Capstone Kites 'n' Bikes Festival

Lifter Kites supporting a variety of Line Laundry

Capstone Festival aka Capstone Kites ‘n’ Bikes Event was scheduled for the 23^rd September 2012 and promised to be a good event with 3 Kite Groups invited and numerous Biking exhibitions.

Power Sled (thank you Gareth)

Sadly as Sunday approached stormy weather was forecast.

Whilst there Wendy and I managed to get a few photos but three factors seriously affected their quality

This shows the true colour of the sky for the day

 

 

First was lack of light, second was gusty winds erratically moving the kites, third was the intervening raindrops which caused a grainy effect. I have smartened up most of them where I could.

These are 2 different shots of the same Green Octopus Parafoil, above is an original shot with no tampering, left is an attempt by me to bring some colour to the Kite.








A soaking wet Kevin - note grainy effect on trees caused by pouring rain

 

Penguin Parafoil

 

I arrived at Capstone at 9.45am and as last year the signage from the lower car park was non-existent (I have no idea how many people last year and this year ended up feeding the ducks as opposed to watching Kites) however the Stewards were helpful when approached.

 

Close-up of Penguin

 



Flowform (thank you Steve).

Penguin inflatable

On reaching the flying field the dark grey sky was broken by a few kites that had already been put up.

Orange Octopus Parafoil

The weather soon changed for the worse and as I parked and got out of the car I was greeted by the first raindrops of the day.

Frog inflatable

As 11am approached and the opening of the festival the few raindrops from earlier had now decided to bring all their friends and relatives to the festival and waterproofs became the dress of the day.

 

Parrot inflatable

The dark skies emphasised the colour of the kites that were flying but pouring rain meant that very few of the kites that people had brought were actually flown.

Fish inflatable

At about 1.30pm with heavier rain and hardly any visitors the organisers decided to close the event early (a good decision).








During the day I had put up three kites, first up was my 9 foot Indian Snake Delta.


9 foot Indian Snake Delta. To bring out the colour of the kite I lost the dark grey sky totally.

Second was my Purple morning Glory (flower) Kite 

Purple Morning Glory

 Last was my Fokker DR1 Triplane, it is quite small only having a 1 metre wingspan but once it is up it is fun to fly but out of all my kites needs the most work to keep flying and likes a steady strong wind.

Fokker DR1 Box kite

 

Pteradactyl

 

 

 Several others had their kites up too, apologies if your kite is not shown but a lot of my photos were not recoverable.

 

 

 

 

 

Fox

Overall despite the rain I had a good time and would like to thank those from Kent Kite Flyers who were there for the odd bits of advice and an impromptu fashion parade.

 

 

 

Frog

 

 

However again I beg the organisers to put a sign up with an ARROW indicating where the festival ground is.











Last of all if any pictures have been mis-titled or any need retitling (highly likely), please let me know.