiver, took the transmitter out of my box and disaster. Like a pillock, I had left the transmitter on from my testing the previous night. Result, no juice!

Oh well, to prove a point the rig got its maiden flight and was pertty stable given the conditions, but I didn't leave it up too long.

New Years Day 2006

Was cold, wet and miserable. A group of hardy idiots from Kent Kite Flyers met up in a local park (Mote Park in Maidstone) and stood around chatting. Bill had finally finished a set of ultralite rokkaku kites, which we palyed with in the zero wind conditions. Absolutely no chance of getting the rig off the groud though, so it stayed in the car.

First tentative steps

Having spent a long time considering whether or not I was going to do this Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) thing, I finally decided to bite the bullet. First thing I needed to do was some serious research. To the rescue comes the wonders of the internet and the wealth of experience of people who have passed this way before and are pleased to share there experiences with you.

Some decisions needed to be taken. What sort of rig to use, what sort of camera to use, was I going to control the rig and camera from the ground, etc.?

The current wisdom is that a picavet suspension system is the way to go. If yo don't know what this is, then pop over to http://www.kaper.us for some detailed information. What soon became apparent was that all of the equipment can be bought rather than built. So with that in mind, a Brooxes Better KAP Kit was sourced from http://www.kapshop.com. This duly arrived just before Christmas.

Having made the decision to go for a compact digital camera and radio control, it was over to eBay to see what could be found on the second hand market. Lo and behold, everything was obtainable, and soon I was the proud possessor of everything needed to get started. This is an important point though. All the kit has to be collected before assembly starts. The rig has to be modified to work with whatever camera and radio equipment you choose to use, so make sure everything is available before we start.

Christmas break was spent in the workshop getting everything put together, and finally a couple of days before New Years Day, the rig had been finally assembled, had been tested indoors and was ready for its maiden voyage. All we need now is some wind...