Crocs in the Wet Grass

Date: 4/30/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 4-9 mph, WSW
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 68º

The grass was very wet and the Crocs (footware) I was wearing performed superbly, not slipping at all.

I did some very nice flic-flacs, some decent 540s, and some good fades. I think the trick on the 540s is to keep moving forward to make sure that there is plenty of slack. I'm also doing the 540s higher up to allow time for recovery.

I tried something new. When flying horizontally, instead of pushing and then pulling the top line for a 1/2-Axel, I tried pulling the lower line. This mostly caused the kite to do a more or less uncontrolled back-flip. This may be a skill/trick to practice.

(Note: 17 flying days in April, not as many as either February or March)

Back-flip flown all the way to the ground

Date: 4/29/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 5-10 mph, SE
Weather: Cloudy, 68º

I tried to do a lot of 540ºs today and succeeded on about 10 of the tries, which was only 1/3 of my attempts for the trick. I got lots of wing tip tangles (and so a lot of exercise walks). I'm not sure what I'm dong wrong on this trick.

I did some nice flic-flacs and a couple very long fades.

I did a back-flip at the top of the wind window and flew it, on its back, all the way to the ground!

Yummy Fruit Roll-ups

Date: 4/28/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: Zephyr on 75'
Wind: 2 - 6 mph, NNW
Weather: Cloudy, 65º

It was a good wind for the Zephyr - maybe with the wind a little lite. I flew some nice flare-to-fades and some very decent flic-flacs.

I did some yo-yo's and finally succeeded with Fruit Roll-up. A Fruit Roll-up is where you do a back-flip into a yo-yo, fly around a bit, then dive towards the ground, then do a flare, then un-roll the yo-yo, and keep unrolling into a fade. I did two of these today!

Morning flight

Date: 4/23/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 10-15 mph, E
Weather: Partly sunny, 60º

Today I flew at about 8:00 AM, just after a light rain, and just before the wind got too strong (gusts up to 33 mph later in the day). Later in the day the temperature got up to 88º. Wow, that feels like mid-summer to this "Montana Kid," not mid-April!

The wind was strong enough that I didn't get a single fade. I mostly did axels and a few backflips. I also succeeded with 2 or 3 (sloppy) 540s.

What is an upsidedown yo-yo stopper?

Date: 4/22/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: Zephyr on 75'
Wind: 0 - 6 mph, NW-SW
Weather: Sunny, 70º

I finally had a day I could fly my Zephyr. Flying today was mostly getting used to flying the Zephir again. I was able to do most of the tricks I know except for the 540. I'm not sure why that trick is not working.

I did get some yo-yo's, backflipping the kite at the top of the wind window, then flying around, then unwrapping after a flare (but, no "fruit rollups" which is the unwrapping, but into a fade). I noticed that one of my Zephyr's yo-yo stoppers was installed upsidedown.

Question: What is an upsidedown yo-yo stopper?
Answer: An oy-oy, or maybe an oh-oh. :^)

New trick or combo: A fade, to a lateral-roll, to a backflip (but only once).

Flights of Fancy (KCKC)

Date: 4/18/09
Place: MMC-Longview, Lee's Summit, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 11 - 2 - 6 mph, S
Weather: Cloudy, 64º

Flights of Fancy is the Kansas City Kite Club's (KCKC) annual kite festival put on in Lee's Summit (near KC) on Sat. 4/18, Noon-4:00. There were mostly lots of single-line kites in the air with only one 4-line Revolution and one 2-line stunt kite with a very long tail (only doing loops, 8's, dives).

I met a guy, Paul A., who let me fly his Prism Micron, a very small 2-line kite that flys very fast and buzzes - fun! Mid-afternoon I decided to fly my E2. So after finding space and flying it for only 10 minutes - the wind died down. It was actually kind of cool turning around and seeing at least 100 kites all slowly sinking to the ground. Paul A., very generously let me fly his low-wind/no-wind kite, made in KC, which cost $800 :^o It fly very gracefully and slowly with almost no wind.

Then the wind picked up again enough to do some tricks with my E2. I flew in the area marked, "KCKC Members Only." Oh well, I am a KCKC member, even though I wasn't officially part of the program. I did some axels, 1/2-axels, backflips, lazy susans, fades, flic-flacs (only a few), and a couple 540's.

All in all it was a fun afternoon. I bought a KCKC T-shirt, mostly because they are bright purple, one of my favorite colors.

A few more photos:

Zephyr is back - but still in its case

Date: 4/17/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 2 - 11 - 2 - 11 - 2 mph, E
Weather: Sunny, 70º

My Zephyr is back from Prism, but today's wind was too variable, with the highs higher than I wanted to trust the Zephyr with. But the E2 flew well when the wind was higher than 4 mph.

I did succeed with a few 540s, but only at the left edge of the wind window. I'll have to try them in the center another day when flares are easier. And I'll wait until I 'm more comfortable with the ones done with my right hand before trying ones with my left or my dyslexic brain will rebel and then nothing will work.

Today it seemed like I had a lot of "walks to the kite" to untangle the lines or rescue the kite from the dead-launch position (belly down nose-towards me).

I did get some nice fades and a few flic-flacs.

Nice day - not nice wind

Date: 4/16/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 10 - 22 mph, NE
Weather: Sunny, 63º

It was a very beautiful sunny day with very gusty and mostly too strong winds.

I mostly had to fly near the edges and top of the wind window. I didn't get the kite into any fades, but I did get one 540 (out of four tries). I also got a very nice looking double lazy susan. I ran forward in order to get a few 1/2-axels and side slides.

I didn't stay long - I was a little worried about breaking the kite.

540ºs! Happy(?) Tax Day

Date: 4/15/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 5 - 10 mph, NE
Weather: Sunny, 62º

Since my taxes are all done, I went to fly a kite.

I took the Flight Guide manual that came with the Freestyle Pilot DVD with me and the instructions really helped for trying 540s. A 540 is when you get the kite into a flared (belly-down, nose-away) position and then pull on one line to spin the kite around horizontally 540º and then fly away (or do another 540º, if you can (I haven't tried doing more than one at a time)). I messed up some attempts, and then finally succeeded! Though with the first successful one, I wasn't totally sure I had actually done one. I can't do the trick yet "on-demand" and it doesn't always succeed. But, I did do about eight more, some in the center (near the ground) and some on the left edge of the wind window.

The day was also good for some flic-flacs. But the 540s were the highlight!

Flic-flacs with an E2 in a Zephyr

Date: 4/14/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 8 - 2 mph, W
Weather: Sunny, 52º

A nice zephyr wind (gentle west wind) day. Too bad my Zephyr is still at Prism (or in transit?).

Flic-flacs worked very well for me today.

I did try to do a 540 or maybe a backspin(?). Actually, I totally forgot the instructions for both of those tricks. So what I tried didn't seem to work. Next time I'll bring the paper "Flight Guide" manual that came with the Freestyle Pilot DVD with me to the park.

Happy Easter!

Date: 4/12/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 6 - 12 mph, E
Weather: Cloudy, 45º

I almost didn't go out to fly since it was overcast, a bit blustery, and the wind was supposed to become worse (higher) as the day progressed with a forecast of rain showers in the afternoon. It turned out to be a nice wind (for me) for an hour or so at which time it started getting too strong.

I had some pretty good flic-flacs today.

A city park security person approached me at one point. But instead of telling me that I couldn't fly, she just said that she wondered if I was at the park more often then her, and then asked me if I had seen anyone messing around the concession stand (I hadn't) - I guess they had had a break-in.

The Regular Wind-Bag of Tricks

Date: 4/11/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 3 - 8 mph, E
Weather: Sunny, 63º

It was nice to fly again after several days of too cold, too blustery, too gusty, weather. Even though it was a sunny, warm, Saturday afternoon, there was not much soccer going on. I could see only a few games happening and there was plenty of room to fly a stunt kite.

I was able to get some very decent side slides and a couple of good flares. Otherwise, it was slowly practicing and getting better at the regular bag (wind-bag?) of tricks.

According to the USPS-Online, my Zephyr arrived in Seattle on Friday, 4/10. It flew fast (for a light-wind kite)!

Too much -> Too Little

Date: 4/8/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 10 - 3 mph, NW
Weather: Sunny, 57º

Started off with too much wind - ended with almost no wind.

I practiced the usual tricks. I wrapped the kite into a yo-yo and flew a bit before unwrapping. Learning more about doing yo-yo's is still on my to-do list. I got a good flic-flac.

I sent my Zephyr off to Prism (bridle problem). I'm wondering if other parts of my Zephyr, in addition to the bridle, are also not standard. It seemed about as heavy as the E2 the times I flew it - probably just "driver" skill, or lack there of.

Ring Around The Moon, Un-even (which is odd) Z-Bridle

Date: 4/7/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 5 - 9 mph (gusty), W
Weather: Sunny, 54º (almost full moon)

I flew with my back to the sunset watching an almost full moon rise - flew rings around it. A nice evening to fly!

It was somewhat gusty, but not an overpowering wind. This made for some tricky-to-hold fades.

For a while I had a couple of boys running around, watching, and trying to "catch" the kite.

A young man also took some photos of me flying the E2 for a school project. Also, the photos may show up in his blog.

Un-even (which is odd) Z-Bridle:
I spent almost an hour-and-a-half on the phone with Brent of Prism putting on the new Zephyr bridle that they sent me. Part of this process included cutting off the yo-yo stopper on the left side. He had not sent a new yo-yo stopper attacher piece. He said that the left and right-side bridles are symmetrical (and standard) for all the Zephyrs. But with the left side replaced, I noticed that the pigtails and at least one other "leg" of the bridle were different lengths on the left. He suggested that I send the kite in to Prism to resolve this problem. So another week without the Zephyr :^(

Soccer Has Started, Indians, Kite Eating Trees

Date: 4/4/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 15 - 25 mph (gusty), E
Weather: Sunny, 50º

I didn't fly very long due to the wind being too strong and gusty. But, I'm glad I went to Cosmo Park today. Soccer started and the place was a mad house. I was able to fly on a football (American football) field that wasn't being used. While I was flying, a guy wandered over and introduced himself. His name is Albert and, although he hasn't flown for about 5 years, he used to compete at the national level in dual-line stunt/freestyle/ballet/precision AKA competitions. He was sponsored by Precision Kites. I chatted with him a while while his daughter played soccer. I gave him my contact info in case he wants to dust off his kites, come out of retirement, give me some tips, or sell any of his old kites.

As for flying today, I only did a few axels and some side slides and basically tried to keep my kite from being damaged.

Later in the day I went to a Kite Fly sponsored by the City of Columbia at Douglas Park Ballfield. It was a tiny location nestled amongst trees and buildings; not the type of place I would ever pick to fly any kind of kite. But the kids seemed to get their inexpensive kites to fly, and ran around a lot without getting too many lines tangled.

Also attending this event were a couple of families from India. They brought and flew a bunch of small, 1'-square, bamboo sparred, tissue paper kites with little pompoms at the base, possibly homemade; single line Indian fighter kites. They flew them well and got them way higher using big spools of fuschia-colored line than any of the other kites! These kites were extremely unstable when given slack, but flew fast and straight when the lines where pulled. I overheard one of their children saying that he wished they could use their kite lines to cut other people's lines like they did back in India :^)

By the time I left (I didn't fly anything at all), I counted at least six kites caught in kite-eating trees!

Flic-flac-flic-flac-flic-flac-flic-flac

Date: 4/3/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85', 3d on 18'
Wind: 6 - 0 mph, W-S
Weather: Sunny, 54º

A very light-wind/variable-wind-direction day. I switched back and forth between the two kites a few times. I felt that the wind kept "painting me into a corner" of the soccer field (actually two of the four corners).

At one point I did a flic-flac-flic-flac-flic-flac-flic-flac, with maybe only little pauses between the parts!

Kite Eats Dog

Date: 4/1/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 6 - 10 mph, E
Weather: Sunny, 57º

Happy April Fools Day.

At last a nice wind day! It was a little gusty, but not enough to cause problems. The weather has been very unsettled, so today's fly was during a nice break in that.

I flew almost every trick I know. The fades I flew were shifting around a lot and some were even rising fades, but for the most part I was able to control them. It seems that the lighter winds are best for learning new tricks, but that as I'm improving, I'm able to fly the same tricks in stronger and stronger winds (up to a point of course).

The Zephyr bridle still hasn't arrived.