Better Late Than Never

I live by that phrase.  I am perpetually late for most things in my life.  Yes, most times it only five minutes or less but it’s still late.  And so is this posting.  Right now it’s because there isn’t much to talk about.  The weather is still too hot to do much.  And, as usual, the wind is not cooperating.

Sunday was the weekly club fly.  We have been seeing strong winds most of the week.  The forecast for Sunday was for winds to moderate and be at an ideal level for flying.  Weatherman, can you ever get anything right?  It was howling a gale out on the beach.  There were a lot of people out that morning.  And there were quite a few kites in the air.  Most notably, a large Sutton with a banner tail and lots of line laundry hanging from it and a HQ Triangulation, also with line laundry.  Most of us foolishly listened to the weatherman and only brought mid-range kites and didn’t want to risk damage in the higher winds.  So we stood around a lot and talked a lot.

The stronger winds did not stop the Revolution fliers.  There were several vented Revs and Super Sonic Revs in the air.  Now those kites are made for stronger winds and so they were flying great.  And one flier was having a ball launching himself with a HQ Symphony.  I think it was a Symphony 2.2 but I’m not sure.  Anyway, the pull on that kite was so much that at times the guy was sitting on the sand and digging his heels in to stay close to one place.  That’s way more that I want to handle.  So after a while we picked up our bags and headed to the kite shop for more chit-chat.

We did manage to fly one night this past week.  About an hour before sunset, the winds seemed to be just right for some flying and it was starting to cool off some.  I tried to put up the Goblin stack I had just put together.  No luck.  There wasn’t enough wind to launch the three-stack.  Rats!  But I did bring along the Nebula.  I hadn’t flown it yet and was looking for a good opportunity.  That night was the night.  I took off like a dream.  No pull.  Very responsive.  I tried a couple of “push” turns and it was fantastic.  Sharp turn, no oversteer and straight tracking.  I still need practice with those type of turns but it was so easy.  I even managed a square in the sky.  OK, so it was more like a lop-sided rectangle.  But that was the closest I’ve ever come to completing that manuever.  There is hope for making me a precision flier.  Sweet kite, that Nebula.  It was dark by the time we left the beach.  Oh. for more evenings like that one.

Fair Winds All.