Golidog Posted August 29, 2014 Report Share Posted August 29, 2014 Hi guys, it's really nice to see such an active forum here. I have been flying dual line parafoil and stunt kites for a few years and felt like something a bit more challenging. I happened to stumble on a few Revolution youtube videos and absolutely knew that I had to try quad line. However I have no experience whatsoever in quad line flying, I've watched quite a few videos and read a fair bit, but nothing that includes hands on experience! I researched which one to buy, considered a HQ Mojo (and decided I wanted a Revolution really), a Rev Exp and Rev SLE. Everywhere I read, where someone expressed an opinion, they said that if you get an Exp you would be secretly wanting an SLE all the time and if you could afford an SLE you may as well get the best one you can afford.... So here's where the experienced quad liners start shaking their heads and mumbling under their breath collectively.... I managed to get my hands on a John Barresi Rev 1.5 non vented for a really good price - in fact for less than second hand Exp's are going for. I have 80' of LGP which I have sleeved and double checked for length. So, first time out - wind conditions between 5 and gusting up to 13 or so and I have had plenty of experience in making soft crash landings. What concerned me most was my absolute complete inability to maintain level flight with for any period of time without crazy spins or dips occurring all without moving or twitching the handles an inch. So, I guess my main question would be - am I trying to tame a beast too fierce and do I need to start out with a lesser kite that may be more forgiving? If not, what the hell am I getting wrong. Thanks very much for any input. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayner Posted August 30, 2014 Report Share Posted August 30, 2014 Hi Steve, Congrats on your score of a 1.5B at a good price. I have just returns to revs after 20+ years. Your doing fine, more flight time will solve the problem. You may also want to practice turns. A sloppy turn looks better than sloppy straight line flight, plus you learn more. Holding a straight line with a quad is different for us dualie guys. Need to only, move the thumbs forward and back. We instinctively pull left right (Even if just a little). Found I was adding a small dualie pull with many of my quad inputs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
makatakam Posted August 30, 2014 Report Share Posted August 30, 2014 You'll crash less each time out. Keep them soft and you'll be fine. There is no substitute for time on the lines. Stay with it, you'll gain more control each time out. It will just fall into place by itself eventually. Watch some of the training videos available here and on the Rev forum. Watch the basics, including line management several times. It will help. Good luck, smile and don't forget to breathe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfish Posted August 30, 2014 Report Share Posted August 30, 2014 Hi Steve, Welcome to Kitelife. No, you are not "trying to tame a beast too fierce." You can't really make a bad choice with any of the 1.5 platform Revs. You've got some good advice from Wayner and makatakam already. I'll add a few more thoughts. It doesn't take much in terms of inputs for the kite to respond. It may be possible that you didn't even notice that you moved your hands a little bit. Also, you mentioned gusts. The kite is going to respond slightly differently to the same handle inputs at different wind speeds. I am always constantly making very small adjustments on my inputs to keep the kite doing what I want it to do when the wind gusts or is bumpy. This will take time and practice to learn. However, it may be that the gusts are causing your kite to make those unexpected moves, or even that the gusts are causing you to move your hands without realizing. One last thing, when you say level flight, do you mean hovers (kite stays in one place) or straight lines? If you mean hovers, they are not the easiest thing to do. It takes just the right balance of forward and reverse to get the kite to stay in one place, and then you have to keep adjusting the balance to match what the wind requires at any given moment. A good practice for learning the balance is to fly forward and reverse repeatedly and slowing down and moving less each time. Good luck and good winds. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Dowler Posted August 30, 2014 Report Share Posted August 30, 2014 Without seeing you in flight, it's hard to diagnose. My guess would be that somewhere along the line, you're letting a thumb fall forward, slowing that side and causing the spin. But that is only a guess! One word of advice - if you are going to crash - no way out - GIVE TO THE KITE! Let it, don't pull! Step forward, pushing your arms out towards the kite. Takes all the power out and makes crashes a lot easier on the kite! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golidog Posted August 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2014 Thanks for the replies guys, I'm going back out today and getting back on the horse. I believe I may have identified one of the issues and I'll check back later to let you know how I get on! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepster Posted August 30, 2014 Report Share Posted August 30, 2014 Good score Steve. A full sail B-series is what I started with also. My first Rev flight was with a full vent sail that was owned and set up by an experienced flier. The winds were high, but the fact that the lines/handles were correctly adjusted allowed me to fly for about 20 minutes without crashing ... led me to believe that there was nothing to flying a Rev. I immediately went home and ordered a full sail B-series kite, lines, handles, etc. When it arrived, the winds were 15 plus mph for several days. Hmmm ... flying it seemed akin to trying to ride a bull for 8 seconds. Very frustrating to say the least ... luckily I'm stubborn and hung in there. I'd offer two pieces of advice: 1) Find someone in your area who flies Revs reasonably well. Even if you have to travel 100 miles or so, go fly with them. They can help you set up the kite correctly ... and correct bad habits before they take hold. 2) If you can't get with someone, then make sure your lines/handles are set up correctly. You want the lines to be even in length ... within a quarter inch will do in the beginning, Your lines will creep in length as they're used, so check them periodically when they're new. Because the load is greater on the top lines, they will stretch more than the bottoms ... rotating the top pair and the bottom pair each time out will help with the equalization. Dual line fliers don't worry about balance and creep as much as quad fliers, so don't go by past experience. Adjust the flight lines on the handle pig tails so that the top lines are about four inches further away from the handles than the bottom lines. That's a good starting point only. Your ultimate goal is to be able to balance the handles on your middle finger with the kite stationary in the middle of the wind window in a vertical position. In the beginning, simply launch the kite and see how it feels ... if it is still has too much speed, then let out the top lines a little more. Keep doing that until you've tamed the kite down to an acceptable level. Good luck, Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Best Posted August 31, 2014 Report Share Posted August 31, 2014 I too was a dual kite guy before recently purchasing my first Rev 1.5 SLE. I've had it had a few times and progressively learning more about controlling the kite. However, I recently bought a new Symphony Pro 2.2 and took it out and I relearned some bad habits when I switched to back to the Rev. For sure, it's all about flying time.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Russell Posted August 31, 2014 Report Share Posted August 31, 2014 I'm also a dual line speed foil flier who bought a 1.5 to start out on and had absolutely no luck in spite of watching hours of videos. I was close to giving up on quads, but this week I had a 3 hour private lesson with Joh Barresi and learned a ton. I still have a very long way to go, but I now know I can fly the kite and all I need is time on the lines and occasional pointers when I can hook up with more experienced fliers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayner Posted August 31, 2014 Report Share Posted August 31, 2014 I'm also a dual line speed foil flier who bought a 1.5 to start out on and had absolutely no luck in spite of watching hours of videos. I was close to giving up on quads, but this week I had a 3 hour private lesson with Joh Barresi and learned a ton. I still have a very long way to go, but I now know I can fly the kite and all I need is time on the lines and occasional pointers when I can hook up with more experienced fliers. Yea. Glad to hear you got the basics down and can now enjoy and improve with more time on th ed lines. John is a great teacher. Sad Las Vegas was not on his resent training clinic this summer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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