Trip the Kite Fantastic

Under every square metre of sky there is square metre of ground and I think that you are missing out here. Your focus seem to be to swoop around in the sky and mostly do whatever to avoid the ground (don't misunderstand me, left and right turn training until the control is automatic is also much necessary). The ground is there to land and start from (in various ways), fly closely to (slowly initially) and involve in tricking (later). My suggestion is to go out when there is little wind and just barely fly. Get a feeling for how hard you need to pull by only flying up 0.5m and then let the kite land, then a little higher (land again) and then more. Launching/stalling/landing is an excellent exercise - postpone the snap stall training for the moment being. The just-barely-fly-training could help to go easier on the kite during the start and help you to avoid the speed kite like launch and make your centre-T fittings last.

Talking about the ground - use it to move yourself downstreams/upstreams to control how hard you are pulling the lines (unless the lines are almost as long as the field). Again, barely flying/maintaining a stall is a good exercise - it forces you to use the feet to achieve a goal. Use movements to slow down the kite, speeding up the kite, maintaining a stall or extending the wind window.

When you get the launch/stall/landing going (and your feet) you could instead land from above by flying to the ground, turn the kite while moving towards it and then land. The final part of the landing should then already be familiar to you. If there is as much wind as it is in the video I'd recommend to start out with these type of landings close to the edge (or another day).

Also to help forum members commenting on your videos, do them shorter leaving the parts that need input/discussion remaining - not necessarily the parts were everything went well (the long raw uncut video could exist in parallel with the shorter highlights video). The 30 minutes video here I must confess I digested by taking many samples from rather than viewing it from the start to the end. If a video is longer than five minutes I expect that many will skip parts of it. Several videos from many sessions in one blog post, where each video shows a certain aspect (like landings or starts) is also one option that could guide a discussion. But, what do I know - I've posted no videos at all...

 

I wish you happy kiting and progress in your pace,
Exult

11 hours ago, Exult said:

Under every square metre of sky there is square metre of ground and I think that you are missing out here. Your focus seem to be to swoop around in the sky and mostly do whatever to avoid the ground

That is about where I am at, to be honest.   Still less than 10 outings,  really only maybe 5 or 6.  Still working out my lefts and rights!  Avoiding the ground is pretty much the goal at the moment.

11 hours ago, Exult said:

Talking about the ground - use it to move yourself downstreams/upstreams to control how hard you are pulling the lines (unless the lines are almost as long as the field). Again, barely flying/maintaining a stall is a good exercise - it forces you to use the feet to achieve a goal. Use movements to slow down the kite, speeding up the kite, maintaining a stall or extending the wind window.

I'm aware that I stand too still.  I'll try to start moving some more. Again, still aiming to avoid that ground! 

11 hours ago, Exult said:

Also to help forum members commenting on your videos, do them shorter leaving the parts that need input/discussion remaining - not necessarily the parts were everything went well (the long raw uncut video could exist in parallel with the shorter highlights video). The 30 minutes video here I must confess I digested by taking many samples from rather than viewing it from the start to the end. If a video is longer than five minutes I expect that many will skip parts of it. Several videos from many sessions in one blog post, where each video shows a certain aspect (like landings or starts) is also one option that could guide a discussion. But, what do I know - I've posted no videos at all...

I know that the videos are way too long, and I certainly don't think or expect that many (or any!) will sit through them entirely. Video editing is still painful at the moment,  I'm still working out how to do it (I much prefer still photography).  I'm just cutting the footage down to all the flying stuff.  As I become more competent at flying, I guess it will eventually boil down a montage of the best bits.  For now I'm happy to display my raw inexperience in all its glory! 

Though a retrospective montage of learning a trick or certain aspects of flying is a good idea!

The barely 0.5m fly training was intended to get you into seeing the other part of basic control, namely that that line tension when stalled (and not stalled) propels the kite. To this point, for you, pulling on one line means that you turn and that the other wing tip will get ahead of the line that gets pulled. Stalled flying (like when landing, before an axel, side sliding or just for the sake of maintaining a stall) is the opposite - the wing that you pull will rise. To make the connection that a tight line will propel the kite or wing half is good also when avoiding powered lawn darts crashing the kite or (later) when you axel and initially (during the first fraction of the trick) move the wing that you pull on.

I see no reason delaying to get acquainted with this part (non-turning, power-up/down what you pull/relax) of flying. There is no substitute for learning this than doing. A fruit of this training might be gentler handling, leading to a less frequently broken kite and more air (than repair) time.

On 3/15/2017 at 5:53 PM, Exult said:

To this point, for you, pulling on one line means that you turn and that the other wing tip will get ahead of the line that gets pulled.

This I get.

On 3/15/2017 at 5:53 PM, Exult said:

Stalled flying (like when landing, before an axel, side sliding or just for the sake of maintaining a stall) is the opposite - the wing that you pull will rise.

This, not so much?

Trying to relate back to the aerodynamics that I know: In unstalled flight, If I pull on say, the right line, am I decreasing the angle of attack on that side?  Thus a decrease in lift compared to the left side of the kite, causing the left side to lift and the kite to turn towards the right?

Assuming that much is correct, then in stalled flight, by pulling on the right line am I momentarily decreasing the angle of attack to the point where it starts generating lift again?  Thus more lift than the left hand side and the kite turns towards the left?

On 3/15/2017 at 5:53 PM, Exult said:

I see no reason delaying to get acquainted with this part (non-turning, power-up/down what you pull/relax) of flying. There is no substitute for learning this than doing. A fruit of this training might be gentler handling, leading to a less frequently broken kite and more air (than repair) time.

I haven't had much time to get out of late, but I will keep this in mind!