holding a stall

[Jim F.]

I've read in several places and heard on Dodd Gross Flight School that about the first thing you need to do is be able to hold a nice steady stall for about five seconds or more because many other moves come off the stall. Well, I can hold a stall for maybe 1.5 seconds if I'm lucky. Three different kites do the same so I'm guessing it's me. I can snap into a stall but very quickly the nose starts falling right or left and I don't seem to be able to stop it. I see pictures of you guys stalling all the way across the window or in very light air, all the way around!! Wow! and I can't last for 2 seconds. Any suggestions?

[JMPVW73]

A Prism Elixir will hold a stall forever and it will side slide 1/3 of the window with ease. It did this on first flight for me and I'm just a beginner. I havent flown the E2 since I started flying the Elixir because the sail is torn but I was never able to do more than your describing with it.

The reverse launch fade roll out that I was doing frequently with a borrowed CdC STYX for the rest of the day after the E2 tare is a lot harder to do on the Elixir and requires much different imputs.

[windofchange]

Best advice I can give is keep working at it, it will come.

One thing that may help (if you are not doing this now) is to keep your feet moving. Don't stand in one spot. Moving with the kite and the speed at which you move will greatly effect the amount of stall and the length of time you can keep the kite stalled in that position. Moving forward and even backwards will help keep your kite at the same vertical position through the stall. If the kite is darting left or right and you can't maintain the stall with movement of your arms/feet then you may want to make a bridle adjustment or it may be that the kite you are using just won't hold the stall for that long. Keep your hand inputs steady and try controlling the kite more with your arms and feet. It may help.

Hope this helps.