Date: Fri, 17 Mar 1995 04:19:51 -1000 From: Mr.Nasty@ix.netcom.com (Frank Kenisky) Message-Id: <3kc5q7$2iu@ixnews3.ix.netcom.com> Organization: Netcom Subject: Precision What is it good for? Abs Nothing! Well here is another one of Mr.Nasty's controversial subjects. Last week at the Austin Zilker Park Kite Festival there were many local Texas kiters as well as a few from Oklahoma. Although Zilker has never been known for its sport kite competition it is probably one of the largest events in the United States which draws more spectators than any other event for the time aloted. Abel Ortega was out on the field flying one of Joel Scholz's Lunar Moths. (I got to announce) I focused the audience of several thousand on what Abel was doing out on the field. I asked if Abel would try a difficult move, the Axel. On request, Abel performed the maneuver flawlessly. The audience just stared. They completely missed this intricate and very difficult maneuver. Then I asked Abel to land the kite. Abel made an attempt to land the kite straight down wind and the kite balked. (There was some incredible gusts that day) Abel then took the kite to the edge of the wind window and landed the kite as I had asked. The crowd went wild. The point here is that the technical expertise of flying kites is unimpressive to the uninformed public. A great sport kite pilot flying a Clover Leaf is not as impressive to the niave audience as bad flyer who lands his kite. The East Coast has changed precision a bit with the introduction of League Style. But this too is "BORING". The audience has no idea what is going on. Regardless of how much you tell them they still don't know when a competitor begins his "Precision" routine and when they end. This is a very valueable asset to the public. It they don't know what good is it to them. Case in point ABC Television was out on the field all day. For a good part of the day the camera man had his lens about two feet from my face. The 10:00 news showed their 15 second shot of what... The old Charlie Brown syndrom, kites in trees. Why? Why did the news man not take pictures of some of these great kiters on the field that we all know? Because they are uninformed about the value of what they do. They have no idea that a sport kite can sail through the air and land on a wing tip. They think it's a kite out of control. Keith Anderson, Greg Hernandez and myself of the SWSKC Staff are putting together a Precision Demo which will look very much like a gymnastic floor exercise. Here is how it will work. We will place three areas on the field which the contestant is required to land their kite. The contestant places his/her kite anywhere on the field. He/She begins by calling "IN". The first maneuver is one of the AKA's. The end of the maneuver is landing (dismounting) in the first area. The second maneuver is a launch with a stall into another AKA maneuver then landing in the second area. The third is another maneuver (can be anything Axel, Coin Toss, Wing Drag, etc) and into a third maneuver then landing in the third area. The contestant has 3 minutes to complete this routine. What this will do is provide the audience to appreciate a beginning and end of each manuever. It will also allow time, during the landings, for the contestant to call "Wind Check". We are going to try this out this weekend at the Waco Wind Fest and Sport Kite Competition. I'll let you know how it turned out. BTW - did David Gomberg already think of this? = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Thu, 16 Mar 1995 23:15:31 -1000 From: crowell@teleport.com (Carl Crowell) Message-Id: Organization: Kites By Carl Crowell Subject: Re: Precision What is it good for? Abs Nothing! In most points I would have to agree... watching most stunt flying is up there with having my teeth cleaned... But, there are times and people that are really fun to watch. These tend to be events were there are not so many rules, and where the people flying are not out to win. Mega flys are entertaining... 20,30,and even 40+ stunt kites doing simple figure eights are quite impressive and fun to watch. Almost as much fun as the crash the brings 'em all down. The Decorators. These guys are great. Sit back and enjoy the show. They don't care about anything but a good show. They mix dual quad and single line kites freely to create a true sky opera with kites. Improv Ballet. Every now and then a pair of good flyers get together and just fly. This is entertaining. Many established teams are as fun to watch as an assymbly line. Inprov ballet between a few people that may not even speak the same language is often magic. What I would like to see: Kite Horse. Two flyers.. two kites.. one field.. One flyer parks his kite high off to one side and watches as the other flyer performs a 10-20 sec. routine. Then he/she must repeate the routine. First one down looses. Kite add-on. As kite horse, but with each move added to a total routine. the routine gets longer and longer and more complex. ___________________________________________________ email: crowell@kite.com FTP: ftp.teleport.com/pub/users/crowell WWW: http://www.teleport.com/~crowell Kites By Carl Crowell - O.S.F.M. World Headquarters = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Mon, 20 Mar 1995 22:46:55 -1000 From: Colin_Douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz (Colin Douthwaite) Message-Id: <3km3pv$rp7@southern.co.nz> Organization: Southern InterNet Services Subject: Re: Precision What is it good for? Abs Nothing! Frank Kenisky (Mr.Nasty@ix.netcom.com) wrote: > The point here is that the technical expertise of flying kites is > unimpressive to the uninformed public. A great sport kite pilot > flying a Clover Leaf is not as impressive to the niave audience as > bad flyer who lands his kite. I totally agree. However, at the Canterbury Kite Festival last Friday , I saw an inexperienced lady stunter flier fly an Andy Preston "Stranger" and the performance of the kite was stunning. So I suspect that a superb kite will always be impressive despite the expertise of the flier. I now want to see the Stranger Video before buying the NZ$ 290 version of this beautiful kite, shaped like an angel fish, with a wind range of 2 to 10/15 mph. The top model costs about NZ$ 495. If I buy The Stranger it will be the most expensive kite I have ever bought. Bye, = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Mon, 20 Mar 1995 22:43:03 -1000 From: Colin_Douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz (Colin Douthwaite) Message-Id: <3km3in$rof@southern.co.nz> Organization: Southern InterNet Services Subject: Re: Precision What is it good for? Abs Nothing! Carl Crowell (crowell@teleport.com) wrote: > In most points I would have to agree... watching most stunt > flying is up there with having my teeth cleaned... It does seem to fascinate stunter fliers who know all the different stunts. To the uninitiated it is just frenetic whizzing. > The Decorators. These guys are great. Sit back and enjoy the > show. They don't care about anything but a good show. They mix > dual quad and single line kites freely to create a true sky opera > with kites. I enjoy skywriting with bright yellow 1976 vintage Peter Powell and a 100 foot red tubular tail. Many spectators seem to like it too. > Kite Horse. Two flyers.. two kites.. one field.. One flyer parks > his kite high off to one side and watches as the other flyer > performs a 10-20 sec. routine. Then he/she must repeate the > routine. First one down loses. Hmmm...Kite Horse ? I think I'd call that Copy Cat. Sounds an interesting idea though. What do you start off with ? A Double Turtle followed by a Barrel Roll ? :-) Bye, = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Tue, 21 Mar 1995 04:31:48 -1000 From: Mr.Nasty@ix.netcom.com (Frank Kenisky) Message-Id: <3kmo0k$ad5@ixnews3.ix.netcom.com> Organization: Netcom Subject: Re: Precision What is it good for? Abs Nothing! In <3km3in$rof@southern.co.nz> Colin_Douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz (Colin Douthwaite) writes: >It does seem to fascinate stunter fliers who know all the different >stunts. To the uninitiated it is just frenetic whizzing. And that is exactly what most of the spectators see. >I enjoy skywriting with bright yellow 1976 vintage Peter Powell and >a 100 foot red tubular tail. Many spectators seem to like it too. At the Waco Wind Fest we had to eliminate the freestyle portion of precision because of the lack of wind. Abel Ortega, Keith Anderson, and Troy Gunn were the three masters competitors and were asked, by the announcer, to perform slides, wind drags and other impressive moves which would normally be interperted as "frenetic whizzing" by the uninformed spectator. At seveal points during this "Show Off" time I asked each competitor to stall his kite right in front of the crowd and move the kite in a waveing like motion. The crowd responded to the kite and waved back. They understand simple things like that. >> Kite Horse. Two flyers.. two kites.. one field.. One flyer parks >> his kite high off to one side and watches as the other flyer >> performs a 10-20 sec. routine. Then he/she must repeate the >> routine. First one down loses. > >Hmmm...Kite Horse ? I think I'd call that Copy Cat. Sounds an >interesting idea though. What do you start off with ? A Double >Turtle followed by a Barrel Roll ? :-) This sounds interesting, can we write up any rules? = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Tue, 21 Mar 1995 08:30:09 -1000 From: sasaki@netopd.harvard.edu (Marty Sasaki) Message-Id: <3kn5vh$o8j@netope.harvard.edu> Organization: Harvard OIT Network Services Subject: Re: Precision What is it good for? Abs Nothing! In article <3km3in$rof@southern.co.nz>, Colin_Douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz (Colin Douthwaite) writes: |>Carl Crowell (crowell@teleport.com) wrote: |>> Kite Horse. Two flyers.. two kites.. one field.. One flyer parks |>> his kite high off to one side and watches as the other flyer |>> performs a 10-20 sec. routine. Then he/she must repeate the |>> routine. First one down loses. |> |>Hmmm...Kite Horse ? I think I'd call that Copy Cat. Sounds an |>interesting idea though. What do you start off with ? A Double |>Turtle followed by a Barrel Roll ? :-) It's a variation of a basketball game. Each player made a shot and the other had to make the same shot. The shots were determined by the players as they went along. The kite version can get really interesting. Ron Reich was/is a proponent of this game. Ron would start off with easy stuff and then graduate to shadow flying (flying the kite by looking only at it's shadow), flying between your legs, flying while looking in a mirror, etc. Ron once performed a ballet routine while watching the kite in the reflection of Pam Kirk's sun glasses. -- Marty Sasaki Harvard University Sasaki Kite Fabrications sasaki@noc.harvard.edu Network Services Division 26 Green Street 617-496-4320 10 Ware Street Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 Cambridge, MA 02138-4002 phone/fax: 617-522-8546 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 03:59:16 -1000 From: Mr.Nasty@ix.netcom.com (Frank Kenisky) Message-Id: <3kpafk$rdm@ixnews1.ix.netcom.com> Organization: Netcom Subject: Re: Precision What is it good for? Abs Nothing! In crowell@teleport.com (Carl Crowell) writes: >>This sounds interesting, can we write up any rules? >_Horse_ is an old basketball game. One person gets to pick the shot and then >try to make it. From anywhere on the court, facing any direction. If he >makes the shot, then the other player must make the shot as well or loose the >point. If he misses the shot, then the second play may attempt the same shot >and make it for the point. > >but then again I am from the south. > >carl So am I carl. And in the south we have a very different set of circumstances. There is a Gulf wind, which usually causes problems when it's not blowing. Then again if you shot your kite which direction should you stand if the second player is in the way. Frank = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 02:43:54 -1000 From: jburka@Glue.umd.edu (Jeffrey C. Burka) Message-Id: <3kp62a$ofk@geog20.umd.edu> Organization: Project Glue, University of Maryland, College Park Subject: Re: Precision What is it good for? Abs Nothing! In article <3km3pv$rp7@southern.co.nz>, Colin Douthwaite wrote: >However, at the Canterbury Kite Festival last Friday , I saw an >inexperienced lady stunter flier fly an Andy Preston "Stranger" and >the performance of the kite was stunning. So I suspect that a superb >kite will always be impressive despite the expertise of the flier. I had the exact opposite experience -- I finally got to see a Stranger a week and a half ago and the fellow who was flying it was just plain boring. He let me give it a try, and *I* had trouble making the kite do much of anything interesting. The main reason for this was that the owner had it on about 100' of maybe 135# Zip line. "Boingy-boingy" (to quote Wakko Warner) Still, I was axeling the kite a bit, doing some tosses, and so forth, and the owner thought it was kind of neat. He said that there was a lot of that sort of thing in the video, but that the video was exactly "instructional." I suggested that if he wanted to learn some of what I was doing he ought to get Dodd's FS II -- and he told me he already had it! So there you have it -- a counterexample of someone with a so-called stunning kite (I'll wait 'til I have the opportunity to fly it under prime conditions before I give it a yea or nay), with at least the instructional materials to learn the basics of stunning flying, who's doing basically nothing with the kite/knowledge. >If I buy The Stranger it will be the most expensive kite I have ever >bought. I suspect that the most I ever paid for a kite was for my Phantom, back in '90, but my "most expensive" kite would be my Pro (when I bought it, the Advantage kites had a ridiculous list price...I got mine directly >From Dean when he was up here for Smithsonian 2 years ago...) I imagine the most expensive kite in my collection will be whatever buggy engine I buy next -- whenever I manage to save up the pennies. Jeff -- |Jeffrey C. Burka | Pithy, insightful quote to be inserted | | | when one occurs to me. *If* one occurs | |jeffy@glue.umd.edu | to me. | = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Tue, 21 Mar 1995 11:25:00 -1000 From: crowell@teleport.com (Carl Crowell) Message-Id: Organization: Kites By Carl Crowell Subject: Re: Precision What is it good for? Abs Nothing! >>> Kite Horse. Two flyers.. two kites.. one field.. One flyer parks >>> his kite high off to one side and watches as the other flyer >>> performs a 10-20 sec. routine. Then he/she must repeate the >>> routine. First one down loses. >> >>Hmmm...Kite Horse ? I think I'd call that Copy Cat. Sounds an >>interesting idea though. What do you start off with ? A Double >>Turtle followed by a Barrel Roll ? :-) >This sounds interesting, can we write up any rules? _Horse_ is an old basketball game. One person gets to pick the shot and then try to make it. From anywhere on the court, facing any direction. If he makes the shot, then the other player must make the shot as well or loose the point. If he misses the shot, then the second play may attempt the same shot and make it for the point. but then again I am from the south. carl ___________________________________________________ email: crowell@kite.com FTP: ftp.teleport.com/pub/users/crowell WWW: http://www.teleport.com/~crowell Kites By Carl Crowell - O.S.F.M. World Headquarters = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =