Author: BassoonMan

Le Frog and the Rev 1.5


Le Frog
Originally uploaded by Bassoon Man.

Isn’t this great – flying frogs! The one pictured here is a “small” one – only ten feet long. This lovely creature was launched on Sunday (three days ago) when my boy and I went to Huntington Beach to fly our new Rev 1.5. A video, created by my cell phone (isn’t technology great?!), was posted earlier. As noted, there wasn’t much wind so our flying experiences were limited. Just the same, I was still able to capture a few photographs as evidenced by this picture.

As previously mentioned, my boy was the one who spent most of the time trying to fly the Rev 1.5 on Sunday. I took a jaunt down to the beach the next day (Monday) with the hope that there might be enough wind for me to try but alas, that wasn’t to be. I returned yesterday fully expecting there to be no wind again but I was wrong! While there wasn’t a lot, there was a sudden change in weather and the beach was very foggy – and there was enough wind for me to actually get the Rev 1.5 airborne. To say the least, it was a blast! Of course, I’m still a beginner but the fact that I was able to get the kite up was a great accomplishment (at least for me).

The most difficult time I had was with launching the kite. Once airborne, the kite is extremely sensitive to the manner in which the lines (there are four) are manipulated. The instructions stated that it’s best to get the kite as high as possible and attempt to keep it there. That was a bit more of a challenge because once the kite reached its maximum altitude, it seemed to want to stall and come down – I had to move the kite from side to side in order to keep it aloft. Of course, this may have been due to the wind conditions but I don’t have enough experience yet to say with any certainty.

Waiting for some wind

Well, it was another completely windless day. Due to daylight savings time, the sun is now up later so I took a quick jaunt to Doheny State Beach (at Dana Point) to try and fly the Rev 1.5 (which is also an extremely low wind kite). Of course, there was no wind again (this is getting to be rather unreal) although I managed to get the kite up for about 30 seconds – that was shear bliss! Anyway, I tried for about an hour and a half with essentially no luck before the sun began to set. While the temperature was in the low 80’s (perhaps a record high for the day), there wasn’t even the slightest ocean breeze – ugh!

Anyway, in honor of the incredibly horrible flying conditions, I’ve now decided to add the weather to my blog – current conditions at John Wayne Airport (the closest National Weather Service Station) may be found on the right side of this blog. Even now, very, very early in the morning, the NWS is reporting zero winds. I’m just hoping and praying for a change in the very near future – I want to fly, in addition to getting my new remote controlled KAP rig airborne. The lack of wind is getting to be ridiculous. I also heard on the radio that this is, apparently, the driest year on record for Southern California. I don’t know if that is true, but it sure seems like it. Keeping my fingers crossed for some wind.

New Rev 1.5

After our trip to Sea World, we made our pilgrimage to the kite store. Having spoken with Dave earlier, I already knew that they had the final item needed for my collection – a Rev 1.5 SLE – a quadline stunt kite (they call it a “sportwing”) that is highly controllable. It’s truly a high-tech kite.

On Sunday (yesterday), my boy and I went back to Huntington Beach in order to launch it on its maiden voyage. We also launched another kite with some of our line laundry including a new giant frog! Oh, what fun! Unfortunately, the wind refused to cooperate again and, after flying the kite with the line laundry for awhile, we took it down in order to play with the Rev 1.5. As to be expected, I got to play with it for a few minutes and my boy spent most of the time with it while I helped retrieve it when it crashed. I managed to take the following video with my new cell phone (that I still don’t really know how to use yet) that shows my boy flying the kite. Not too bad for a beginner! Can’t wait until we get a day with more wind – we haven’t had a decent day in several weeks.

Flying a kite made by Dave

Flying a Kite made by Dave
Originally uploaded by Bassoon Man.

The local grocery store had a sale on tickets for Sea World – buy a ticket and get an annual pass for free. As a result, I bought tickets for my son and me and thought it would make a fun day for us. As we were pulling off the freeway, near Sea World, we saw a large number of kites flying in the adjacent park. Of course, we thought that it might be the San Diego Kite Club enjoying their monthly fly (the second Saturday of the month) and we were right! We stopped by just to say hello (my boy told me that I wasn’t allowed to fly any kites ) and found some of our friends – Dave from the Kite Store (the one responsible for my new addiction) and his wife Iris. Dave happened to have a rather cool homemade kite that the club was using on showing kids how to make their own and he, very kindly, decided to give it to my boy. As you can see – my son got a chance to fly the kite!

BTW, this photo may not be the greatest but it was on of the first taken with my new cell phone (which I’m still learning how to use).

My New Rig with a KAP Feather


Rig with KAP Feather
Originally uploaded by Bassoon Man.

Well, it seems like it’s been weeks and weeks since we’ve had a bit of decent wind to fly (at least on the days that I’m able to get out and try). Today was supposed to have been extremely windy but it couldn’t have been any calmer. I even tried a large number of locations in search of some moving air but there simply wasn’t any to be found. 🙁

As can be seen in this photo, I’ve now added a “KAP Feather” to my rig which is supposed to stabilize the camera while its aloft thereby drastically increasing the number of potentially useable pictures. Of course, I haven’t been able to try it out due to the lack of wind. It’s almost unbelievable as to how calm things have been – certainly not something I would expect to happen so often during our so-called “winter.” Heck, we’ve hardly had any rain too.

At the moment, I can finally hear some wind outside but it’s late, very late (just after midnight). I can only hope that it’ll continue to blow for the rest of the day. Keeping my fingers crossed. . .