Benson Trick Video

[Mike Eibey]

If you've never seen this video by Tim Benson its a fantastic resources for learning alot of dual line tricks. 

He has a different approach to a handful of tricks than I've seen other flyers teach. For example when going axle to fade he pops with one hand and then a quarter through the rotation pulls to fade with the opposite hand. Can't for the life of me do it that way but that seems to be his way of doing it.

Another great video of him linking tricks together is this:

 

[Andy55]

Find those videos very informative, it’s just the co ordination fails me😂.
I have found that my control has really improved since having my DS, was out yesterday, early afternoon, wind a bit strong for the DS so flew my old HQ Jam Session for an hour until wind dropped, my flying has improved since I got back into kites, but when I fly the DS it’s a different league altogether, so much more trickable.

[Mike Eibey]

Same haha.

While watching the video it seems so clear and obvious. Its the real world part thats hard.

I have a DS on order but won't see it until a week or two before Christmas. Really excited for it though.

[Andy55]

You will really enjoy the DS, I have DS UL on order, expected any time now, just waiting for the email to say it’s on the way, could have done with it today, yesterday too windy for the STD, today not enough probably for theUL, but certainly no chance with the STD.

Great kites, though, beautifully made.

I also have a go at my own, got one on the bench now, may buy the spars for that for light airs.

[jaydub200]

Andy,

The DS Standard is a better all round kite than the UL.  It's a few years since I owned DSs, but my recollection was that flic-flacs and JLs were very difficult to get right.

Having said that, some of this may be my flying style.  Lots of people raved about the Talon UL and I only thought that was average.

The only UL I have in my bag now is a Vortex UL and, guess what, I don't particularly like that either.

Do let us know how you get on with it.

[Andy55]

I never owned a UL so this will be new to me. 

[BobL]

hey Mike, thanks again for posting the video, its probly the best ive seen so far. i'm struggling with the axel-to-fade roll too. i finaly realized the kite points left or right before it passes through the flare as well as after when i was flicking...bingo...its not easy to get the opposite hand flick so quickly after the initial flick but when i do... it rolls right into a fade...i still have a lot of precisionizing and beautifying to completely own the trick but i think this video has speeded up the learning process quite a bit. congrats on the deep space, what color did you get? and lastly lets get together and fly again...how about we meet at ocean shores sometime this winter? we usually get a bit of good weather/winds in january or feb. its about a 2 hour drive from here but well worth it for the quality of winds there...also a killer kite store - oskusa

[Mike Eibey]

Yeah I've noticed that the input from axle to fade is different on most of my kites.

Like the dream machine it seems to work best if it pull to fade with both hands when the kite is directly nose away in the axle.

The widow knockoff I have doesn't care much when you pull to fade or if you use both hands or just the opposite hand you used for the axle.

The hydra hates going into the fade for me usually.

The prism 4d likes the one hand pull to fade like the video.

The deepspace I got is just the standard red. Thought it'd be cool to have the classic deepspace look. Haven't gotten much time on it yet and winds have been poor.

I'm down to go out to Ocean shores for a weekend. I'd probably head out there a Saturday morning and head back Sunday. Take the wife and dogs with most likely too. 

We usually will hang out at the beach all day and get some food to cook over a fire at night. Hopefully we can plan a dry weekend out there!

[BobL]

hey Mike, sat morning at ocean shores sounds great...we just have to time it for some 4-10 mph winds, more or less...and warmer weather if the wives come...seems like Tim was flying in pretty low winds for this video. we would probly just come for the day...after all the cost of a room is about equal to a new ITW Hydra lol. in case you're not famiiar  with OSKUSA, they are a great kite store located on the beach approach at ocean shores...you can stock up on kite parts for your inventory and drool over all the kites they have hanging from the ceiling. last time we were there my wife busted a center tee on her Echo, drove a mile to oskusa and was back flying in a half hour.

 

back to tricks...one of the great things about this video is the progression from simple to more complex tricks...i may be only on step 2 but i can see the logical steps i need to take to get to 3.

 

my new recovery method if i'm down on a leading edge is to flip it over onto its belly and recover with a fade launch, gain a litlle altitude and try a back spin or just pull one line and fly away.

 

on the subject of fades and different kites, i've noticed that setting the angle of attack back a bit  (the opposite of a low wind setting) helps. also moving the standoffs away from a low wind setting can help.

 

ok Mike, that's all i got, looking forward to seeing your ds fly...happy new year 

[SparkieRob]

I've got the Trick or Treat DVD Tim did quite a while ago. It is cool to put on as both watching it intently or as background. The music is pretty good too. Some very good freestyle flying in it. One of the best pure kite DVDs going still.

Sent from my SM-G970F using KiteLife mobile app

[BobL]

the Trick or Treat video was the only Benson video i knew about till Mike posted this one.   most videos if not all are a little sketchy on showing the inputs and the kite at the same time. this video is the best at that.  another plus is organizing the tricks in a logical way from simple to complex.also very helpful.

 

 

 

 

[Mike Eibey]

If only I could fly my deepspace as well as Tim does.

I have a little more time on it now but have not really clicked with it alot yet.

In my defense the only time I was able to really fly it with decent wind it was pouring down rain with huge puddles all over the ground.

Its definitly a kite that needs a fair amount of footwork to get things done properly.

Tim has another video of him doing a  jacobs ladder variation on the deepspace but every time the kite hits the fade he yoyos it to another fade then a quick lazy susan, pulls back to fade, and repeats.

Not sure what its called but rest assured I cannot do it. Haha. I tried though.

The input for the lazy susan needs to be timed well because the turtle is noticing shallow and getting the lines to go under the wing can be a bit tricky.

[jaydub200]

11 hours ago, Mike Eibey said:

The input for the lazy susan needs to be timed well because the turtle is noticing shallow and getting the lines to go under the wing can be a bit tricky.

I've not had a DS for a number of years, but I found sliding the uphaul/outhaul knot position to increase the uphaul length by 0.5cm made the turtle sufficiently deep to make JLs significantly easier without detracting from any other tricks.

Worth a try.

[Mike Eibey]

Thanks for that advice. The bridal looked to not have any adjustment in it but I suppose I can slide the knots little bit where you attach the lines.

[jaydub200]

It's a larks head knot so very easy just to slide it through itself.  Looking at Tim's web site try an uphaul of 53cm and an outhaul of 75.5.  Mike Fogg (who features extensively on the Benson video page) and I tried various settings and both settled on a 0.5cm shift.

Always best to mark the original settings so you can revert if you don't like it.