Wind Beaufort 6 today?

Yikes.

We've come a long way, baby.

Yeah, as with my other "blogs", I haven't been much of a blogger lately. Much of that has to do with kiting.

This past weekend, I was flying for 13 hours total. That's quite alot of time with a kite. Since my last post wherein I greatly exaggerated my progress, the cascade has become a very repeatable, sustainable, and very tight trick. My basics are getting the extra snap that makes basic figures combined with two-point landings, half-axels, and flic-flacs look like a sharp and controlled ballet.

I am still having a heck of time discovering the back spin. Pointers are welcome. The jacob's ladders are starting to take shape thanks to Bram's tip of starting from one edge and gliding back to center. I worked on the 540 for a bit, and have since completely neglected it as a trick. However, slot machines seem to be taking shape, snap lazies are becoming automatic, and I am starting to get the guts to try the taz machine. It's happened more than once.

Lam sent me a mid vent. It's the best kite I own. The standard Sea Devil is still a great kite, but its extreme drive can be rather limiting in higher wind. That's where the mid vent comes it. It's simply amazing what four vents will do to an already fantastic kite. Without raising the low end of the wind range by much (maybe from 3 to 4 mph), the mid vent is a Sea Devil with the ability to shed some of the extra drive the sail generates in higher winds, keeping the feeling of the standard while giving you a giant wind range. I was flying in winds in excess of 20 miles per hour this weekend. These are winds in which the standard starts to build overpressure, and bending of the leading edges is common. The mid vent shed this wind with ease, and definitely asked for more.

Westerpark flights 2

Well, I have been back in Amsterdam for a few weeks now. My Sea Devil has been unveiled in the park, and has brought more than one onlooker to ask a question or two. Since a recent concert series, the main field of the Westerpark has been turned into a dusty dirt moonscape. This turns out to be terrible for picnics, and thus great from me and my kite.

I have been working intensely on getting the half axels going consistently, but I haven't gotten them locked in yet. I have also been working hard on a steady fade. Tough going, but progress is obvious every day.

Here's the Sea Devil for you...in flight in a park in Austria!

Another nice night

Last night in Lausanne was wonderful: warm, sunny, and wind from the East. I flew my Gemini for the last time last night. I decided this kite was too much trick for me. I can fly it well, and do some basic stuff on it. However, on longer lines I lose control quickly, and the oversteer becomes too much for my inexperienced and heavy hands. I have seen Lars ring some nice corners out of the Gem, but it's a trick kite plain and simple.

Last night I took out my HQ Yukon. I tricked it like hell after folding up the Gem. I was astounded. I haven't got any fancy stuff to do yo-yo's and so, but axels were easy on this kite. It was stalling and floating all the time, maybe even more stable in the stall than the Gem? Anyway, I had loads of fun flying the Yukon, although many times the wind goes well below it's sweet spot. Landing often was required. However, if I had enough patience, it always returned.

The bottom line is that I am growing as a flyer, and I am having more and more dreams of being able to compete some day. In these dreams, I am flying with sick long lines, blasting through diamonds and squares, popping axels between figures, and tricking to rocking music. For this, I have decided the Gemini is not the kite for me. Maybe my long arms and body make it too sensitive for me. I have been in contact with a guy from Canada who makes kites. We'll see. For now though, I'll stick to my Yukon, Flashlight, and mp3 player.

Had a great late night session in low wind

Last night was beautiful night in Lausanne, with light winds that at times could even float the Gemini. I needed to clear my mind, as the day in the lab was horrible. I am here already three weeks, and I have very little data. I hope that I can still pull out the nosedive I am in, and with more than three weeks of solid experimenting left at the end, it should be possible.

I find it difficult to fly in low wind, as the Flashlight is not as tricky as the Gemini, and often catches the wind rather than floats in an axel, for example. But last night, after reading some tips on the FA forum, I seem to have gotten a bit better. Still, I need a great deal more practice. Too bad, I guess I'll have to work harder in the future, after work.

Axles are now locked in

Yeah, great week. I got a bit of science accomplished. I found a gap junction between two pyramidal cells this week. For non-neuro folks, that means squat, but it was a cool experiment.

I also got the axle locked in. I can't do it in heavy winds, but yesterday I did 8 in a row...left, right, left, etc. I am now trying to immediately reverse it...in an attempt to get a cascade going. That's not so easy. But what fun, huh? I heard someone say that after you learn to do an axel, the next thing to do is to stop doing them.

I attended "Balelec" this past evening. This is a very nice music festival on the grounds of the EPFL here in Lausanne. It sported 8 stages, and all genres of live music. It was a really good time, although the food was expensive. Today I am at the lab, but without access to the animal facility for some reason. Thus, I am working on blogs, websites, and whatever else I can occupy my time with to avoid analysis. You can guess it's raining today; otherwise I wouldn't be writing this.

Sunburn like Close Encounters

Funny, but these last few days without experiments have been pretty cool. I did get sunburned on one side of my neck, as though I had a "close encounter" with an alien space craft. Actually, it was because I had my hair in a tail which covered one side, and I faced nearly the same direction all afternoon. I find I don't get quite so bored when there is flying to be done. I focus. I get quite a bit of work done at the lab, reading papers, a bit of analysis, and still can take some time in the afternoon to fly. Yesterday, I validated a recent field by flying on it for the third day in a row. However, it's still a ultralight situation in Switzerland, which is has been frustrating until yesterday. Yesterday, I finally coaxed my Prism Flashlight into an axle. While still far from "locked in", it's a trick in progress for sure. As it turns out, this kite needs to be well set up for an axle (i.e. in a real stall, with the nose dropping just slightly) much more than the Gemini, which even in my hands makes an axel almost too easy to call a trick. I also felt like I made a much needed improvement to my snap-stall, and I even had one basic kill which I rotated into a brief but stable fade. The flic-flak was attempted but did not happen.

I could retire now to a Philippine island (with internet...to order kites) where I could start a sanctuary for freestyle flyers. There would be beach huts, bon fires, fresh fish, and always, everyday, a warm beaufort 3 from the west. I'll let you know when it's set up.