Preparing for the Heiau Flight

In an earlier post I made reference to an upcoming trip to Ahu A'Umi Heiau on the Big Island of Hawai`i. We'll be at the Heiau on the 15th and 16th, and during that time the plan is to collect at least 4000 images from aerial cameras so that a 3D model of the site can be built using photogrammetry. I'm not a GIS specialist. I'm not an archaeologist. And I've never used photogrammetry software in my life. I get to go because I'm going to be operating one of the two aerial cameras. Life is good.

The big gotcha with the site is that there's very little wind. In the mornings, 0-2 kts is typical. By mid-afternoon, if the site sees 8-10 kts, it's a blustery day. By way of comparison, Kua Bay typically sees 12-14 kts, and Waimea can see 20+. I have a good range of kites for the winds I expect to fly in, but my lower limit is right around 10 kts with the 6' rokkaku. For the trip to work, I needed a lighter camera, and a lighter wind kite.

Since the photogrammetry software mostly needs down-looking shots, I built out a lightweight rig with a fixed orientation. This cut the rig weight in half. Running a CHDK intervalometer script meant no radio or AuRiCo, batteries, etc. on board. For my birthday my wife got me a Fled from Brooks Leffler. It's a lighter wind kite than the rokkaku, but it's not really intended to haul around an 800g + rig. But for the lightweight rig it's well-matched.

Sunday a friend invited me out to Kite Day in North Kohala. I'd never been, and really didn't know what to expect. But I grabbed my gear and went. I had a blast.

Among other things, Chris, the co-owner of Hawi Headquarters, brought a Premier Kites 19' Delta from his shop. That thing is huge! At one point the wind lulled, and the big delta started circling down. I pulled in line to get it to catch again, and WHOMPH! It filled and started pulling like a horse. It's a beast. Chris and I spoke about the upcoming trip, and in the end he wound up showing me how to set up and take down the big delta, and loaned it to me. Considering the sticker price for the thing is almost $450, that's a heckuva loan.

From what he said it'll fly in two knots of wind, so even if the afternoon wind at the Heiau is good, this kite will potentially extend our shooting into the early morning hours. And if the wind never picks up enough to fly some of the other kites, it may be our only way to get data. No matter what, it makes for more time int he sky. More time in the sky = more data for the photogrammetry suite to work with = better model. Can't beat it. (Thanks, Chris!!)

So with new tires on my Jeep and a day planned on the lift to change out all of its bodily fluids, I'm ready and rarin' to head up Hualalai and fly cameras at the Heiau. A new kite of my own, and a loaner kite that's got more lift than I know what to do with, I can hardly wait.

Tom