My wife and I had coffee yesterday at place that has this nice outdoor space which always has a breeze. I love the sails that they use for shade. They actually allow some light through. I’ve been thinking about something like that for our back patio which is nice but doesn’t really have much shaded area. Here in Oklahoma with our high winds I think it would be imprudent to do this as a do it yourself project. The wind loads on the sails and supporting post would be considerable. Fortunately I have a friend who is a mechanical engineer and knows how to do those kinds of calculations.
I fired up the drone yesterday to get a few photos of the midday sky. I also pointed the camera straight down to our backyard. You can see our patio with no shade. The orange object in the middle of the yard is the drone landing pad and just to the left of it is me, piloting the aircraft. This is at about 40 meters above ground level.
And I lowered it to about 20 meters and took another photo.
And this is what I was taking photos of while the camera was pointed out. Check out my Skywatch Friday post next week for more.
So, should I see what would it entail to get some shade sails over our back patio?