Today we took some time off from necessary things at home to fly at our home field. The idea was to go flying before the crowds arrived at the beach. This is Easter weekend and it looks like a busy one. Well, we arrived to find the parking lot three-quarters full. So much for beating the crowds. The fort was celebrating Earth Day by having area groups set up booths to encourage conservation, recycling, habitat preservation, etc. There was also live music and food, of course. The beach had a lot of fisherman and walkers. We fit right in as our car still has the roof top carrier on it. Yes, we looked like tourists. Ugh!
The temperature was fine. Not too hot. And the winds were light but not too light. The weatherman was wrong, however, because he predicted blue skies and sun. It was very cloudy and there was a short light rain while we were on the beach. And the rain started right after we got a couple of kites up. John wanted to pull them in right away but I felt like it wouldn’t last. And it didn’t. I put up the Kokopelli kite up. It took me a while for me to figure the best settings but I finally got it to hang in the sky above us. I also put up the EO Atom by Prism. It was the first time I flew this kite. It bounced around in the sky like a fighter kite. Totally erratic. I like it. It does need to be anchored off by itself or it will take out a nearby kite in a heartbeat.
John dug out his first kite, a rainbow delta with ribbon tails. He hadn’t flown it for a couple of years. It was ready to go as soon as it came out of the bag and flew like a champ. He also put up his New Tech Paper Airplane kite and his Prism EO 6. He put transition tails on the Paper Airplane and, I believe, it flew better than it had before. By the way, EO stands for “expandable object”. Both the Atom and the EO 6 fold flat when not flying. Pretty nifty little kites. All of these kites just hung in the sky. Well almost all, the Atom kept coming down as the wind picked up a little. There’s always one problem child in the bunch.
When everything seemed to be anchored and stable, I took out my old-style New Tech Spirit Quad. I’m just learning to fly the quad line kites, so I prefer to fly this one when no one is around. One, because I need the practice in an area with no other kites around so I don’t get tangled up with anyone. Two, I don’t want to embarrass myself too badly in front of the other quad line fliers. Unfortunately, some have attitudes about flying quad lines and I don’t need that on top of just learning. Today I may have found a method of winding the lines so I don’t have to spend thirty minutes untangling them before flying. And I spent some time making adjustments on the line settings to get the best feel and control. No panic today. And a definite improvement in my flying. I even did some controlled spins and got lines untangled in the air. This was a great day for my self-confidence. And I really like the Spirit Quad.
Tomorrow is the weekly fly with our friends. It is a holiday weekend so I expect there to be more fliers from out-of-town. And more people walking the beach and admiring the kites we put up. I am hoping Don will remember to bring the Vamp Devil. I was hoping to have one of my own but they have been back-ordered. I must be patient. But I WANT it!!!!! Maybe by Memorial Day it will be here. Hope. Hope. Hope. I feel like a little kid who can’t wait until Christmas.
Fair Winds All.
Freedom In The Sky - A Kiter's Blog 