Murray Neill: Kiting and Kayaking

Nelson kite festival 2009 (timelapse video)

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:37:25 GMT

Sunday Afternoon Pepin Island Paddle

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 06:48:44 GMT

Kite flying at the Chateau

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:37:41 GMT

This weekend I was at The Mount Ruapehu Bayview Chateau Tongariro (the Chateau for short) to celebrate the 40th birthday of a friend. I flew my Quantum trick kite on the golf course on Saturday after the biggest overnight dump of snow since 1992 on Friday night.

Ray over the Haven

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 07:46:15 GMT

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!

New Years Campout and Kayak

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 22:13:42 GMT

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.

Yellow Squadron Leader

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 10:49:15 GMT

Lazy Summer Sunday Afternoon

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 10:06:57 GMT

I got out on my bike today with my kite aerial photography gear onboard to capture a bit of Nelson in summer.

Portrait of a Kite Aerial Photographer

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 19:36:47 GMT

Nelson Kite Festival 2007 - Day 2 (display day)

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 08:26:29 GMT

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.

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I'll be uploading these images and heaps more in full size, to my Flickr account in the next day or two so check them out.

Triangular box kite DIY

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 09:20:40 GMT

Nelson Kite Festival 2007 - Day 1 (warmup)

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 07:46:49 GMT

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.

New Years Campout

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 07:06:43 GMT

Just like this time last year, I got together with friends Mark, Pamela, and Devon to camp out next to the Motueka River over the New Years break.

This is the view looking upriver from our camping spot.

The kayaks all lined up ready for action on new years morning.

Probably my favourite thing about camping... the campfire.

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KAP Practice

Tue, 26 Dec 2006 01:00:12 GMT

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.

Milky & Briggsy go buggying

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:44:33 GMT

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.

SLR in the rigging

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 07:59:07 GMT

Saturdays kite aerial photography mission was a bit of a failure. The wind only got strong enough breifly at the end of the day. I had just enough time to click through 1 film. It was grey and trying to rain. None of the shots really came out very well due to lack of light and lack of altitude. The one below was probably the best of the outing and it was just the test shot, to make sure the shutter was working (and everything was turned on) before putting the kite higher.

Note the look of intense concentration.

This morning I still hadn't unloaded the gear from the bike so I just left it there and rode it all to work with me. I figured it would mean either I would be able to get some shots after work, or there'll be no head wind for the ride home. The afternoon sea-breeze arrived right on cue. This time I put my SLR camera up (the old film one, not the brand new digital... although I am getting braver...). The weight is a bit more (mostly due to the lens of the SLR) but the 30 square foot flow form parafoil didn't seem to notice. It just sat anchored to the sky while I walked it around Miazu park and took photos of the Japanese gardens from a kites-eye view. I also got some shots of Founders park. At least I hope I did... it's a bit tricky to tell where you're pointing a camera while it hanging from a kite. I'll have some shots in the general direction anyway. I'll have that film back from the developers this time tomorrow. I'm pretty hopeful about this shoot.

Here's todays equipment... a Canon EOS film camera under the 30# Sutton Flow Form parafoil with two fuzzy stabilising tails attached.

KAP by bike

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 21:16:03 GMT

Yesterday I loaded up my bike with my kite aerial photography gear and set off to find something windy and photogenic. Although it had been blowing every afternoon during the past week, Saturday was relativly clam. The fickle wind was coming and going rather unpredictibly, which is exactly what you don't want when dangling a camera from the kite line. Had a lovely bike ride though. It was nice to be riding with no particular place to be and all day to get there. I snapped a few ground based shots along the way. It was one of those days with the bluest sky and whitest clouds that kept moving and changing the light. A photographers sky.

The load on the bike consisted of the KAP rig, RC controller, 2 KAP kites, 3 cameras, 1 tripod, 1 stunt kite, and rain gear.

The 16 square foot sutton flowform did finally lift a camera at the end of the day. The clouds had closed in and there was a breif SE blow hard enough for me to loft my Canon EOS film camera over the Boulder Bank. The light was a little low but it will be interesting to see what I got when the film is processed.

Anatomy of a KAP rig

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 21:39:31 GMT

For those of you wondering how a radio controlled kite aerial photography rig works....

The whole thing hangs from a picavet suspension system.

This attaches to the kite line (usually about 30m down the line from the kite) at two points a couple of metres apart. The picavet is one long length of braided cord which the cross above the camera can slide freely on (some use tiny pullys here like the kind used on model sail boats). It ensures the camera stays level in relation to the ground no matter what angle the kite is flying at.
The rig uses three servos which came with a model RC aeroplane kit. These normally have one arm which can move 90 degrees. On a plane they would move flaps up and down. The top servo (2) on this rig has been modified to rotate a full 360 degrees so it can turn the whole rig to look in any direction.
This is the receiver. It takes the signals from the control transmitter on the ground (via the aerial) and sends them to the appropriate servo. You can see three red/black/white wires going from it to each of the servos.
This is the receivers aerial. Simply a wire twisted around a peice of dowel.
The battery pack is four AA sized rechargables.
The on/off switch. Works best if you remember to turn this on before launching :)
This is the tilt servo. It can rotate 90 degrees taking the camera from a straight-down orientation up to look out towards the horizon.
The last servo is the trigger finger. Its arm moves 90 degrees to push the shutter button. I've made a little finger out of beef bone which reaches the button. The arm is easily removed so I can make a variety of 'fingers' for different cameras I may want to use.
Finally the camera. This one is an old fully automatic minolta compact 35mm film camera. Picture quality is not that great but it made a good test pilot. I am currently fitting my old Canon EOS film camera to the rig, which although its a little heavier, should give very good picture quality.

The rig is controlled from the ground with a transmitter just like any radio controlled model car/boat/or plane would use. BTW you can buy this rig as a kit here.

First Kite Aerial Photos

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 06:46:36 GMT

The results are in. I picked up the pictures from Saturdays KAP maiden flight on my way home today. I'm pretty happy. I feel a whole new creative door just opened up for me. I'm rethinking every location I've ever shot, and a few new ones I've not considered before, all because I now have this unique new angle to shot from. I particulary like the straight down shots; they can be quite ambiguous simply because we don't often see things from up there. Can't wait for the kite festival now! I'll relish the challenge of getting close-ups of those gaint kites above Neale Park with all the little people below.

Maiden Flight

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 10:06:04 GMT

The Kite Aerial Photography rig I built ages ago, finally got its first flight today. I sent it up under my 15 square foot sutton flowform single line kite (above), with an old minolta 35mm film camera onboard the radio controled rig. I choose the Wakapuaka sand flats as a test area, where there was a stiff SW wind blowing this afternoon. With the help of Devon, who took photos and held the kite when I needed an extra pair of hands, I clicked through two 24 exposure films. There was nowhere I could get them developed today so I probably won't see the results until Monday. I was really pleased with the stability and lift of this kite, even with the camera rig on it. Next time I think I'll be confident enough to put a digital camera up there. The old minolta compact was a good 'saftey' camera to use first time up, in case things went wrong... but nothing did! Because I can't see through the viewfinder when shooting there's a lot of guess work going on. Being able to review the shots (between short flights) on a digital will really be a help in finding good pictures form this new viewpoint.

Here I am bringing the rig in. It is attached about 30 down the line from the kite.

A Lap Around Pepin Island

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 07:16:06 GMT

It's been a while since I had the kayak wet. It seems I have to many hobbies, or not enough weekends. I think it's the later.

Today the weather and tides were perfect for one of my favourite paddles, and one that's only 10 minutes from home, Pepin Island.

There were four kayakers in our party; Mark, Pamela, Devon and myself. We left the land bridge at high tide, paddled across the esturay, out the harbor mouth, and clockwise around the island. I also dropped of a Geocache in one of the islands little many coves, the co-ordinates of which I will be publishing soon. (now published here)

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NKC Club Day at Rabbit Island

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 08:18:29 GMT

Finally, after a loooong relatively windless winter we got a steady northery wind all afternoon on a Nelson Kite Club meet. Rabbit Island Beach is the place to be in a northerly and this afternoon low tide was around 5.30pm. A least seven club members, including myself made appearances, with a couple of buggys, three landboards, and a stunt kite or two.

I finally got to really test out my 8.0m² Rebble foil. It's the big yellow one in the pictures below. What a great kite! Bags of power, great wind range and almost inpossible to luff. It even kept flying when the 8.5m² C-quads (previously my prefered light wind buggy kite) were falling out of the sky as the wind dropped at days end.

Between speed runs down the beach I stopped to take a few shots of the others...

Tim having a ball.

Tim and Caleb.

Ted trying out the 8.0m² Rebble

The rear view of the 8.0m² Rebble, my new favourite kite.

Bless our Fleet

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 07:38:33 GMT

It was a typical mid-winter Nelson day here; clear, clam, and crisp in the shade. The harbour was like a mirror. The perfect day for a kayak. Devon and I paddled out to Haul-ashore island which sits at Nelson harbour entrance to find a geo-cache hidden out there. Quite co-incidently today was the annual 'blessing of the fleet' so the harbour was filled with all manner of craft. An auspicious start to our kayaking season. We got back just as it was getting dark and I couldn't feel my fingers and toes for the cold. After changing into some warm dry clothes I enjoyed this sunset from under the palm tree at the end of Akersten St.

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Gusty Sunday

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 09:58:57 GMT

Gusty southwest winds across the Wakapuaka sand flats this afternoon brought most of Nelson's kite buggying community out of the wood work... all 5 of us! I decided about midday to take my buggy and kites out to dodge the mud and puddles out there. I don't mind getting wet and muddy when it is that much fun. I'd been hooning around for a couple of hours when I spotted another kite take to the air down by the sand flats entrance. It was Marty's Venom. I haven't seen him since an afternoon on Rabbit Island beach back in late summer. A little while later Roy's blue and white c-quad appeared (haven't seen him in ages either), then Ted and Tim showed up about 3.30pm. For the rest of the afternoon we chased and raced each other all over the place until it started to get dark. I think we were all blowing out the winter cobwebs. Ended up cold, tired, wet.... and happy.

I just had to stop at "the Glen" on the way home to sit on the boulder bank and watch the dramatic sunset. I am now fully ready to face another week. If only every weekend could come together like this...

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100kph barrier broken

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 21:34:34 GMT

http://kitebuggy.co.nz/archives/000037.html

He's finally done it. Perrin, (aka terminator, aka sand-sifter) of Kiteworks has broken the 100 kilometers per hour speed barrier on a kite buggy. Interestingly it wasn't some hot new buggy design that he did it on, but rather the classic Peter Lynn 5-wheeler (with extended side rails and a wide back axle). In his own words....

Hi there
Here is my personal top speed in a buggy - 101 KPH 62 MPH
On the 03032006 I finally broke the 100 kph barrier after years of trying.
I did it using a Peter Lynn Comp Buggy with upgraded 32mm extended side frames, a 1.4m giga strong axle and a 5 wheel kit.
Wheels were alloy rims with treaded tyres
Buggy mass is 35kg, driver mass is 70kg and I carried 40kg ballast
The kite was a 12m Naish Shockwave hard wired to the buggy frame
The beach was Muriwai, New Zealand .Soft, damp, black iron sand with a 2km run in 25-40 knots cross onshore (south west)
Most of the runs that day were.

You're a legend mate. I wonder if this is going to be like the four minute mile; now that physological barrier of 100kph is gone will we see this record broken again and again?

Exercising Sasha

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 10:39:33 GMT

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