Tag: boy

Catherine’s Wheel

Catherine's Wheel Being Pulled Well, I finished my first attempt at a “Catherine’s Wheel” last night – a piece of line laundry that is supposed to spin in the wind. It was rather easy to make except that the instructions were about as clear as mud. As a result, I don’t know if it’s going to spin or not – if it’s not constructed properly, it will inflate but not spin. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any wind either last night or today so I ended up taking my boy down to the ocean where, of course, there also wasn’t any wind (not even the slightest breeze). So. . .what does one do? Have your boy run with it, of course! The picture at the left shows just that. 

As is evident, my Catherine’s Wheel did inflate but I still haven’t been able to tell if it will spin. My boy’sCatherine's Wheel Flashing By test run did prove that it will at least appear as a circle. Sadly a couple of the bridles came loose during it’s maiden voyage. I used Dacron line and tied it to the wheel using sheet bends (as the instructions directed). Unfortunately, the Dacron is too slippery and a couple of the knots came undone. I’m going to super-glue each knot tonight as tying them on was a bit of a pain.

Catherine's Wheel at the Finish Line Even with the lack of wind and the problems with the bridles, I think that the Catherine’s Wheel turned okay. I’m just hoping that it will spin. Only time will tell that – I’m going to try again tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed!

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.

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).

2007 New Year’s Day San Diego Kite Festival


2007 New Year’s Day San Diego Kite Festival
Originally uploaded by bassoonkap.

Well, it appears as if I’ve got a new hobby, thanks to the 2007 New Year’s Day Kite Festival in San Diego. Having discovered a cool kite shop at Seaport Village a few months earlier with my youngest son, we learned about this annual event and decided it might be a fun way to kick off the New Year. Well, we weren’t disappointed – as can be seen from the photo at the left (double click on it for a larger view), we had a spectacular time! We arrived in the morning and stayed until the sun went down.

All kinds of great kites were flown – huge kites (as noted in the picture), stunt kites, synchronized kites flown to music, and just about everything in between. Prior to attending the festival, I had chatted on several occasions with one of the guys (Dave) from the kite shop: he had told me about folks who sent cameras up with their kites and took aerial photographs. While we didn’t see anyone taking Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) at the festival, we had so much fun that I was really hooked on the idea. While my boy loved flying stunt kites, I tend to be more attracted to the watching them fly (although the synchronized kites were REALLY fun to watch – someday, it might be fun to try). Anyway, to make a long story short, I’m now interested in KAPing and have just created my first rig. I’ll post more about that later as it’s getting late and I had better call it a night.