Date: Mon, 29 Aug 1994 14:57:09 -1000 From: mark@murder.demon.co.uk (Mark de Roussier) Message-Id: <778233429snx@murder.demon.co.uk> Organization: damage Subject: KSGB Convention / Portsmouth International - report Well, I did Portsmouth (:). It was alot of fun. The KSGB convention on the Friday was the first I've been to, and was certainly worth it. I attended the talks by Janneke Groene (sp?), Peter Dolphin, and Ron Gibian. Scheduling conflicts meant I couldn't make it to Dave Gombergs discussion or Randy Tom's applique class. The following few paragraphs are an attempt at a very brief precis of each of the talks I attended - they are necessarily incomplete and subjective. Janneke ( Dutch ) makes Japanese 'Kimono' kites. They have a Japanese name but I forgot it. They're shaped like a 'T', with very thick arms and trunk in relation to the overall size. Her technique seems to me to be a cross between applique and patchwork, in that she will often build up a panel of a single colour from many pieces of that colour, using the seams ( visible when illuminated from behind ) as a design feature. All her designs are highly geometrical and angular - curves 'just aren't me', it seems. One of her methods is to model the kite sails in miniature, and to put these models in the window for some while ( days/weeks ) to judge the effect of illumination. Another method she uses is to use computer - generated outlines of a design, which she then cuts up/colours in to find something she likes. Peter Dolphin ( American ) is a maker of windbows ( also called 'arches' - not to be confused with the long trains which can also be formed into arches ). His advantage in this respect is that he lives close to a balloon/parachute(?) factory, and can raid their dustbins ! His designs use a different principle to the George Peters style of windbows ( where each section is very slightly trapezoidal ). He makes each section rectangular, stiffens the leading edge with tape, and relys on the stretch of the fabric to make the trailing edge longer. He estimates that there is about 16 hours of sewing in a medium sized arch. The size range is about 75 feet long to 150 feet. He also stressed the importantance of strong handles. Ron Gibian ( American ) and his wife are professional designers ( I think ?). Their kites are some of the most wonderful, and in some cases unbelievable, examples of applique that there are. They use a technique which results in sharply defined borders to colour blocks, and allows for very fine detail to be created. The two features of their system which seemed most crucial to me are the use of spray-mount adhesive, and a willingness to discard large amounts of ripstop, particularly the black which is used to 'mount' pieces of other colours and forms the black lines which border them. They also talked about their cellular ( i.e. as in Bell tetrahedron, not parafoil ) kites, and explained the principles involved in tensioning them, aswell as showing a bunch of gadgets trawled from American hardware stores which could be used to good effect in kites. Ron apparently runs 2-day workshops on these topics, so was a bit pressed to know what to say in a 1.5 hour lecture, but I think alot of people learnt new and interesting stuff. I think many people, myself included, felt encouraged to try some of these methods for themselves. I also half attended a meeting called to discuss the state of the UK Rokkaku challenge rules. Much tedium ensued, IMHO. Dave Gomberg illuminated the debate with a brief and to-the-point description of the current state of affairs in the States. Normality was then restored, and debate continued unabated for a further two hours. At this point, one particularly exasperated participant turned the lights out, and people generally took the hint by retiring to the bar where, suitably refreshed, the battle was joined again. However, when the bar eventually closed at about 01:00 most people lost the will to keep standing up, and went to bed. At least one thing was decided - only nylon/dacron lines could be used. Maybe there was more, but I'll wait until I see the new rules written down in black and white. Ahem. Perhaps this meeting was necessary, but it would have been greatly assisted by the simple step of publishing an agenda in advance. On Saturday evening a nearby cafe/bar was taken over for the evening meal and Auction. Unfortunately, 'organisational shortcomings' meant that this venue was a factor of 2 too small. This meant people sitting on the floor, or not sitting at all, people left out on the balcony ( with a cool 20mph sea breeze coming in... ), fire regulations breached, etc. I think this cock up was blamed on Portsmouth Leisure Services ( i.e. the local council who helped to put the festival on ), but it doesn't require corporate planning skills to visit a venue before a big event and see if its suitable. But in the end I think everyone still enjoyed themselves, which says alot about the general atmosphere. The auction started off outside on the balcony, due to the space problems. This took long enough that eventually enough people had wandered off to permit the event to move inside again. Apparently about 1600ukp was raised towards the cost of next years convention. I got a hexagon that flies straight (!!), made and donated by Colin Barefoot, a Bart Simpson kite, and my very first pin. I hasten to add that this last item was a mistake - I accidentally outbid a pin pratt whilst trying to push the price up (:)! I blame Dave Gomberg for this - I think he was auctioneering at the time and must somehow have sounded enthusiastic enough to distract me from my beer !:). As regards the flying part of the festival on the Saturday and Sunday, it was good - good ( high ) wind, lots of sun, lots of people, very little rain, and a beer tent. Yours truely missed the altitude sprint on Saturday by the simple expedient of not having woken up enough by the time it was called to realise it was the altitude sprint and not a Rok battle. But on Sunday I won it ( smirk:))). A certain degree of insanity was required to put an ultralight delta up on a rather thin line in a 25mph breeze - just how silly this was became obvious when I realised that I might not be able to brake the reel without either burning my hand ( through my glove ! ) or breaking my fingers. And this was a problem, because I'd be disqualified if I couldn't stop letting line out after 45secs ( all that was allowed ! ). In the end the damage was not too severe. The *serious* problem was getting the thing down ! Thanks to my friend Neil Robinson for helping with that - walking down several hundred feet of bowstring kevlar close to breaking strain is not for the faint hearted. There were no stunt competitions here, and this was perhaps just as well, since the breeze was enough to cause a friends vented NSR to virtually explode in mid air whilst attempting a pairs demo. Flexis, and stacks of flexis, were being flown in abundance, with one particularly extravagant gentleman flying a stack of three twelves - the sit-harness and enormous knee pads were definitely required, but when you've seen one three meter high leap + 10 meter knee - slide, you've seen them all. It was fine buggying weather too, with a couple of tandem buggies giving rides, and the ubiquitous Mr Beattie buggying through a Peter Dolphin arch using ( I think ) a 10m Peel flown from the bridles. Southsea Common is a good spot, so long as you stay clear of the spray generated by the Isle of Wight hovercraft coming and going. The ferries sail very close to the shore here - it can be disconcerting to see a medium sized hotel slowly drifting past in the background ! All in all a worthwhile, if exhausting, experience. -- Mark de Roussier ************************************ A nice man is a man of nasty ideas. Jonathon Swift. ************************************ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Tue, 30 Aug 1994 22:46:54 -1000 From: gaffer@ibmpcug.co.uk (Andrew Beattie) Message-Id: Organization: /usr/lib/news/organiszation Subject: Re: KSGB Convention / Portsmouth International - report >Janneke ( Dutch ) makes Japanese 'Kimono' kites. They were rather nice, wern't they? I particularly liked the tails that she used - anything up to 5 lengths of 5mm climbing rope, first laced through the sail and then draping down as 5 parallel lines, dancing together. To merge with another thread, even if the kite had been a simple plain shape, those tails were the work of a true sky-artist. They looked great, I learned something new, they showed that the artist knew her medium well and they wouldn't work in a gallery. >It was fine buggying weather too, with a couple of tandem buggies giving >rides, and the ubiquitous Mr Beattie buggying through a Peter Dolphin >arch using ( I think ) a 10m Peel flown from the bridles. The orange Peel is 7.5m^2 but was announced to be 10m several times that day. I think that it was Randy Tom's wife that came for the tandem joy-ride through the windbow. Much AoxoMoxoA that weekend... Andrew -- This is not the account that I usually Email from. Please continue to use my usual addresses, thankyou: Work -> gaffer@rec.com Play -> andrew@tug.com The Kite FAQs are at ftp.hawaii.edu:/pub/rec/kites/faq/* "Kite Jumping fucks more knees than the IRA" (Lynn) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =