John Barresi

Ugh KiT, you're gonna make me talk on video, aren't you! LOL The Rev DVD will certainly be more detailed, with voice instructions and pause-info-pause-info-etc... Probably filmed in San Diego, over a 2-3 week period. To be honest, the one thing that slowed me down with this tutorial was the inconvenience of pausing a PIP section to overlay text... Easy to slow it down, harder (more time consuming) to stop the footage and run other stuff around it. But, I agree with most of your critique... You know how it goes, not all of it may get incorporated, but I will take it to heart and do what I can. Indeed, discussion out here in the open is awesome... I can handle the blows, and everyone can learn this way.

GREAT comments Baloo, there'll be no flaming here. Indeed, not a novice tutorial... We'll be adding more basic tutorials, which would lead up to this. 1. Different angles - I understand, and will try to incorporate this into future tutorials. 2. Slow mo - the first example is slightly slowed, the second a little slower, and the third is the slowest... Slower still? 3. Entertainment - ROFL! Yeah, I'm animated... But additionally, the style actually lends to the execution... I'll try to keep a balance in mind. Here's the "beef" I got out of this... 1. Isolate hand movements more. 2. Slow things down even more, step by step maybe. Sound about right?

Hey, not everyone has your simian good looks.

Oh, public for sure... Right here. Just trim out any specifics about the kite, video/composition is fair game. My pleasure Mario, thanks for being there. Aha, cool... Double thanks to you Chris, glad to have you on board!

FYI, these are what I use for traveling with my kites... SKB Standard Golf Case (single flier's kit) SKB Double Golf Case (we use this for iQuad's team gear) Unconditional lifetime warranty, watertight, easily replaceable parts and wheels that hold up to sand. Hard to beat.

I'm confident it would hold all those toys, as long as the 9-12 ft deltas don't exceed the overall length of the bag. Knick knack storage is the only thing this bag is a little light on... It's well built for quite a few sets of line on plastic winders (like LaserPro), your straps/handles, some weights, etc... But isn't built for bulky items like halo spools. All in all, it's still my favorite bag when I carry more than Revs.

Please give a hard critique KiT, I want to know where improvements can be made.

For an all purpose kite bag, you can't beat the large Prism roll up bag (R.U.B.)... It takes all my dualies and quads in one shot, holds a TON of kites. However, if you want a specialized Rev bag... Well, I LOVE my official Rev bag.

That was a nice, quick upload... All done and ready to download.

Be advised, as of 5:16 PST today, the 1440x1080 version is 78% uploaded... Should be totally on line by 6pm at the latest.

Howdy folks, I've just added the first Rev tutorial to our official Kitelife Subscriber's section! It walks you step by step through doing the axel on a Rev 1.5, and also gives you a sneak peek at the new Revolution kite which will be coming out at the KTAI show on January 25th... We've uploaded this tutorial in 720x480 and 1440x1080 MPGs, as well as an iPod (MP4) version for when you're out on the field. And yes, we did do a picture-in-picture tutorial on this one, with hands and kite. If you haven't subscribed yet, now is the time... Aside from the tutorial, there are already a whole bunch of large-res quad performances on video! We'll be adding a few more as the year goes on, building up eventually to the full release of a new and updated advanced Rev Flying video from Revolution. One thing I will ask of our subscribers, is to not distribute the tutorial, it is available to any of our subscribers, as thanks for their support of Kitelife... Also, keep any information or gossip about the new kite under your hat until the 25th of January, you can wait a couple of weeks! If you'd like, I will answer select questions by direct email. Sign up or log in - http://www.kitelifers.com Thanks to all, it's good to share the skies with all of you.

All three are great choices... I'd lean towards the first two myself, as they'd be easier to do the whole variety of tricks on. The Genesis tends to favor spin-based tricks (540, etc), and isn't as smooth on it's back as the other two.

I agree with you last statement 100%... Kite choice and technique outweigh handle length, IMHO. Just to share, I've been flying on the 13" handles so long... When I use the Blast handles, I'm actually bothered by the added thickness of the carbon wrapping, and the slightly more open bend in the handle... But again, that's primarily because I am so attuned and tied into the 13" non-carbon handles.

The 13" handles were standard with the Rev I SUL up until about a year ago, when they were switched in as the standard handle for the 1.5 kite. It is the same length, but the angle of the bend in the handle is a little wider (more open) on the Blast handles... And, the Blast handles are carbon-wrapped. While many would disagree with me, I find that the longer handles (over 13") give the kite too much variable in the controls, especially in higher winds... I prefer to work the kite harder (filling the sail), and work with the (now) standard 1.5 handles. 2 cents.

I haven't played with that to any major extent... I know the SLE spar creates that effect due to it's thickness, but I find it too stiff. Frankly, a well-trimmed Rev is already perfection as far as I'm concerned. Same reason I stick with the 13" handles, instead of going over-length... I just take the time to learn how to make the kite do it, instead of making 1/2 dozen modifications to make things easier. Rev has had the same basic product for roughly 20 years, I prefer not to mess with it. Granted, that is somewhat of a "nose in the air" stance... Always be encouraged to experiment, but I've found what works for me. Effort in flight.

Are your referring to a slightly bowed leading edge spar, or some "cupping" in the sail along the leading edge? FYI, I'm headed to an indoor event in Long Beach (WA) in about 20 minutes... Email and forum access might be sporadic over the weekend.

Aye, split screen (picture-in-picture) is a recurring request which I will take seriously. You're already ahead of the game Chris... Practice, and enjoy. Seriously, there are no better tools with a Rev. If you're looking for things to practice, try here for some basic goals. == As for bungee tensioning... Since that's a more immediate question from Baloo, I'll share my approach. I like my sail tight. Not drum tight (which tends to stretch the sail even further), but all the slack pulled out and a little more. You'll notice, if the bungees are too loose, the vertical spars will very much appear to be sticking off the bottom of the kite when it's loaded (under solid wind pressure), a sure sign that they're too loose. Rule of thumb... After an hour or two of solid flying, I have to tie a single additional knot about 1" to 1-1/2" inside of one of the original knots in the bungee on the bottom points of the kite. After I have 3-4 solid hours on a kite and it's all broken in... Standard - Point of the sail is about 1" from the end of the end cap. Vented - Point of the sail is nearly flush (maybe 1/2" to 3/4") with the end cap, maybe even flush. I rarely tighten the wingtip bungees, since the leading edge is generally dacron and tends to stretch very little. == I hope this helps some, feel free to ask for clarification on any of the points.

It would be me... And maybe a guest or two. Would be nice if I could get Scott Weider to talk about axels, and Shawn to talk about flic flacs... Two of the best I've seen at those tricks.

Once stacked, if the back kite(s) tend to overfly the front ones, the bottom train lines in back need to be shortened a hair. With longer stacks (like 9), you might play with gradually shortening the bottom train lines starting with the 4th or 5th kite, increasing as you get to the last kite... Small graduation though, usually topping out at about 1" pulled in on the very back kite, maybe a hair more. That's just from my own experience, years ago.

Naturally the video would start from the basics (launching, simple controls) and build up through the more advanced maneuvers, even how to recover the kite from a couple of the flat ground positions. The new kite we'll be seeing at KTAI isn't a "trick kite', so you won't see a huge amount of tutorial on slack line stuff... Just the flic flacs and axels. You got it... All on the "to do" list. Indoor... Now that will be a topic for a separate video all together... The tutorial video I have in mind is specializing on the outdoor Rev I and 1.5, in all wind ranges. Thanks for your kudos on the tango... It was a beautiful piece, and I had a great time flying to it. FYI, what you're calling "flip flopping" is likely the flic flac, which I've seen Shawn do, and quite well. I won't be getting into stacking, or the power and speed series... Simply not my areas of expertise. The toss and drop from overhead stuff falls under a category called "3D flying", because the kite comes down to you and goes back out... Making the action 3-dimensional. Knot system, for sure... One handed, well, how to hold the handles anyway (the rest is practice). This is a darned good idea... Whether or not we do it will come down to what kind of resources we have to work with, and whether or not we can get a professional video editor involved for cheap. That would be cool... I'm game, if I can figure out how to do it. Oh, I'm sure.

Hi guys, Just got off the phone with Lolly at Revolution, and we're both agreed that it's high time Revolution released another, more up to date advanced flying video for Revolution Kites... With this in mind, I'd like ya'll to give me ideas on some of the things you'd like to learn from such a video. What we've got so far... Equipment: • Line length adjustment • Handle lengths • Handle adjustments • Using different rods and sails • Introduction to spar types, and interchanging them • Tensioning the kite (bungees) Flying techniques: • Clockwork turns • Inverted hover • Side slides (inverted and upright) • Reverse flight • Light/zero wind flying • High wind flying Exotic styles: • Flic flacs & axels • 3D flying (toss, catch) • Dogstaking • One handed flying Please, be specific about what else you want to see... Single-topic items, that I can work on, one at a time. I'm guessing, if all goes well, we'd be releasing this video later in the year or at the 2008 KTAI trade show. Production of the video will take some time (filming, editing, etc)... I could really use your help here, so post your ideas!

Thank you very much Skitch... You indirectly delivered to me one of the finest and most nostalgic kites I've ever had my collection.

No problems on this end. Can't wait to see that kite.

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Great news, Paul is one heck of a flier, and even has a new indoor kite to unveil at the event! As for the guest judge, I'd post that question on the NWSKL forum... You'll get more relevant responses there. Alan, same as always... If you could, send me 500 words for a "pre-event report" in Kitelife, need it by January 20th. That will go out in our February 1st issue.