I decided to push my luck.......

I went for a kite today.....for the first time in over a month.....and it felt good :-) I probably shouldn't have.....my wrist is a bit more sore than I'd like right now, but it's certainly better than I thought it might be. One of the other guys I kite with wasn't so lucky though. While the rest of us were packing up, he managed to crash heavily on his ankle and may have broken it. It might be just badly sprained, if he's lucky.

I tried backroll kiteloops for the first time today. I've come to the conclusion that I need to either only do these on my 10m or 8m kites, or buy myself a much faster 12m kite. My Airush Lift ('04 model) just doesn't turn fast enough to do these without getting *well* spanked, even in moderate winds. It loops way too slowly for me to even consider using it for that again! Maybe when I've got some more practice at these and I can handle more power.......certainly not good for learning them anyway :-) The first couple I tried on the 12 resulted in a couple of spectacular superman impersonations, which has left me pretty sore from the impact on the water. I managed to land a couple, but I crashed more than I landed on the 12. The 10 was a whole lot different.....much faster through the window, so I got yanked a lot less and managed to actually land most of the ones I tried on it. I'm looking forward to heading out again tomorrow with a bit more wind to see how it goes, depending on how the wrist is when I wake up. There's a strong wind warning in effect for tomorrow though, so I might have to chicken out yet :-)

First R/C flights in 2 years!

Given that I'm not going to be able to kitesurf again until next season (thanks to my wrist tendonitis), I decided that I might dig out my radio controlled planes and helicopter for something to fill my spare time. I dragged them out and checked all the gear out, only to discover that the receiver pack in the helicopter had give up the ghost. Everything else seemed to be perfectly fine though, much to my surprise, considering I hadn't bothered to cycle any of the packs while they were in storage. Nor did I do any storage preparation on my engines.

Anyway, I replaced the receiver pack and gave the heli engine a quick test run in the back yard the other day and it ran fine, so I took it all to work with me the following day so I could go flying after work. Of course, it rained the next day. I went to the field anyway and had to stand around for nearly 2 hours waiting for the rain to stop. When it finally did, I got organised to fly but for some reason the engine decided it was going to play up on me and not run past about 1/3 throttle without suddenly stopping. It did this about 5 times, after which it started to rain again anyway, so I went home.

Next day, I decided I would try to sort out why the engine wouldn't run. I had it in the yard again, trying to start it, and my power panel blew up. No warning....just suddenly died. So, I went to get another one from the hobby shop. By the time I got home, it was too late to try again though. So, I packed the car for a day at the field today instead. When I got there and tried to start the heli, the brand new power panel also blew up! Not having much luck here! So, not to be dissuaded, I hunted around in my car until I found a couple of 1.5v batteries. With some electrical tape, 2 banana plugs and some aligator clips, I had myself a makeshift glow plug igniter :-) It worked a treat, so I was *finally* able to get airborne.

I tell you what.....after 2 years of not flying anything, you certainly get a case of nerves when you lift off with the helicopter!! But, after a couple of flights my thumbs remembered what to do and all was well. I took my World Models Super Sports Senior to the field with me too. No such problems with the YS.91FZ.....started immediately and ran like it had never been sitting in a room for 2 years under a sheet. I hope the YS1.10FZ in my Ultimate Bipe behaves as well when I head out later in the week with it!

What a fantastic afternoon too....clear blue skies and light winds. All in all, a very enjoyable afternoon :-)