This was a lifetime thrill for me, just to say I DID IT................Yesterday I flew one of my 2.3 meter parafoil kites at 13,600 elevation.

yes 13,600 feet.


:D:D:D


The great thing about foil kites is they pack up nice for travel in suitcases..........especially when you go to the Big Island of Hawaii, which is also home to the twin Keck Telescopes on top of Mauna Kea Volcano.


First off, you're at just over 2.5 miles of altitude, and there is only 40% oxygen to breathe compared to sea-level...........and yes you feel it in shortness of breath and dizziness.

You drive up to a visitors center at the ~9000 foot elevation to acclimate for an hour, then in a 30 minute drive you gain the last 4000 feet.............in 30 MINUTES.


Keck Telescopes are 10 meters in width, made up of 36 different hexagon mirror segments that are servo controlled actively steered to focus. Yes about 39 foot wide and weight is ~300 tons.

We got a special behind the scenes tour.


VERY VERY COOL.


Speaking of cold, you leave the Kona coast at 85-87 F degrees, daytime up top at 13,600 was about 57, then at sunset it dropped to 38F. Talk about a wild temperature range swing! Shorts and a tank top at a beach, to then multi layers of jackets/hats/gloves freezing your butt off at 38F in high winds.


Anyways..........that's the background of the adventure............on to the photos or it didn't happen..............:D


My travel kite this time was a Peter Lynn 2.3 meter of sail twin line foil. The wind up top during the afternoon wasn't blowing much (sporadic 1-2-3 mph?), nor was there many oxygen molecules to fill the sail.......did I mention how short of breath I was, serious. you have to take deep slow breaths, I don't know how the guys climbing on Mt Everest do it.

So while I did for a while deploy the full 100' Kite line set, (but it was too small an parking lot area, and not enough breeze) but still for the photo shoot, she's FLYING...........a once in a life time experience and none of the physicist or astronomers that work there had EVER seen a kite flown up top at 13,600, so it was a special WOW treat for them too.





THANKS John (an astronomer) for letting me fly the kite on the Keck telescope site.




Note the scale of the twin domes. Car parking garages are under the left dome for scale.......over 10 stories high are the domes.
















I shot some Go Pro time lapse of the clouds and sunset, yes at 13,600 we were ABOVE the cloud cover.


This was very very cool.


for more detailed information on the Keck Telescopes which are either the 1st or 2nd largest in the world :


W. M. Keck Observatory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


https://www.google.com/search?q=keck+telescope+images&rl...

what about the buggy? I have a shop in Kona that sells the Flexboards, that would have been good also.

Glad you were able to kite to the top of the world, with 200' of kite line you would have reached 13,6200 feet:D
did you try out the old airport?

Jeff, the trade winds have been sucking here in Kona.

Tried to fly at the Kona airport today and could of easily pee'd or spit up wind and not gotten wet........I didn't even take the kite out of the bag......

What is the name of your local kite/board shop?........at least I can go check them out while on island.

Yes, Another horrible 84F degree day in Hawaii scuba diving, watching the sunset, eating fresh Ahi Tuna, Poke', and happy hour appetizers......feel my pain.


Here is a new Spicy Chicken Wing recipe that is AWESOME at a local restaurant, Sam Choys.

I gotta make this at home. did I mention it's AWESOME?





http://www.flavorandfortune.com/dataaccess/book.php?reviewID...

:D Cool. Thanks for sharing this Windy Heap. I have been taking my 1.5m Buzz up our little mountains in Scotland for a while to fly on the summits but our hills are only 3-4,500 feet! I flew it once at 9650ft in the French Alps but the Alps are busy and the summits are small so you usually get shouted at by grouchy French Alpine guides if you start trying to set up a kite!

That looks like an amazing backdrop to fly with! I would love to visit the Hawaiin islands someday.