Cosmo Park - Sail damaged, Short lines

Date: 1/9/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85' lines, 3d on 10' lines
Wind: light 3-10 mph (?)
Weather: sunny, 60-degrees

Wow, 60-degrees in January!!!

I found a great new place to fly in Columbia - the soccer/football fields at Columbia Cosmopolitan Recreation Area (Cosmo Park). This will be a great place as long as soccer is not in season.

The E2 was lots of fun on its second flight. Two "bad" things happened:

The top spreader came off on one side while it was flying. I landed and fixed the problem and checked the kite for damage, but must have missed a small hole in the sail made by the spreader. I flew it some more that afternoon (and had a great time!) and only noticed the damage, now an inch-long rip, when I got back to my house :^(

I also got a monster tangle in the E2's kite lines that took almost 30 minutes to untangle. I almost gave up, but didn't :^/

Towards the end of the afternoon the wind was dying down so I got out the 3d and flew it on 10' lines. This was the first time with such short lines. It was fun to see the the kite and strings up close. Recoveries were much easier. I was still not able to fly a 360-degree circle. I guess that there was just a little too much wind. I accidentally got it into a fade (the kite was nose toward me, belly up, sail parallel to the ground)! I'll have to learn to do those on purpose. :^)