From: daveb@pogo.wv.tek.com (Dave Butler)
Subject: Winter season in the NW
Message-ID: <14345@pogo.wv.tek.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 93 20:01:19 EST
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Wilsonville,  OR.

Lately I've been reading rec.kites instead of posting, so I figured I'd give a
limited update to what is happening in my area.  First the good news for the
Portland area: the Jim Baldo who took first at Lubbock Texas in the individual
masters freestyle competition is from Portland, Oregon.  In fact he lives a
couple miles from me.  On the other hand Jim is not sure he will compete
heavily this summer because, in his words, "Its just so damn expensive." Now
the bad news for Portland: Dave Britain (our local Rev expert) moved down to
San Diego, to try and take up kite flying for Revolution as a full time
profession.  We all wish Dave the best, but we will miss him; he's leaving a
lot of friends up here. 

As for me personally, Santa and the kite sales around here have been very,
very good to me.  In late fall, a store was dumping its overstock of Advantage
framed Magnum Opuses (or is that Magnum Opi?), for $225, so I lost a battle of
self control and bought one in competition colors.  With Christmas, came a
gift of a Prism, and my birthday brought a Quadrifoil.  The only ones I've had
any significant time to fly is the Opus (you're right Jeff, it's a dream) and
the Quadrifoil.  The Opus does a stall spin so easy that it makes some of my
other kites seem crude.  At the North Coast Challenge, I took it way down the
beach to practice.  Within a half an hour I was competent enough at stall spin
landings that I came back up the beach and flew quite comfortably in a narrow
vertical space.  As to the Prism, it too has some wonderful features.  For
instance, the bridle is created with the idea of easy adjustment.  Instead of
painstakingly adjusting the bridle at the point where it attaches to your kite
lines, one adjusts the bridle where it attaches to the top center and bottom
center of the kite.  There are specific fitting which allow easy adjustment
using the pretied incremental knots in the bridle line.  It also has a manual
that describes the best settings for any particular wind (including the effect
of any fine tuning you wish to try).  The Prism also comes with a full set of
battens (8), 4 standoffs, an optional set of ultralight battans, and a full,
easy to read manual which describes the best use of said battens (ie: what
battens should be used in what winds).  I've flown it in steady winds and it
has some really unique kicky moves, but it is dramatically different from most
deltas (eg: it takes a completely new method to launch it from a leading edge,
which I have yet to master). 

The local winds lately have been very variable; in fact downright erratic. 
High/gusting winds intermixed with just plain dead calm.  When flying this
weekend, I had the wind go from 3 mph to 20 mph and back several times in less
than 30 minutes.  This pretty well limits me to using my scorpion and my Rev
II as its easy to switch back and fourth (Most of my kites would either not
get up in the light wind (actually the Rev II won't get up in 3 mph), or would
shatter or yank my arms off in the high winds).  The Prism would probably be a
good kite for such winds, but its going to take a couple more hours of steady
wind to become competent on it (yes I've had it out in the variable winds, but
I felt completely uncoordinated). 

By the way, as to the vote on the rec.kites logo.  I still have a record of
all the votes which were cast, and the final vote last fall was "r.k" or
"R.K," implemented with hot pink and black. 
  
				Later,

				Dave Butler

    Science, freedom, beauty, adventure: What more could you ask of life? 
    Aviation combined all the elements I loved...  I began to feel that I 
    lived on a higher plane than the skeptics of the ground; one that was 
    richer because of its very association with the elements of danger they 
    dreaded, because it was freer of the earth to which they were bound.  In 
    flying I tasted the wine of the gods of which they could know nothing... 
				Charles A. Lindbergh Jr.



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