Beginner learning maneuvers

[rfcaddell]

Morning fellow pilots

I've been flying my Rev just over two weeks now just trying to get the feel for it. I have the launch and landing down real good and the figure 8 is getting better. Due to a planned knee joint replacement surgery I'll have to put flying on hold, during recovery I want to create a list of maneuvers to learn.

So my question, are there any list of maneuvers to learn and should they be done in a particular order. I found one list on the Revolution website titled (techniques) that has a total of 19. And I've been watching John's videos, plan on watching them repeatedly there is so much good info in them.

My goal with this list is to cross off each maneuver as I become efficient at it before moving onto the next one.

On a side note: I did find a kite club locally on Whidbey Island Wa (2 hour drive) that I will hook up with.

As alway a big thanks for the feed back and information.

Ron

[makatakam]

The basic maneuvers are: launch, forward and reverse flight, turns, hovers, and slides. EVERYTHING else is based on combinations of these basic moves and positions. Something to aim for is to be able to put the kite in any position, for instance inverted, and move it in any direction without changing the position. In other words, if the kite is inverted, keep it inverted and try moving at 45 degrees to the upper left, or right, or down or left or right, or at 30 degrees, etc, etc, etc. Now do it holding a side hover, then a 45 hover left. No matter which way the leading edge is pointed, you should be able to move the kite in any direction, keeping the leading edge pointed in the original heading.

Tricks, on the other hand, like axels and catch and throw are fairly easy once you have mastered the basic moves.

[Wayne Dowler]

Something neglected in team flying is - keeping a straight line while flying, You know all the threading done? What happens to anyone else if you fly an upward or downward line? People are expecting a certain amount of room to pass through. if you go up or down - then you end pushing everyone to make room! Practice picking out something in the distance to fly against and make your lines straight!!

Also practice speed control - the ability to slow down or speed up at will. Easy to get caught up just zipping around. Speed control shows off your ability to control things at ANY speed!

[rfcaddell]

Cool

This simplifies it a lot, just the basics. I was playing around with the side hover yesterday afternoon. I was able after a time to hold it facing left but had difficulties when facing right, more hand coordination needed. I did a few rotations (spin) and it got away from me with 3 or 4 turn I think, I noticed a rubbing sensation of the lines during this I was able to reversed it and clear up the lines. What is your recommendation on rotations, what is the most you should do at one time before reversing direction and straightening out the lines.

Ron

[makatakam]

How many spins you can do before you have to spin the other way depends entirely on the brand, age or condition, and thickness of the lines you are using. The more slick and thin the line, the more twists you can put in it. Ideally, I would say 15, but if you have old, cheap, thick lines, then you'll feel them start to bind up at 3 wraps. The more twists there are in each individual line the sooner it will bind. That's why it's good to occasionally detach one line at a time from the kite, and walk the twists out.

On the average, depending on skill level, a flyer can put 8 to 10 wraps in the lines without losing control.

[rfcaddell]

Great

Good to known, walking out the twist I'll remember to do that from time to time.

Thanks Mark

Ron

[Paul LaMasters]

Exactly even flying line lengths and extended length leaders (to increase braking action) will calm the beast. The handles should perfectly align when pulled back tightly from a single stationary object (fence post or a well-placed stake) on all four lines.

Think like a boxer though, you can't have just one punch and be successful. Try it (whatever "it" you're working on) in both directions, work on both hands using a light and delicate grip to the handles, almost like you could drop them or have 'em pulled from your hands with a slight gust of wind)

Try a small handle move and add or withdraw energy with your torso or foot movements. You can move around and make it smoother in flight. The sooner you get comfortable with the kite inverted the better you will progress, in fact the testing stage of tuning is conducted inverted. How do you know if you have the handle leaders properly set-up? If the kite will not back-up inverted (rise from the ground with the leading edge down) then you have it tuned WRONG. Cut two strings off and fly it Push/Pull method, you aren't using the "quad-line effect" anyway. Or, shorten the bottoms/ extend the top leaders until it does back-up.

A good practice session is to imagine you have to fly the kite underneath a soccer goal post, inverted the whole time. The objective it to draw a rectangle with leading edge in the same orientation thru the whole figure, now face left and repeat, again but facing right and finally with the kite upright.

You can move you hand position on the grips too, increasing forward or reverse power/control. RELAX, this is supposed to be fun. The reason these kites are still enjoyable after thousands of hours is because your control constantly improves with practice. You will look better after a single serious flying session commitment.