Date: Sat, 25 Mar 1995 09:09:32 -1000 From: Colin_Douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz (Colin Douthwaite) Message-Id: <3l1ppd$r0g@southern.co.nz> Organization: Southern InterNet Services Subject: Canterbury Kite Festival - DAY 3 __________ ____ ____ ___________ ,(____) ____/~\____ (____), __---__ ,' _/ `\~/'~~~`\~/' \_ ', __---__ (\,--/~__--_ ~/' _-~ /_\,___,/_\ ~-_ `\~ _--__~\--,/) `~~--~ `-___.-~ `~~~~\_/~~~~' ~-.___-' ~--~~' -Lee Lawrence- ----------- ----------- ___ ___ _ _ ___ ___ ___ ___ _ _ ___ _ _ | _>| . || \ ||_ _|| __>| . \| . >| | || . \| | | | <__| || | | | | _> | /| . \| ' || /\ / `___/|_|_||_\_| |_| |___>|_\_\|___/`___'|_\_\ |_| _ __ _ ___ ___ | / /| ||_ _|| __> | \ | | | | | _> |_\_\|_| |_| |___> ___ ___ ___ ___ _ _ _ ___ _ | __>| __>/ __>|_ _|| || | || . || | | _> | _> \__ \ | | | || ' || || |_ |_| |___><___/ |_| |_||__/ |_|_||___| ___ ____ | . \ ___ _ _ <__ / | | | <_> | | | | <_ \ |___/ <___| `_. | <___/ <___' --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 3 was, as so often happens, the Wind's Day - or "Day of the Wind". Being Sunday it was also the day when the largest public attendance occurred. The cars poured into the area after lunch and although the public got value for money ( entry was free ) the high winds from 2-30pm onwards denied them the best flights and sights. Actually I discovered later from a visitor that the car drivers were asking what the entry charge was and some bright person said although entry was free a donation per car would be acceptable. Apparently a large bag of coins was collected which would help to defray the costs of the festival :-) At 8am a strong gusty Nor Wester was blowing with gusts up to 50 knots. At about 9am the wind blew the metal scaffolding tower in front of the marquee over and the updraughts which were pushing the high clouds even higher threatened to lift the entire marquee skywards. ( Des Pitfield was considering trying to fly the marquee at this point.) About 9-15 a.m the wind dropped to almost nothing and there was time for the group photograph of the 80 registered fliers of which 28 were international visitors. The wind rose and fell during the morning but there was a chance to have a trial flight with Steve Broren's new stunter the "Ground Zero Slash" a three quarter stunter produced by the Australian company, Ground Zero. It was a nice kite to fly and quite smooth and fast with just a tendency to stall, then fall, at the edge of the wind but this was not difficult to overcome. Winds started rising to 20 to 30 knots but eased about midday and >From then until about 2-30pm was the best flying time of the day. I took this opportunity to fly my 1976 vintage Peter Powell, with the original bright yellow plastic sail, aluminium tubing spars and spine, a spring steel spreader across the face of the kite for dihedral and a 30 metre red tubular tail. I selected plenty of free airspace and did lots of skywriting for about 40 minutes, then the wind died away and the kite sank - the Peter Powell needs about 8 to 15 knots for happy flying. With the wind drop I went to find Rowan Sangster and let him have a fly with my Grandmaster Indian Fighter, 34 grams weight with mylar sail, bamboo spine and 2.2 mm fibreglass cross-spar. Rowan flew the kite right over the marquee and flew it beautifully making it disappear behind the marquee and reappear again when you thought it was lost. Eventually he was flying the kite with one hand using the line-on-the-ground technique. Rowan is a great little flier :-) As the soft kites and single line display kites gave way to the wind which was rising again into the 15 to 25 knot range the Stunters took over the central flying area and gave a fast, highly skilled, and somewhat noisy display for the crowd who probably enjoyed the all action work even if they did not appreciate the technicalities. At 3-30pm the wind had blown down just about everything and the Peels and Buggies had withdrawn. Someone was using a Peter Lynn Excalibur to power his buggy at ths time. It seems that the Excalibur, now sold as a stunter, was originally designed as a power kite to pull the early buggies but it was never a serious contender in the power game. You have to be strong and fearless to fly it as a stunter though :-) Out of frustration at the rapidly approaching end to the Festival I was foolish enough to try to fly the Jim Oliver 2-line Paraglider in the 15 to 30 knot wind in front of the crowd. I used my strongest lines, 80lb, and thought I risked breaking something on the kite. I got it airborne to about 200 feet went into a push turn and one line snapped, the kite spun like a propeller for a few seconds then the second line snapped and the kite nosedived quite gently close to a group of fliers. An American flier rescued the kite, asked what lines were used, then said a minimum of 150 lbs was needed for those winds :-( And that seemed to be it - everyone was packing gear and the public started to drift away as the kites disappeared. During the packing up Anne Whitehead came to say hello and said she had seen my postings on rec.kites from time to time. she also said that Drachen International ( English Edition ) was now on sale in the NZ kite stores alongside "Kitelines". Everyone seemed to have a happy time at the Festival and this always seems to happen no matter what the weather and in spite of the disasters. I think it is due to the special personal qualities of the organisers, Des Pitfield and Yvonne de Mille, who put everything into the effort to make the Canterbury Festival enjoyable. They were aided this year by Nigel Harris, also a kitemaker, and assisted over the 3 day activities by a few of the faithful local fliers. We have much to thank these people for every year. Regrets ? Yes, of course. I did not do even half of what I intended to do in flying, in meeting people and in exchanging tips and ideas - three whole days and the time just flies with the wind < SIGH >. Does that indicate great enjoyment ? I guess so ! AT LAST - THE END - OF A LONG TAIL !!! -------------------------------------------------------------------- = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =