Happy Halloween!

Date: 10/31/09, Sat.
Place: Cosmo, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 5 - 12 mph, W
Weather: Sunny, 45º

Happy Halloween. And, no, I didn't dress up in a costume for flying, nor did I dress up my kite either. I was surprised to see an official soccer game being played in the park so late in the season. I flew some snappy 540s, but only on the left side. Also, some nice fades and flic-flacs.

1st Lumix Video

Date: 10/25/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: Echo on 12', E2 on 85'
Wind: 0.5 - 5 mph, SE
Weather: Cloudy, 51º at 8:00 AM

I took some video with my new Panasonic Lumix camera of myself flying the Echo. It will probably be a while before I have a chance to edit this footage. I was able to do a few 360s, but there was really too much wind for the Echo. I wasn't able to fly into any fades, but flying out of them worked well.

When the wind picked up (4 - 8 mph), I then switched to the E2. It was unusual to "jump" directly from the Echo to the E2 without flying the 3d in-between. I had about the best set of flic-flacs I've ever had -- about 10 of them linked in a row! I also practiced my cascades a lot.

One week since flying last

Date: 10/24/09, Sat.
Place: Cosmo, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 4 - 8 mph, W
Weather: Sunny, 58º

It has been a whole week since the last time I flew a kite, mostly due to my having a bad cold. It was a bit depressing to be not able to fly.

I flew while Annett walked in the park. Today's wind was a touch gusty, but I still had a great flying session. It was warm enough to wear a T-shirt with no coat. I didn't really work on any new tricks or skills (I haven't had any new stuff for a while). So it was mostly refining the tricks I already know.

Back-lit E2 (Tony Hawks Exhibition)

Date: 10/17/09, Sat.
Place: Cosmo, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85'
Wind: 5 - 10 mph, N
Weather: Partly sunny, 50º

There was no soccer or football, but all the park's parking lots became full due to a Tony Hawks Skateboard Exhibition at Cosmo Park. I didn't "fly" at the exhibition, but did go watch some amazing skate boarding after a nice flying session with my E2 kite.

I did some 540s, nice fades, backspins, backflips, lazy susan's, side-slides, and flic-flacs.

Happy Columbus Day (what did he "discover"?)

Date: 10/12/09
Place: ARC, Columbia, MO
Kites: 3d on 20', Echo on 12'
Wind: 3 - 0.75 mph, NW
Weather: Cloudy, 51º

I flew lots of axels and only a few 360s with my 3d kite. The wind speed dropped enough so I switched to the Echo. I did all the usual tricks. I tried to do the up-and-over to a fade combo, but was not able to do any.

One Sky One World

Date: 10/11/09
Place: Bethel Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85', Purple/Black Beetle, Tumbling Cube
Wind: 5 - 9 mph (gusty), E
Weather: Mostly sunny, 45-55º

One Sky One World is a festival that may happen in lots of places around the county (and maybe world?), but in Missouri it is a kite festival in Columbia, MO. Being half way between Kansas City and St.Louis, it is a nice opportunity to have a laid back kite fly near the end of the general kite flying season. This year due to the St. Louis flyers attending the national AKA fesitval in Rochester, MN, no one from St. Louis came. There were a few people from Kansas City and I finally met John Grimshaw from Columbia, and Andy and Bonnie from Jefferson City.

A few new (to kites) people showed up: Tara (a reporter from ?), Kelsey (a reporter from VOX, a UM school newspaper), my friends Dan, and Pat, from the Irish music group I play tunes with. I helped these three with a flying a purple and black two-line Beetle kite that Ryan from KC brought. Kelsey was so enthusiastic about the kite flying that she later ordered a Beetle of her own.

I flew my E2 and it did fairly well in the squirrelly and gusty wind conditions. Bethel Park is not my favorite place to fly (a not-too-spacious sloped field with trees and buildings too close by). Tricks that worked well: 540s, axels, 1/2 axels, backflips/lazy susans, backspins, fades, and flic-flacs.

I flew my tumbling cube a while and also let Pat try it -- actually I said, "Here," and handed the line to her, and stepped away to talk to someone. She had fun with it.

(Frosty) Morning Has Broken

Date: 10/10/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: Echo on 12'
Wind: 0 - 0.75 mph, SW
Weather: Sunny, 37º

This was a 7:20-8:20 AM beautiful frosty fall morning with a sunny sunrise and a pretty quarter moon hanging in the sky! Some leaves have turned red and gold, contrasting the leaves that are still green. There was frost on the grass and so I "crunched" along as I was flying my Echo. I could see my breath and after I had flown a while, I could also see steam rising off my fleece. There was almost no one in the park, quite a contrast with the soccer and football of last weekend.

I flew the usual Echo tricks. I had some nice catches out of helicopter spirals: two tail catches, two or three wingtip catches, and one spiral to fade to catch!

On my CD player in the van: Cat Stevens singing "Morning Has Broken"

A Yo-Yo into my Hands

Date: 10/7/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: Echo on 12'
Wind: 1 - 3 mph, SE
Weather: Cloudy, 60º

The wind was a little strong for the Echo causing helicopter spirals to work only marginally, with only a few good ones. But it was good conditions for flying into and out of fades. I also tried some backflips with one yo-yo-ing right into my hands. Now that was an "accidental trick" that really surprised me! Maybe someday in the future I might work on such a trick like that on purpose.

Banished to the small soccer fields

Date: 10/5/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 65' <--- "shorter than usual"
Wind: 4 - 8 mph, NE
Weather: Mostly sunny, 68º

It was beautiful kite flying weather after work today - warm with a "perfect" wind. And all my usual fields were taken with soccer and football and kids goofing around. With the very nice weather, I don't blame them, but they should not have been playing on my field. But the conditions were too good to not fly, so I ended up flying with shorter lines than usual in a tight area of small soccer fields. I had to dodge the soccer goal-posts and nets.

The wind was very nice for slightly rising fades. Flic-flacs worked well and I practiced cascades -- I still don't have the timing down quite right on them yet. I was able to do one Jacob's Ladder rung and a few sets of nice 540s.

Ten-four good buddy

Date: 10/4/09, Sun.
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: Echo on 12'
Wind: 0 - 1 mph, NE
Weather: Sunny, 44º

A typical weekend morning fly with my Echo. I did all the usual Echo tricks including some fades. My kite and my pants cuffs got extremely wet from the dewy grass. Soccer families then arrived and out of dozens of people only one acknowledged me with a "hi."

Yesterday once more

Date: 10/3/09, Sat.
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85', Micron on 65' (with tail)
Wind: 7 - 14 mph (gusty), W
Weather: Cloudy, 53º

Today's flying was practically a repeat of yesterday's flying session. At one point I had 20 twists in the lines with the Micron.

Sort of like last Spring

Date: 10/2/09
Place: Cosmo Park, Columbia, MO
Kites: E2 on 85', Micron on 65' (with tail)
Wind: 7 - 14 mph (gusty), W
Weather: Cloudy, 60º

The wind was a little stronger than I usually like and it reminded me of the flying I did last spring when I wasn't very good at low-wind flying yet. So I did the tricks that I had under my belt last spring plus some 540s. The wind was a little tricky for fades, but I was able to pull off a few anyways. I flew one backflip all the way to the ground.

Since the wind was strong enough, I also flew my Micron with its tail. I did a bunch of fast loops and since it was gusty, also some slow loops.