4 - 5 Gusting to 6

Date: 11/27/2011 Place: 100 Acres Park, Moorhead, MN Kites: 4d on 46' Wind: 4 to 6 mph, SW Weather: Sunny, 32º

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and even though it was only 32º it seemed warmer with the sun shining on my back and only a gentle breeze blowing. Annett walked in the park while I flew my kite. It was definitely a 4d day. The wind was 4 - 5 mph, with gusts (?!) to 6 mph. No 360s and spirals today, but all the other tricks were possible. Fades were easy and glorious. With me standing in one place a fade would gently and slowly rise or just stay in one place in the sky. I could control the fades with just a twitch of my fingers, not even using my whole hands. A dive, a flair to a pancake, then a pull to a fade was the easiest way into a fade this afternoon.

An Opposite Day From Yesterday

Date: 11/20/2011 Place: 100 Acres Park, Moorhead, MN Kites: Nirvana on 100 Wind: 9 to 5 mph, S Weather: Sunny Sunset, 22º

It wasn't quite like a night-vs-day difference from yesterday, but almost. It was a balmy 22º and the sun was shining and the wind was not a gale, so it was actually pleasant flying. I wore the same coats and layers as yesterday (where I was cold) and today I had to unzip my coat and put my hat's ear flaps up because I got too warm. This was also partly because today I was flying a dual-line kite and I always move around more with a dual-line kite than with a quad-line kite.

Justin flew his parafoil for a while until the wind died down too much for it to make that kite fun. Then he was able to take some more video. It was a very nice wind for my Nirvana. I was able to show Justin some tricks that I had not shown him before, namely: Jacob's Ladders (The Nirvana excels at this trick), Back-spins, Back-flips with Lazy-Susans, and a couple of Slot-machines.

Zero Flying

Date: 11/19/2011 Place: 100 Acres Park, Moorhead, MN Kites: Rev 1.5-b "Sunset" 4-wrap on 70' Wind: 18 to 25 mph, N Weather: Cloudy, 15º 18 flights at $17.89/flight

Justin, my best friend from Minneapolis, was visiting for the weekend, and since I got him interested in kite flying, we had to go out and fly, even though it was frozen-finger weather. I also wanted to show him a real-life quad-line kite flying. I demonstrated many of the things I do with my Rev's, flying the vented kite since it was blowing a gale, which made the wind-chill temperatures around zero! Justin took some video with his new camcorder. This also froze his fingers enough that he passed on flying his parafoil. Maybe I'll post some video sometime when I have time to edit the raw-footage and figure out how to post video on this blog. We were rather crazy to even try and fly in this kind of weather. I found out that I really need to add some tabs of some kind to make it much much easier to undo the larks-head knots to un-attach the line from the kite's bridle. My fingers really got cold putting my kite away.

Kite Switching Wind

Date: 11/12/2011 Place: 100 Acres Park, Moorhead, MN Kites: Nirvana on 100', 4d on 46' Wind: 3 to 7 mph, SW Weather: Partly Sunny, 52º

I switched back-and-forth between the 4d and the Nirvana. Overall, it was a better wind for the Nirvana. Because the wind was sometimes on the lite side I got more wingtip wraps with my Nirvana than I like. But, it was also a good wind for trying Slot-Machines. I succeeded with three on the left.

11/11/11

Date: 11/11/11 Place: Ed Clapp Park, Fargo, ND Kites: 4d on 20' Wind: 4 to 8 mph, SW Weather: Mostly Sunny, 54º

The wind was very variable, but is was nice to move around flying the 4d. There was too much wind for 360s, but I did do some spirals, and some good fades. This was another mid-day lunch-break kite-flying session. On 11/11/11!

Sunny Lunch Nirvana

Date: 11/10/2011 Place: Rendezvous Park, West Fargo,ND Kites: Nirvana on 100' Wind: 10 to 6 mph, W Weather: Sunny, 40º

Today was a better day at work than yesterday, and a much nicer day for lunch break kite flying, too. It was a beautiful day, and warmer (because of the sun), with skateboarders out trying tricks on the ramps in the park. The wind was a little on the lite side for my Nirvana kite. But, it was still fun doing some dual-line tricks.

Very Gusty

Date: 11/9/2011 Place: Ed Clapp Park, Fargo, ND Kites: Rev 1.5-b "Sunset" 4-wrap on 70' Wind: 20 to 30 mph, NW Weather: Cloudy, 39º 17 flights at $18.94/flight

Today was rough at work and it was very nice to get away for a long lunch again to clear my mind with some kite flying. It was a lot colder than yesterday, but I was dressed appropriately. It was a bit of a challenge flying with such gusty conditions, but kind of fun, too.

A Rendezvous For Lunch

Date: 11/8/2011 Place: Rendezvous Park, West Fargo,ND Kites: Rev 1.5-b "Sunset" 4-wrap on 70' Wind: 14 to 18 mph, S Weather: Sunny, 50º 16 flights at $20.13/flight

I had a long lunch today because I worked extra late yesterday (not on purpose), which worked out great because it was a beautiful afternoon for flying a kite. The Rendezvous Park is 5.1 miles from the Microsoft Campus where I work.  The temperature was not too cold and the sky was a very blue, marred only to the west where some slash burning was happening. Flying the "Sunset" kite in this wind (not too strong) was nice. I worked on the usual, which is getting more precise with my flying.

A Lot of Bumpy Wind

Date: 11/5/2011 Place: 100 Acres Park, Moorhead, MN Kites: Rev 1.5-b "Sunset" 4-wrap on 70' Wind: 17 to 23 mph (Gusts to 30 mph), SE Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 57º 15 flights at $21.47/flight

A very windy and gusty day. The wind was so strong and gusty, I almost  didn't get my kite out. And it was a little scary flying it in these conditions. But, the kite did OK, and I didn't break it. It was very hard to fly it steady as the wind kept changing.

 There were a lot of geese sitting in the next field over. They seemed to be able to fly into the wind, but not very fast.

Quarter Moon and a Sweet Northwest Wind

Date: 11/2/2011 Place: 100 Acres Park, Moorhead, MN Kites: Nirvana on 100' Wind: 8 to 3 mph, NW Weather: Sunny/Sunset, 43º

This evening's flying session was on the short side. As the sunset, the wind also disappeared, but before it was gone, it was very sweet, gentle, and steady.

I tried out a new line-set: 100'x100#. It didn't come with wrist straps so I had to "borrow" some from another line set. The line is yellow and I found it very hard to see against the blue sky. Otherwise, the line is of the best quality.

I did some nice Jacob's Ladders, a back-flip with a lazy susan, some nice flic-flacs, and one OK slot machine. I tried more slot machines, but found that I kept wrapping the line around the wing-tips. Also, as the wind died down, I ended up in the "dead-launch" position, with many "walks of shame" -- at least no one was watching :^)