Today was the 17th annual Nelson Summertime Kite Festival. There was very little wind but the big kites were flying for a few hours this morning and intermittently during the afternoon. Heaps of people turned out anyway on this scorching hot Nelson Sunday. I managed to get a camera in the air with a few of the big kites this morning; something that is always pretty nerve wracking with all those giants flying around me. I just had to post this one shot of the Ray kite with Nelson Haven behind it, but I'll be uploading more during the evening as I sort through them and my dail-up connection catches up.
I have created a Flickr pool for pictures of the kite festival. It already has my photos from last year and this year in it. If you have some pictures, and you use Flickr.com, please join the group and add yours to the pool! The Flickr group is called "The Annual Nelson Summertime Kite Festival". (If you don't use Flickr, its free and painless.)
ps. It just hit me what it is about the Ray image above that appeals to me. There's no lines. You can't see any bridle-lines, no flying lines, nothing but kite.... and so the secret of how it is flying is not directly revealed. The magic of kite flying lives on!
It has become a bit of a tradition for me and my friends to meet up at Mcleans Reserve on the banks of the Motueka River, circle the wagons and celebrate another new beginning together (along with a spot of kayaking). I got back yesterday after a few days living in the van. Here are some shots from the paddle down the river we did on the last day of 2007.
There's a river 'round here somewhere!
Found it!
After recent rain the mouth of the Graham Valley River looked super clean, sparkling in the afternoon sun.
Day two of the 2007 Nelson Summertime Kite Festival was another mixed bag of wind conditions. Thankfully, in the middle of the afternoon, just when the crowds were beginning to arrive, the grey clouds parted, and the northerly sea breeze kicked in juuust enough to put on a show.
The breeze was a very light southwest for most of the morning. Here the Kimono kite is caught resting during a lull in the breeze.
A Peter Lynn Ray flying high above a rainbow-coloured fish.
As the clouds broke up and the blue sky appeared, the wind shifted around to the north and suddenly the sky was filled with kites.
At the end of the afternoon, after most of the crowds had gone, I managed to get enough of a wind to launch my KAP rig and get a few shots looking down.
The wind started off light and got lighter throughout the day. Unfortunatly the grey skies kept the sea breeze from ever really kicking in. The few kites that could fly did, but most things dropped from the sky mid-afternoon. There certainly wasn't enough wind to kite buggy so there were a few bored kite buggy pilots around who resorted to towing buggys around the field with a minivan.
Tommorrow (Sunday) is the big public display day, so I hope the weathers better! At least it didn't rain today...
This kite reminds me of the space invaders games of my youth.
Because of the lack of wind I had no chance to do any kite aerial photography today but the gear is all ready to go, so maybe tomorrow.
I spent part of Christmas day out and about with my kite aerial photography rig, on my bike. Perfect day for it to.
This was my first digital KAP effort. I picked up a Nikon Coolpix 4100 digital camera on TradeMe for a mere $10. I got it that cheap because the LCD screen on it was cracked and not working. I don't really care if the LCD screen is working or not when the camera is hanging from my kite several hundred feet above me. The only drawback is I have to wait until I get home to see the shots (which kind of takes me back to some of the fun of film photography; the anticipation is half the pleasure).
On this flight I only managed to take 27 frames before the camera shut off for some reason (possibly batteries). Of course I didn't know it had turned itself off until I brought the camera back to earth an hour or so later (note to self: get better batteries). Of those 27 frames, I've used 5 to make up 3 images (below), with a little help from Photoshop.
This is two images stitched together of Neale Park, one of the best little kite flying grounds in the world. The Nelson Summertime Kite Festival (put on by the Nelson Kite Club) will be here in a few weeks time. I hope to repeat this shot then.
This is Founders Park. It is a little village like park which is a collection of historic buildings from around the Nelson region. It has a Church, a pub, a printer, a windmill, a livery, 2 train stations (soon to be three) and approx 1km of track, and my favourite, a working organic brewery. The park is well worth a visit if you're in Nelson.
Another stitch job. I can't resist getting a shot or two with me in it, whenever I have a camera in the air. You can see the kiteline, and me, and my Xtracycle. I particularly like the colour of the water in Nelson Haven in this shot.
As you may have noticed I'm trying out Flickr for image hosting. I can't see the point in paying to host all the images I post of CoffeeWaffle if it can be done (well) for free. I'm just loading my KAP images there for now as a trial. There is also a very active KAP group on Flickr so if you'd like to see more photos taken from the kites view, check it out.
About 2 years ago Briggsy came to visit from the UK and learnt to kite buggy while she was here. She's in NZ again and her and Milky are staying for a few days. Today we went to Rabbit Island to to introduce Milky a powerkite. While we were setting up Briggsy (now being the 'experienced' kite buggy pilot of them) informed me that Milky wanted to "go really fast with a really big kite". Milky wasn't saying much.... just pacing.
We put up the stack of excaliburs to start with and they turned out to be the perfect choice for the conditions.
There were a few crashes and relaunches as to be expected. After a while I left them to practice. I made one run in the kite buggy to the west end of the beach and back with my 5.5m Pepper. The wind was perfect. Straight onshore, steady, and strong (20-25 knots I'd guess). By the time I got back from the 8km round trip Milky was flying the excaliburs like an expert, holding straight right across the power window. There were even a few skud marks in the sand to prove he was gaining confidence fast.
Time for the wheels. I find when someone new is about to try kite buggying, the less you say to them the better. I seem to end up scaring them out of it as I think of, and tell them, all the things they shouldn't do. I should just tell them the few things they need to do (sit in buggy, dive kite into power, steer buggy and try to keep wheels-side down) and let them go. There really is only one way to learn. Instead I try to describe why you shouldn't steer to far upwind, and what to do if you find yourself going backwards at 40kph, with 6 loops in the kite lines and sand in your eyes.
Within minutes of getting in the buggy, Milky was making textbook turns.
Then Briggsy had a go to. Here Milky has just assisted in the launch of the excalibur stack.
Its just like riding a bike.
As the tide came in the beach got steadily narrower, until there was barely enough room to make a wide turn without the kites going near the row of large pine trees along the dunes. Briggsy proceded to demonstrate her kite parking technique. She missed the first two trees in the row with some very slick stunt kite work and 'parked' the stack very gently in the third. After taking a couple of pictures (below) I was able to relaunch from the tree with just a few quick steps backwards. Slick parking indeed.
We're hoping for the same conditions tomorrow. The forecast is looking promising and the team sounds keen.
