First Time Flying With Jeff

Date: 2/25/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85' and 20' lines
Wind: 10 - 2 mph, SW -> W -> SW -> W -> NNW
Weather: Sunny, 69º (I love these warm Missouri winter days!)

I flew today for the first time with Jeff Marshall. I'm glad to have found a friend who has about the same interest level (a lot) and ability (novice) with dual-string stunt kites!

Jeff flies a Silver Fox 2.5 UL and often flies during his lunch hours a few miles east of Columbia. We flew each others' kites for a while. His Silver Fox was more precise, a little slower (this can be a good thing), and a bit more noisy than my E2. The E2 was quieter and generally a bit more unstable (trickable?). I was more or less able to do the same tricks with the Silver Fox that I do with my E2. Axels seem to fly more in slow motion, and maybe are a little easier to initiate with the Silver Fox.

We took turns hand-launching the kites into fades for each other. This worked extremely well. We both had some great (for us) fades! A couple of mine even rose up high enough for me to get out of the fade with a lateral-roll to a regular flying position and then fly away rather than do the infamous lawn-dart impersonation that happened most of the time. Later on my own I even had a few ground pancakes that I pulled into decent fades.

I practiced the usual tricks with about the usual results. The day was very warm (T-shirt weather) with generally a very nice wind.

I had Jeff take a few photos with my camera of me and my kites. I hope to post these soon.

At the end of the day when the wind really started dying down I switched to 20' lines and mostly practiced the ground pancakes into fades.