Kite Blog
08/03/2026 Blackheath
Watching the forecasts over preceding days I had hoped that the low mist might clear for the flying session but day by day the prospects faded.
Hitting the A12 there was enough moisture in the air to get the windscreen wipers moving and Canary Wharf was not visible even at the northern entrance of the Blackwall Tunnel.
A solo session today on dew laden grass and with a featureless grey sky at close quarters.
Full 1.5 sail in c5mph breeze from the east. Jakob Bro on the soundtrack and there was no way I would have got out the white 8m Peter Lynn pilot kite as the ground is very muddy in parts.
Better prospects for next Sunday, maybe!
Felix
01/03/2026 Blackheath
Once again prospects had been somewhat dismal but on Sunday morning it was not actually raining first thing as had been forecast.
I got in the car and it started to drizzle in earnest and it was still doing so as I arrived at Blackheath.
There was, however some brightness on the southern horizon and the radar view suggested that there rain would end shortly. It duly stopped and I set up a kite and the sound system. Martin's arrival coincided with another brief patch of very light drizzle and then it was clear until the arrival of the orange bus.
Driving away the windscreen wipers were operating occasionally and the kites were wet when wrapping up. We had flown full vent 1.5s and the soundtrack was Jakob Bro.
Felix
22/02/2026 Blackheath
The forecast was not good as at Thursday 19th February... but the arrival time of the frontal system advanced in the intervening days and so from soon after 9:00am the rain stopped and it began to get brighter.
Arriving on Blackheath soon after 10:00am there was some thin sunshine and the clouds continued to break.
The SW breeze was quite strong and so we flew RSS sails.
Showers were passing to the north and the south but although cloud was thickening before midday we had only seen a few drops of rain at the beginning of the session.
Felix
15/02/2026
The weather was not appropriate for kite flying today...
Felix
08/02/2026 Blackheath
A light but fairly consistent southerly breeze meant full 1.5 sails today.
There was some high cloud and a little lower level cloud that gradually thickened towards the end of the session. We started with broken sunshine and ended without, just a remaining high level of UV light keeping my glasses dark!
The big patch is done, just some small splits to locate and fix on the full vent sails.
Iain Ballamy, Riversphere Vol. 1 was the soundtrack today.
Felix
01/02/2026
It was raining quite steadily when I got to Blackheath and the radar on the weather App showed a likely intensification so I turned around and drove back to Hackney.
Cervia preparations are going very well in respect of fliers getting flights booked and also confirmation from Caterina that she has all the details.
The re-repair to the one 2009 full vent sail is under way. The old tape and adhesive has been removed and the area has been washed as well to remove the solvent ahead of applying the new patch.
Felix
25/01/2026 Blackheath
It started to rain as I got in the car to drive to Blackheath. By the time I was on the A12 the downpour was abating but the Canary Wharf towers had their heads in the cloud.
South of the river it was not raining and so a kite flying session looked possible.
Full vented 1.5 was just a bit underpowered but I needed to move around a bit after the previous days fall. We had been flying for a while when a sudden shower started but as we were appropriately dressed we carried on and the shower proved to be short lived. There were breaks in the previously solid cloud and by the end of the session the sun was almost breaking through.
Mostly Jakob Bro and friends today on the soundtrack.
Felix
18/01/2026 Blackheath
As I drove onto the A12 at Hackney Wick Canary Wharf was not visible, cloaked in low lying mist. As I approached the Blackwall Tunnel some brightness appeared in the sky and the mist was clearly dispersing.
On emerging from the tunnel it was clear that there would be some brightness, at least.
On the heath the SE breeze was a bit tentative, maybe 4mph some of the time but the lulls were quite long. The Zens were comfortable when there was air movement but too much like hard work when it was zero.
Eventually there was some full sunshine!
Iain Ballamy, Riversphere, Vol. 1 was the soundtrack today followed by a bit of Ambrose Akinmusire, Owl Song.
The 2015 sails have had the LE oversewing so I am moving on to bungee replacement on the vented set.
Felix
11/01/2026 Blackheath
There was a bit of brightness when I arrived but the high cloud consolidated quite quickly removing the glow of the sun.
Low cloud gradually thickened but it was only after packing that a very light drizzle was seen.
In between times the final three JMH vented 1.5 sails were flown to test them before the final upgrades of the bungees and a couple of small sail repairs are dealt with.
Then there will be preventative maintenance on the 2015 set of the 1997 design Revolution 1.5s.
Felix
04/01/2026 Blackheath
It was sunny, a clear blue sky with a light c6mph westerly breeze. The ground was hard with overnight frost.
The breeze was not sufficient to test another JMH vented 1.5 kite but I decided to fly one anyway and had a very good 'light wind' session keeping moving on the ground to keep the kite in the sky and to keep warm.
There were moments when I felt like a puppet making long moves to get the kite to maintain position, make curves and to make stops.
Iain Ballamy, Riversphere, Vol. 1 (feat. Rob Luft, Conor Chaplin & Corrie Dick with Laura Jurd & Charlie Ballamy) provided the soundtrack today.
Felix
January 2026Felix Mottram