Indoor-flying Outside

Date: 6/30/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: 3d on 12'
Wind: 0 - 0.5 mph
Weather: Sunny Sunrise, 67º

I flew lots of 360s and tried some up-and-overs, though they didn't work so well possibly due to the kite being heavy with dew from the grass. I don't fly it in the grass, but it does land there sometimes. :^) An up-and-over is where you start with the kite somewhere medium low and then pull on the lines so that the kite flys up over your head and then you turn around 180º and fly it down towards the ground and then turn out of the trick.

The air was very still and it felt like I was flying indoors (except for the sunrise, fresh air, sounds of birds, etc.) :^)

Sunny Sunrise

Date: 6/29/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: 3d on 12'
Wind: 0 - 2 mph, SW
Weather: Sunny, 66º

360s and axels. I did get one axel-into-a-fade combo. And I got the kite into a helicopter with me moving forward to keep enough slack in the lines to do the trick.

He's fading, he's fading, ....

Date: 6/28/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: 3d on 12', E2 on 85'
Wind: 2 - 9 mph, NW
Weather: Sunny, 74-80º

I flew my kites from 7:00-9:00 AM. It was a beautiful morning! (even taking into account the very wet grass and the kiddies playing football nearby)

With the 3d, I was only able to do 2 or 3 360s. Two mph is too much wind for 360s. But, 2 mph was great for fades. I got the 3d into a fade and held it there for a very long time!

By the time the wind picked up and I switched to the E2 the grass mostly dried out. I flew lots of 540s, backspins, flic-flacs, fades, and axels.

Football :^(

Date: 6/27/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: 3d on 12', E2 on 85'
Wind: 2 - 7 mph, SW
Weather: Sunny, 75º

There are little (dwarf?) football players all over my kite flying field! :^( OK, they have a right to be there, too. But it seems a little strange to me to dress kids up in football helmets and pads to play a "silly" game with the adults, watching, coaching, yelling, and mostly trying to get their kids to be just like the pro football players. And there was room for me to fly on an adjacent field - so stop grumbling, Neil!

The 3d kite holds a fade really well. In fact, it's a little hard to get out of a 3d fade.

With the E2, I got one rung of a Jacob's Ladder. And generally flew the usual medium-low wind tricks (fades, flic-flacs, backspins).

Backwards Fade (by accident) - a "Yo"

Date: 6/25/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: 3d on 12'
Wind: 0 - 2 mph, SW
Weather: Mostly sunny, 75º

I mostly flew the usual no-wind tricks I know (360s and axels).

I did a backflip with the kite and somehow (I have no idea how to repeat this) I got the kite into a half yo-yo, or maybe just a "yo," and then with me moving backwards the kite was in a backwards fade for a short while! The lines were somehow wrapped near the wing tips. This would be a great trick to learn and do on purpose.

As I was packing up I saw Chester and Harry (and their master, Cris Wood) again. Harry is the Great Pyrenees dog that bit through my kite line last winter/spring.

Sunrise at Cosmo

Date: 6/24/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: 3d on 12'
Wind: 0 - 1 mph, NSEW
Weather: Partly Sunny, 75º, humid

I'm getting up extra early so that I can fly/exercise before going to work. This also means that I'm out during the cooler (relatively speaking) part of the day. And I get a nice sunrise!

I flew: 360s, loops, axels, and throw starts. I think I'm getting better at the low/no wind flying -- I'm walking backwards more slowly than before.

Skye Wynd Wordle

Created by Neil using Wordle: http://www.wordle.net/

Kite Fly and Sauna

Date: 6/20/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: Zephyr on 90', 3d on 12'
Wind: 6 - 2 mph, SW
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 84º

I started out with the Zephyr, but it was hard to keep it in the air. The humidity was fairly high and I felt like I was flying a kite in a huge sauna! Flew some axels and a 360 or two with the 3d.

Potentially Bad Crashes (Nothing Broken!)

Date: 6/19/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 18 - 4 mph, SW
Weather: Sunny, 87º

1st-half of the flying session: Too windy. I had several crashes where I thought that something might have been broken, but nothing was damaged (except my pride). 540s worked OK.

2nd-half of the flying session: The wind died down to a nice level and I was able to fly some of the usual tricks before it died down too much for the E2. Backspins worked well.

I flew one rung of Jacob's ladder (but it was a nice one)!

Flying in the Shade

Date: 6/18/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 5 - 12 mph (variable), SE
Weather: Sunny-humid, 90º

I flew after work so it was during the hotter part of the day and I only lasted 35 minutes. The wind was gusty and near the ground it was extra squirrelly. I did fly some decent 540s and some solid backspins. There was a tree near the edge of the field that I could fly the kite from, but the wind was not so good in that part of the field so I didn't fly in the shade too long.

What happened?

Date: 6/16/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 5 - 8 mph, W-SW
Weather: Sunny, 84º

I'm behind with updating this blog and can't remember anything that happened during this fly. So you'll have to use your imagination. I probably flew the usual tricks. And given the wind conditions it probably was a good day for flying!

Three "not-linked" J. L. rungs!

Date: 6/14/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85', 3d on 20'
Wind: 3 - 7 mph, E-NE
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 74º

Today's wind was on the low side but very steady which made fade-based tricks fairly easy. Three times I got a rung of the Jacob's Ladder trick (not linked together). This trick is going to take a lot of work (play) to get well or even passable. A good steady wind is the best helper for me right now.

The wind died down so I got out the 3d. It started flying very weirdly until I noticed that the bridle was different on one side. Once fixed it worked fine again. I flew some 360s and lots of axels.

A Saturday with No Goal (Posts)

Date: 6/13/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 5 - 12 mph, WNW
Weather: Cloudy, 72º

Today is a Saturday, but there were no soccer games going on. They've even taken down about half the goal posts/nets. That's nice for me :^)

There was a tricky wind, but I think I'm slowly getting better at different winds and this sport in general. No major breakthroughs today or new tricks/combos, just more of the usual with me getting better at "reading the wind" and discovering what the kite wants to do.

Fun!

Very Low Backspins

Date: 6/11/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 8 - 4 mph, SSE
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 72º

I'm still trying to get parts of the Jacob's Ladder trick. I often almost get a rung. I need to pay attention to the "handedness" of the parts of this trick, though I'm not sure which way it is supposed to go.

I got some very low-to-the-ground backspins with recovery fades that almost touched the ground.

In the evening after work...

Date: 6/8/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 6 - 14 mph (gusty), W-NW
Weather: Sunny, 75º

There was a variable wind with some gusts, but it was mostly within my kite's and my "abilities." I almost got a rung of Jacob's Ladder with several near misses. I flew a lot of lazy susan's, backspins, 540s, cascade (my attempt at one), and a lot of the usual tricks.

Twisted Lines, Sun.

Date: 6/7/09
Place: 21st and Urish, Topeka, KS
Kites: E2 on 85', a single-line "Vic's Fighter Kite"
Wind: 10 - 18 mph, SE
Weather: Sunny, 75-88º

The second day of Twisted Lines started out cooler and with a lighter wind, though still higher than my preferred wind speed. I flew my E2 and it did fine for 540s, axels, 1/2-axels, and back-flips. The wind was too strong for me to do fades and the tricks based on fades.

Later in the afternoon I got out a Vic's Fighter Kite, which is a single-line fighter that I bought in the 1980's. It still works, and actually flew quite well in the moderate wind. I would need some practice to be able to control it very well. You control it by giving it slack so it becomes unstable and wobbles around until it points in the direction you want it go, then you pull to fly it in that direction. I did crash it a few times and crossed another kite's line once, though I didn't cut their line :^)

It started getting hot so Annett and I hit the road for the 3-4 hour trip back to Columbia.

This was a fun kite festival with very friendly people!

Twisted Lines, Sat.

Date: 6/6/09
Place: 21st and Urish, Topeka, KS
Kites: Flip Kite, 3d on 12', Tumbling Cube
Wind: 15 - 30 mph, S; 0 mph, Inside
Weather: Sunny, 88º

Annett and I drove to Topeka, Kansas for the Twisted Lines kite festival. It was hot and sunny and with quite strong (and gusty) winds. There were some medium big items up in the air, such as windsocks. And Steve was flying a Prism with a 100' tail.

It was too windy for me to fly my dual-line kites, but I did try the Prism Flip Kite I had purchased at R.E.I. recently. It flew very well considering the gusty conditions - fun (for a single line kite).

In the evening there was an inside fly at a local high school gym. I flew my 3d for the first time truly inside. It flew much better than I expected. I was able to do 360s and axels. Up-and-overs were not as easy as with the Wren I flew in Grinnell. And the 3d was also not as floaty as the Wren, but still I had fun flying the 3d indoors!

That evening they also had an auction to benefit diabetes. Most of the stuff was for single-line kites or was actual single-line kites. There was a nice dual-line that I should have bid on, but the only other item (besides a T-shirt I bought) I was interested in (actually very interested in) was a Tumbling Cube kite that someone had made. I bid on it and got it for $16! I would have bid much higher for it. I flew it for about 15 minutes after the auction and it flew well and was fun, just like the one Craig Wilson let me borrow to fly at Grinnell.

I took a lot of photos and some videos (using an HD Flip Video Camera from work) and hope to have these available from this blog sometime in the not too distant future.

The usual and down wind walks

Date: 6/4/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 3 - 7 mph, NNE
Weather: Mostly sunny, 69º

This was a short but nice fly before going to play Irish music. The wind was a little on the lite side.

Again - almost succeeding with Jacob Ladder rungs, a few 540s, backspins, and fades. I had to walk the kite downwind a bunch of times.

Beautiful evening to *try* a Jacob's Ladder

Date: 6/3/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 6- 12 mph, NE
Weather: Mostly sunny, 68º

What a beautiful evening to fly a kite!

Sort of the same as usual. Tried Jacob's Ladder's rungs without success, though almost a bunch of times. Left 540s, but not right 540s. Backspins.

First Day of June/Work

Date: 6/1/09 (35th day in a row)
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 12 - 3 mph, SE
Weather: Sunny, 87º

After my first day of work at my new job (will work for new kites), and after supper, the wind was starting to die down to a nice flying level so I headed out to the soccer field. It was a little gusty and was faster high in the wind window than near the ground, but I was able to do a few tricks including some 540s and lazy susans. As the wind died down even more I switched to fades and got some backspins and crooked looking flic-flacs. I worked on the Jacob's Ladder combo and got a 2nd (yesterday was the 1st) single "rung" of that trick!