Tag: Kite

A Lot Of Catching Up To Do (Part 1)

Life has been hectic since the last post.  And it bothers me that I have left this so long with no updates.  I will try to do better in the future.  We haven’t been flying much for one reason or another.  The first reason is Hurricane Irene.  She may have only been a category 1 storm when she passed over our heads but the rains and winds were enough to disrupt our lives significantly.  We were lucky in that we had no damage to our property.  Although we did have to have three trees taken done to avoid later possible damage.  Needless to say, the regular weekly kite fly was canceled.

Right after the clean-up was completed at both houses, it was time to pack up the car and leave for the Mile High Kite Fly at Beech Mountain, NC.  This festival was so named because Beech Mountain is 5,506 feet above sea level, the highest town in the state.  Saturday is set-up day and a kite builders competition.  I decided to take the plunge and enter some of the kites I had built.  Hopefully, the judges would be kind and I would pick up some pointers on kite building and competing.  I spent a couple of hours Saturday morning attending to details on my kites and getting very nervous about the competition.  The judging is done in two stages: in the air ( how will it flies and looks in the sky) and on the ground (how well it is made).  I entered four kites in three categories.  In the flat & bowed kites, I entered the Penelope Cat della porta and the Green Bay hata. (Side note on the hata – I finished this kite and flew it for the first time on Superbowl Sunday.  Need I mention who won Superbowl LXV?  Go Packers!!)  In the soft & flexible, I entered the Eagle painless parafoil.  In the box & cellular, I entered the Dunston-Taylor box delta that I had finished the night before leaving for the festival.

Dunston-Taylor Box Delta (custom kite)
Green Bay Packers Hata (custom kite)

The winds on Saturday were light and variable and the skies were cloudy.  Not the best day to show off one’s handiwork.  But we do the best we can with what we’ve got.  There were a total of none kites entered in the competition.  They all flew to one degree or another.  I had the hardest time getting the parafoil to fly but once it got up, it flew steady like a champ.  There wasn’t quite enough wind for the flat & bowed so it took some work to keep them in the air high enough for the judges to see what they looked like.  But we managed.  The Dunston-Taylor box is a light wind kite so there was no problem there.  The judges’ scores were tallied but the results weren’t going to be announced until the next day.  More nervous waiting.  I did get some great comments from the judges and a lot of good advice and suggestions.  Lots of encouragement to keep on building.  And have to admit, it was fun and I look forward to doing it again.

Sunday was the festival day.  The day full of flying and kid’s kite-making and kid’s flying up and down the mountainside.  But there was no wind.  Yes, even less than the day before.  But that didn’t seemed to stop the kids.  They ran up and down and up and down trying to get their kites in the air.  Some brought their own kites to fly and some bought kites from a vendor on site.  The clouds became thicker and darker and around one o’clock the skies opened and the rain came down. We were ready to wait it out until there was thunder and lightning. Then the tents came down and the banners were put away and the festival was officially over. It all ended too soon. There was a fliers cook-out later that evening despite the rain. Thank goodness for picnic shelters. At the cook-out, the winners of the kite builders were announced.

I was truly surprised when I found out I won first place in soft & flexible with my Eagle parafoil. I truly thought my competitor’s kite was better but the judges thought otherwise. Hurray for me!!!!! Then I won a second place in flat & bowed with the Penelope Cat della porta. A second Hurray!!! Two awards in my first competition. Pretty good. I’ve started planning for next year.

The Eagle (custom kite)
Penelope Cat (custom kite)

More later.

Fair Winds All.

Nothing New

There’s nothing new to write about this week.  We’ve been out-of-town visiting relatives.  We took kites along with us.  Especially low wind kites as we were going to be in inland locations.  But there was absolutely no wind.  Not a breath of it.  The temperatures cooled down a little bit but the wind just wouldn’t cooperate.  Except for the morning of the last day as we were packing the car to head for home.  then it picked up to a perfect easy breeze.  Drat!!!!!!!

Now we’re  home and getting prepared just in case Hurricane Irene pays us a visit.  And, yes, there is a wind.  And it is a little to high for us to fly.  We just can’t win!!!!!!  Though I’m sure there are some brave, young souls who are going to kite surf and fly the larger soft stunt kites so they can get dragged down the beach.  More power to them.  Maybe after all this has gone by we can get back to flying.  In the mean time…

Fair Winds All.

And Who Should Show Up

All plans for the weekend were changed in an instant.  There was a frenzy of straightening up and vacuuming the dog hair.  Well, maybe not a frenzy  but  there was some activity.  Dust the guest room, fluff the pillows, company’s coming.  With almost no notice, our daughter came home.  We got to spend a day together talking, walking the beach and eating.  Amazing how family times always come down to food.  Whether its home-cooking or eating at your favorite restaurant, that’s where connections are remade.

Anyway, Sunday became family day and we didn’t get to the kite fly.  All intentions were to fly together as a family.  But talk got in the way.  And did I mention food?  We did get to the kite shop for a visit.  And to beg forgiveness for not shoeing up to fly.  Since we brought the reason with us, we were forgiven and had a nice although short visit.  Then it was off to the beach for a walk in the sand.  You see, living your whole life at the beach and then moving to the mountains leads to some serious withdrawal problems.  And they just don’t go away over time.  More talking, more food and some indoor beanbag bocce ball and the visit was over.  Too fast.

So what does one do when the company leaves?  Well, go fly a kite, of course.  The winds were in the perfect range for some Vamp Devil flying.  The temperatures had moderated a bit and the skies were mostly blue.  We grabbed a couple of kites and made up for the missed flying day.  My husband committed himself to flying a quad line kite.  We have matching Vamp Devils and he decided that Monday was the day to learn how to fly his.  And he did quite well.  Yes, there were some crashes but no damage.  Some tangled lines but no breaks.  He even managed a reverse launch on his own.  Although he’ll tell you he has no idea how he did it.  We even got both Vamp Devils up together.  I should clarify that our Vamp Devils are not exact matches.  They are more of a set.  Mine is black with red accents.  His is red with black accents.  And they looked pretty good in the sky.  It won’t take long before my husband is comfortable with his and we can work on some team flying.  But first we must work on those landings.

Our local kite festival is only ten weeks away.  I’d better start thinking about a routine.

Fair Winds All.

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.

Triangulation by HQ Kites

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.