Rev Kite Team Notes, The Decorators

05/02/2012 Blackheath

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:04:00 +0000

I had go out and check the local road conditions before deciding that it would be OK to set out to Blackheath today. In the event traffic was lighter than usual. Only five inches of snow...

Blackheath presented a bright white field under a gloomy sky. The breeze was slight but remained steady between 10:30 and 12:30.

The Zens were the kite of...

29/01/2012 Blackheath

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:13:00 +0000

The construction next to the Olympic stadium was shrouded in the low lying cloud as we drove towards Blackheath this morning as were the towers at Canary Wharf.

On the Heath wet grass meant bound lines after the initial winding out. Always a puzzle, that one, especially to 'beginners'! It's not so funny when it...

22/01/2012 Blackheath

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:29:00 +0000

Watching the weather forecasts during the week it appeared likely that mega vented sails would be needed today. As often is the case on a windy day the median may have been about 15 mph but the gusts were probably much in excess of 30 mph.

So having set up the standard vented with 4 wrap initially it was not much of a surprise to find that really...

15/01/2012 Blackheath

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:18:00 +0000

A bright sunny morning looked like an opportunity to get some time on the Zens but soon after setting up c10:45am the breeze picked up and we switched to the standard 1.5s. It was not long before these were feeling overpowered and so we were back on the full vented 1.5s with Race rods.

Following on from last weekend we tried the parallel figure...

08/01/2012 Blackheath

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:48:00 +0000

Another grey day but lighter breezes meant standard 1.5 sails with Race rods for the first time in a long time.

Four fliers settled into some neat 'free form' flying with some good slow and close flying. Somehow linear flying as in 'follow the leader' seems so 'yesterday' after 'free form' but we did fall-in for...

01/01/2012 Blackheath

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 15:25:00 +0000

A Happy New Year to everyone!

A gentle start to the new year. 4 fliers, nothing called, warmed by mulled wine for some. (thanks Martin!)

Full vented with race rods once again fitted the bill. Only occasionally the frames felt stressed or there was a need to move on the ground.

The cloudscape was particularly dramatic as it can be...

26/12/2011 Blackheath

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:16:00 +0000

A quiet last fly in 2011. Full vented with green race rods handled the occasional stronger gusts just fine. In the lulls moving on the ground was not too energetic.

One year we rotated face to face pairs in the arena at Berck. Not something to be taken lightly in a formal demonstration. Today we tried the 'not touching' version rolling...

18/12/2011 Blackheath

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 15:24:00 +0000

The forecast sunny day did not materialise after a large 'shower cloud' drifted across London, north of the river in the main, mid morning.

Switched from Vented Race to Full Sail Race and back to Vented Race as the peripheral affects of the shower passed through.

With four fliers plan A and even plan B got a look in as well as some free...

11/12/2011 Blackheath

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Grey day with lowering cloud base did not turn to rain in the short time on the Heath today.

Vented with 3 wrap or Race just about coped with the higher gusts. Mostly long arm treacle style individual flying for me but we did find an opposing infinity, by chance, which looks as if it could be very effective in a large team configuration. It's...

04/12/2011 Blackheath

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 17:08:00 +0000

Standard vented 1.5B with 4 wrap spars (mostly) again today but not quite at the marginal level of last weekend.

There was a very high base layer of cloud cover and in the SW breeze we had a clear view of the NE London circling stack of planes waiting to approach Heathrow.

For the first time this autumn gloves were a good idea if not actually...