jacobs ladder Fade to Turtle for Jacobs ladder

[Mike Eibey]

I'm fairly consistent getting my kite to fade from most positions including from a half lazy susan.

But when trying to get the kite to barrel roll out of the fade to a turtle I'm struggling getting the kite to land on its back in a horizontal position. It tends to hit the backflip at nearly vertical and ends the Jacob ladder efforts.

Maybe I'm just giving slack with both lines for the turtle too early? I lost my wind when practicing today but will get some more time later this week.

 

[Mike Eibey]

Got a couple rungs of the JL today but that fade to backflip transition is sloppy. None of them were linked together.🤨

It nearly alway will not barrel roll fully enough to enter the turtle cleanly.

I feel I need to be better at maintaining the fade and figure out the input to barrel roll out of the fade and fly more vertical from there.

When I try being more "positive" on my barrel roll input the kite tends to lunge towards me resulting in excessive line slack and an awkward stall.

Any tips for getting that fade to barrel roll and rotate to a more vertical position to better set up the next turtle position? Or on maintaining the fade better?

I will say though that as a relative newer trick flyer that the half lazy to fade feels awesome and just looks so cool in the air. 😎

[John Barresi]

Are you stepping into the roll over enough? When Lam taught me that movement years ago, he said do it like "out of my way" (sweeping hand) and a big step toward the kite so its thoroughly SLACK through the movement.

And on what kite? Each kite has its own behavior and nuance.

[Mike Eibey]

I have not been taking a step forward at all.

I'll have to make sure to do that and mimick that "out of my way" gesture.

I'm usually practicing this on a Dream Machine SUL by Lam.

Thanks for the advice!

[John Barresi]

Let us know how it goes, the kite should make that rotation much better with a good input of overall slack... Repeat the same motion and step with the right speed and intensity, it becomes a backspin, stepping forward with each hit.

[John Barresi]

Be ready for that two handed tug just as it comes around, looking for the spine to be straight up and down, or looking down the length of it, for each flip.

[Mike Eibey]

That should help alot. Went out flying today but we have some strong and choppy 20mph winds around Seattle today so I wasn't tricking.

Man am I ever looking forward to chaining 15 jacobs ladder together! It'll be my right of passage. 😏

[Mike Eibey]

 

On 10/10/2020 at 4:56 PM, John Barresi said:

Be ready for that two handed tug just as it comes around, looking for the spine to be straight up and down, or looking down the length of it, for each flip.

That made all the difference in the world! 👍 Got a few more rungs strung together last night. Wind was very weak around 2-3 mph so it was kinda a balance act of getting that firm "out of my way" input and some slack followed by some backwards walking to get some wind back in the sail. 😎

But I managed to hook 3 rungs together and got alot of backspin practice from the turtle position too.😏

Thanks again for helping me get that trick unlocked!

[John Barresi]

Sweeeet!! Really happy to hear that. 👍🏻

Remember secondarily, per the "track your spine" reference... One of the best trick tips I ever got was from Mark Reed, simply "keep your spine in line" which just refers to tracking it through cascades, roll ups, etc, being sure that the end goal transitions are true horizontal, vertical, "down the length" or whatever it's supposed to look like at each junction - never get too tight over it, but having the right things to track can make all the difference.

[Mike Eibey]

That's a good nuget of information I've never heard. I'll be sure to keep that in my mind when flying. 👍

There isn't many flyers at the park where I fly but I seem to always have an audience when I fly watching. I fly at Brown's Point in Tacoma a handful of days a week.

Its nice to make things look cleaner and cleaner even though a fair of the trick practicing ends up as ground recoveries. Haha😆

[John Barresi]

I went through my share of ground recoveries while learning slack line (2004, but I started flying in 1990) And still have some when I dig deep and push it a little too far... Rubbing is racing. 👍🏻

[Fred Wagner]

I am just looking forward to learning any of them. First trick for me is to get a kite capable of doing them. You guys boggle my brain.


Sent from my iPhone using KiteLife mobile app

[Mike Eibey]

https://store.kittyhawk.com/products/skyscraper-stunt-kite-176336

https://intothewind.com/itw-hydra-blue.html

I bought these 2 to learn tricks on first. I really wanted a Kymera but couldn't find one anywhere online. The Skyscraper is basically a Widow ng with a simplified sail design so its cheaper.

The Skyscraper is very smooth, axles extremely easy, and loves being on its back in fades and turtles.

The hydra took me longer to click with but now I do enjoy it more than the Skyscraper. But the Hydra does yoyo based tricks significantly better than the Skyscraper which for me makes it a much more enjoyable kite. 

I'd pick up a hydra and learn some axles, lazy susans, and ground recoveries. 👍

Its only $112 right now.

[Mike Eibey]

I enjoy looking back at things like this and remember how much trouble I was having getting certain aspects of tricks that I can now confidently say I own. 

Now I'm trying to get better at being able to hit the yoyo from the lateral roll after the fade inside the jacobs ladder. I get it about a quarter of the time correctly. 

It's nice to be able to sit there and hit rung after rung after rung now of the JL. By far my favorite trick at the moment.