Kayak Club

[Hotel26]

2 hours ago, Pds314 said:

Exploring near K2

I am just this moment verifying the exact height of K2.  It is listed on Ye Treasure Map as 3rd highest, according to X-size.  I will thence be proceeding to the potential second-highest site -- which seems to possess a bigger X mark.

You, meanwhile, have discovered the true essence of Kayak Club.  To wit, "putting one's pilotage and aircraft design skill on show".  Well done, old man!

Does your machine have a name?  Is it a publication on KerbalX?  And it looks like it's good also as a seaplane?  (In fact, I seem to recall you've had it on and off the briny at 'Lake Zero'...?)

                                                             

Well, I think the "other contender" is not higher than 6,432m, so that would confirm 'K2' is stiill the leading contender for second-highest mountain on Kerbin.

In case my Esteemed Colleagues haven't deduced this yet, my Spark is a single-engine Panther STOVL, which makes it excellent for this kind of high alpine survey work...

Edited March 1, 2020 by Hotel26

[Pds314]

2 hours ago, Hotel26 said:

I am just this moment verifying the exact height of K2.  It is listed on Ye Treasure Map as 3rd highest, according to X-size.  I will thence be proceeding to the potential second-highest site -- with what seems like a bigger X mark.

You, meanwhile, have discovered the true essence of Kayak Club.  To wit, "putting one's pilotage and aircraft design skill on show".  Well done, old man!

Does your machine have a name?  Is it a publication on KerbalX?  And it looks like it's good also as a seaplane?  (In fact, I seem to recall you've had it on and off the briny at 'Lake Zero'...?)

Yes it landed in lake zero. It could probably land in anything we've mentioned besides Lac Gilly (in which case, why not land with gears down and just glide off the puddle into Lac Eve). It's twitchy as all heck though and can be very unforgiving in landings. Bigger is better as seaplanes go. And this one is under 4 tonnes. Well, bigger is better at least until you get so large they just explode from their own weight or rip their wings.

I might make a "comfort-oriented" amphibious plane. One where vertical and horizontal speed don't have to be so precise and it's harder to get into some kind of dangerous stall (Basically with this one, if you touch down at over 50, you will flip. If you touch down at under 28, you will not have the lift to prevent a hard landing = flip, and full keyboard pitch for like half a second = stop in mid air/kulbit/cobra/flatspin. You need to have vertical speed under ~2 m/s in a speed range of like 30-40 m/s to land)

Edited March 1, 2020 by Pds314

[Pds314]

Ok. I think I will release both the original and the "comfort-oriented" plane, which is about 2.5 times the size, but is better in nearly every conceivable way and much more forgiving no matter what element it's in, Water, Kerbin, or Air (though presumably not Fire!).

Dartfrog M7: The plane I have been using.
https://kerbalx.com/pds314/Dartfrog-M7


Axolotl M9: Much better characteristics for not crashing.
https://kerbalx.com/pds314/Axolotl-M9

 

A note about both craft: these vehicles are not totally "plug and play." Especially the M7, which has nearly every failure mode a conventionally-tailed plane can have, and some that are more characteristic of flying wings. Don't press Z on the ground or in the water to take off. You might not have time to regret it. Don't engage takeoff flaps and hold S. Don't hold S in general. Don't forget to stage fuel cells. Remember to set prop pitch appropriately. Both planes have a trim up toggle action group that's on by default. Toggle off if the plane wants to pull up for no reason.

The M9 is a lot friendlier. You can do most of those things fine. Although you still need to stage fuel cells to have reasonable range and prop pitch still helps a lot.

Edited March 1, 2020 by Pds314

[Castille7]

 

@Hotel26 All judgments are in!

I agree with @purpleivan in this matter of location identification and rule in favor of it. 

"An image we can see at a scale of feature more suited as a Kayak Club location as section of significance, not an entirety" Example: There are a few areas of the North Pole and South Pole that could be claimed, rather than claiming the entire area.

( @Koolkei's 2nd location "the iceridge" may well stand as a suitable location for the purposes of Kayak Club)

I also agree that we do have enough evidence here for this Deep Ice Ridge to be claimed. It was significant enough that another Explorer could find it's location and it appears not to be just a common site.

 

 

Edited March 1, 2020 by Castille7

[Hotel26]

22 hours ago, Koolkei said:

anyone been to this massive ice ridge before yet?

In view of the Judge's findings, I am going to enter @Koolkei's 'Ice Ridge' into the Register of Landmarks.

With the Judge's permission, I am also going to request that Koolkei send me the coordinates of the Landmark via Personal Message.  I will keep these coordinates confidential and also recuse myself from the Hunt for Ice Ridge.  Visitors may prove visitation by providing those same coordinates of their find, confidentially and by PM, to Koolkei and myself.  Or we can appoint a Judge as keeper of those coordinates.  With the Judges' Permission?

Pardon me also, I'm not sure that a confirmed find has been made for this particular landmark, although I accept that purpleivan must inevitably have passed by it (without recognizing it)?  I may be in error on this point?

@Castille7, @purpleivan ?

Edited March 1, 2020 by Hotel26

[purpleivan]

OK, enough of the judgerifying... time to crack on with some exploring.

Lac Eve

Val had a dream... a dream of screeching around in a boat on Lac Gilly, just around the corner from @Pds314's Lac Eve.

But what manner of boat should it be?

An early choice was for a simple jet powered torpedo like craft.

Spoiler

Unfortunately Val tried it at full throttle, which turned it into a jet powered missile resulting in the usual carnage.

Spoiler

She added some wings for stability...

Spoiler

... but that just turned into an even more capable aircraft, so maybe the wrong direction to take.

Spoiler

A fine little aicraft it was, but this is supposed to be a boat.

Spoiler

Well... at least it's closer to the water now.

Spoiler

Val decided that adding wheels would make it easier to get a boat into the lake.

Spoiler

But this also behaved far too much like a plane.

Spoiler

Ok... back to square one then, just remember to keep the speed down Val.

Now, how to get out little jet ski out to Lac Gilly.

Spoiler

Here's how.

Good to see that Val has her helmet on as she waits for takeoff.

Remember, safety first kids.

After flying... in a direction... Lac Eve came into sight.

Our pilot for the day, Stables Kerman took a pass over the Lake, as this would be the back up if Lac Gilly turned out to be a poor place for a boat.

Given what's coming up, this place does look appropeiately like a bombing range.

Spoiler

Bombs awaaaay!... I mean Vals awaaaay!.

Ouch!

Ouch again.

Good thing she's wearing a helmet.

Spoiler

But maybe that helmet's getting in the way of deployment.

Val tells Stables to make another pass over the lake, this time a little slower and lower, and she loses the headgear.

Spoiler

This time Val cleared the support pylon and she (and her ride) is safely on the end of a deployed parachute.

Stables throttles up to avoid speading the carrier craft over the landscape like butter on hot toast.

Val's still descending safely (she's the little dot just below the plane's trail.

Spoiler

Stables takes a low(ish) pass over Lac Gilly and is happt to confirm that Val's chute has fully opened.

Spoiler

Now to find a landing spot.

Spoiler

Meanwhile, on Lac Gilly strange things are afoot.

Val seems to be unconscious and she has two mystery passengers in her one seat vehicle.

Spoiler

A quick F5/F9 scene reload fixes the issues and Val wastes not time throttling up her jet ski.

Spoiler

After some fun buzzing around the lake, it's time to go see Stables in her ride home.

Stables stared out of the cockpit windows wondering if Val will hand him the keys to her new toy.

Spoiler

Not a chance.

4 hours ago, Hotel26 said:

Pardon me also, I'm not sure that a confirmed find has been made for this particular landmark, although I accept that purpleivan must inevitably have passed by it (without recognizing it)?  I may be in error on this point?

@Castille7, @purpleivan ?

Yep... unless Kerbin has a 3rd polar cap I'm unaware of, I've boated past it

Edited March 1, 2020 by purpleivan

[Koolkei]

and now i'm preparing for a convoy

 

3 smol 'Microver's (i know, i'm great at naming) in a single trip

 

ready for takeoff

 

 

 

now, to do, find a destination

 

or not..... i need to figure out how to secure it

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2020 by Koolkei

[Hotel26]

Just now, Koolkei said:

now, to do, find a destination

also, how do i get the coordinates for a given location?

Great!  You are really getting prepared!

Here's some helpful suggestions:

1. take a look at these Suggestions for Explorers and Adventurers; please do ask if you have any questions at all!
2. take a look at the "Discoverer" links in the Opening Post in the Landmark table (or simply scroll through this topic) and find a place you really want to go.  Go there, because then you'll understand yourself how to present an attractive location to others and give them some guide to get there.  For example, why not try to go to "Kayak River" which is the location after which Kayak Club was named?!  A good Adventurer will become a better Explorer!
3. then you can think about your own Landmarks after you've gotten some ideas of what other people like

Meanwhile, I see you've figured out how to set a waypoint to get coords...  very good.  I've learned something too.  Don't publish these of course!

[Koolkei]

right. so more wide angle/panoramic/scenery shots.

will do it tomorrow. (OOT, just closed the game and started learning actual CAD modelling)

 

as for coordinates. well, "just land there" and see the location of your craft through the tracking station. there' coordinates

[Hotel26]

34 minutes ago, Koolkei said:

i need to figure out how to secure it

Yeah, you are going to have to attach them with docks.  I used to have a system where the rover (see Invader) had docks on the front and rear and I could drive two of them into an Ursa cargo plane.  The first would dock to the plane itself. and then the second rover would dock to the tail of the first.

But you can attach rovers to docks in the plane in the SPH and save it.  Then, anytime you deploy it on the runway, it's already got the rovers in it.  Just what you want!!

[Retro Starship]

4 hours ago, purpleivan said:

Good to see that Val has her helmet on as she waits for takeoff.

when I saw this the first thing I thought of was Val saying to herself, "Just think like Chuck Yeager and the X1 will fly just great" lol

Edited March 1, 2020 by Retro Starship

[purpleivan]

1 hour ago, Retro Starship said:

when I saw this the first thing I thought of was Val saying to herself, "Just think like Chuck Yeager and the X1 will fly just great" lol

Actually I had the same kind of thought and tried to think of a funny alternative to the X-plane names to call it, but came up empty.

[Pds314]

12 hours ago, purpleivan said:

OK, enough of the judgerifying... time to crack on with some exploring.

Lac Eve

Val had a dream... a dream of screeching around in a boat on Lac Gilly, just around the corner from @Pds314's Lac Eve.

But what manner of boat should it be?

An early choice was for a simple jet powered torpedo like craft.

  Reveal hidden contents

Unfortunately Val tried it at full throttle, which turned it into a jet powered missile resulting in the usual carnage.

  Reveal hidden contents

She added some wings for stability...

  Reveal hidden contents

... but that just turned into an even more capable aircraft, so maybe the wrong direction to take.

  Reveal hidden contents

A fine little aicraft it was, but this is supposed to be a boat.

  Reveal hidden contents

Well... at least it's closer to the water now.

  Reveal hidden contents

Val decided that adding wheels would make it easier to get a boat into the lake.

  Reveal hidden contents

But this also behaved far too much like a plane.

  Reveal hidden contents

Ok... back to square one then, just remember to keep the speed down Val.

Now, how to get out little jet ski out to Lac Gilly.

  Reveal hidden contents

Here's how.

Good to see that Val has her helmet on as she waits for takeoff.

Remember, safety first kids.

After flying... in a direction... Lac Eve came into sight.

Our pilot for the day, Stables Kerman took a pass over the Lake, as this would be the back up if Lac Gilly turned out to be a poor place for a boat.

Given what's coming up, this place does look appropeiately like a bombing range.

  Hide contents

Bombs awaaaay!... I mean Vals awaaaay!.

Ouch!

Ouch again.

Good thing she's wearing a helmet.

  Hide contents

But maybe that helmet's getting in the way of deployment.

Val tells Stables to make another pass over the lake, this time a little slower and lower, and she loses the headgear.

  Reveal hidden contents

This time Val cleared the support pylon and she (and her ride) is safely on the end of a deployed parachute.

Stables throttles up to avoid speading the carrier craft over the landscape like butter on hot toast.

Val's still descending safely (she's the little dot just below the plane's trail.

  Hide contents

Stables takes a low(ish) pass over Lac Gilly and is happt to confirm that Val's chute has fully opened.

  Hide contents

Now to find a landing spot.

  Hide contents

Meanwhile, on Lac Gilly strange things are afoot.

Val seems to be unconscious and she has two mystery passengers in her one seat vehicle.

  Hide contents

A quick F5/F9 scene reload fixes the issues and Val wastes not time throttling up her jet ski.

  Hide contents

After some fun buzzing around the lake, it's time to go see Stables in her ride home.

Stables stared out of the cockpit windows wondering if Val will hand him the keys to her new toy.

  Hide contents

Not a chance.

Yep... unless Kerbin has a 3rd polar cap I'm unaware of, I've boated past it

Very cool place you've found. However, this is not Lac Eve or Lac Gilly, which are nowhere near another body of water besides each other and are much smaller. Additionally, I can see you have a near vertical shadow, meaning you're basically in the tropics. Lac Eve is subfreezing. Lac Eve has steeper walls, and additionally, is much further from any mountains. The sandbar between Lac Eve and Lac Gilly is also only 35 meters wide st narrowest point and 3 meters tall.

Lac Eve from 10 km.

This is what Lac Eve's crater looks like. It is much cliffier.

I also question your sanity if you flew directly from KSC to Lac Eve with a subsonic plane, and considered your journey uneventful and not worth taking any photos along the way.

Edited March 2, 2020 by Pds314

[Hotel26]

Standrews!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited March 1, 2020 by Hotel26

[Pds314]

1 hour ago, Hotel26 said:

Standrews!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice!

[Paaaad]

Been lurking around here for a while, and I think I might have found the Great Wall. Just kinda wound up there coming back from Minmus. Not 100% sure, this is the best angle I could really get from my fixed location

[Hotel26]

4 minutes ago, Paaaad said:

have found the Great Wall

Welcome to Kayak Club, brave Adventurer.

[Pds314]

I found the lake you thought was Lac Eve. But no. Again, the sky is as cold as the greatest treasure but grows lukewarm and frigid twenty minutes from its antithesis.

Lac Pas Eve





Lac Pas Gilly, note how it's much larger than 18 meters across.

Edited March 2, 2020 by Pds314

[Hotel26]

8 minutes ago, Pds314 said:

Again, the sky is as cold as the greatest treasure but grows lukeward and frigid twenty minutes from its antithesis.

AH HAH!

[Pds314]

Takeoff from Lac Pas Gilly and its sandbar. This would not be possible from Lac Gilly and its own sandbar, seeing as the mixed water/land takeoff field length would end up being about 30 meters instead of 200.

 

[Pds314]

The TRUE Lac Eve. Accept no substitutions.


The TRUE Lac Gilly. 18 by 11 meters!

Edited March 2, 2020 by Pds314

[Hotel26]

5 minutes ago, Pds314 said:

Accept no substitutions.

The Darkness holds the Secret captive...

Edited March 2, 2020 by Hotel26

[Pds314]

Surprisingly, I was wrong. Summer's Axolotl CAN take off from the sandbar separating Lac Gilly.

Should @purpleivan be credited with the discovery of what I'm calling Lac Pas Eve? Afterall, they did discover it, and they didn't post coordinates, even if it was not what they were trying to do. They may of course name it something if they want.

Edited March 2, 2020 by Pds314

[Koolkei]

okay back to the mountain hole i found. i mean this one

 

anyone want to suggest a name for this?

the name i've thought of is MHole... which is great. i know, no need for applause

 

i'm gonna make the clue to get there. soon

more pics here

Spoiler

right next to another mountain range. but separated

the ocean is just BARELY visible

 

landed near the top

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by Koolkei

[Hotel26]

33 minutes ago, Koolkei said:

anyone want to suggest a name for this?

Standing by itself, it looks great!

How about "Crater Mountain" or "Mount Brimstone" (looks like an extinct volcano!).