It’s October and the surroundings show certain signs of the autumn coming. You know, shorter days, cooler temperatures and golden leaves on the trees. And what’s better than a crisp October day with a deep blue sky up above and blistering autumn colours all around you?
I was hoping to capture some of this using my kites and my KAP gear so when I got a few hours on my hands I stuffed a lot of gear into my car and hit the road heading for a kind of marshlands area – Husholmen – just some twenty-five minutes by car away from my house.
The sun was shining but the combination of cool temperatures and a north-westerly breeze made for quite chilly conditions, so I dressed properly!
As I drove along, the countryside granted me the most beautiful golden colours. The leaves were about changing from a million shades of green into red, orange and yellow explosions. So beautiful.
However, when I got closer to the parking at the water the explosions diminished and the world got back to those shades of green again. It seemed like the autumn hadn’t quite grasped the coastal landscape yet. But no worries. The sun was shining and I had wind so this was probably gonna be some really nice hours despite the absence of those golden colours.
After some fifteen minutes of walking, I found myself in a nice and sunny spot sheltered from the wind. Perfect for my little headquarters of the day. After unloading the gear I took a quick walk to check out the surroundings and the wind to get a feel for what kite would do the job of being the lifter for my KAP gear. I landed on the Peter Lynn Pilot and soon it was flying high up there.
But was the wind strong enough to have that kite create enough lift to carry the rig? Hmmm…. So I decided to put up another kite – a 1.8m Rokkaku – and see if that one would be a better choice. And the Rok’ did build up a stronger pull than the Pilot but then the wind started to do some interesting things up there. Dropping and picking up and slightly changing direction every now and then. The Rok kind of struggled with the conditions and I decided to wait for better conditions while having a nice and hot cup of coffee. That’s never wrong!
I also decided to change the flying line to a thinner and lighter one compared to my original choice. The wind got more stable too, so equipped with a lighter flying line I launched the Rok once again. And now we were talking. The Rok sat steadily some 30 meters above the ground generating more than enough pull to lift my KAP stuff and soon I had it all running!
No, I didn’t capture much of those golden colours of autumn, but I think this little video turned out well anyway!
2 responses
Great video I’ve been doing KAP for over 10 yrs using a GoPro 9. lol up Kite Eye View Photography on Facebook.
Thanks! 🙂
It’s so fun! Seeing things from a bird’s … no … kire’s eye perspective!