New quad flyer ... and leaders???

[glench]

I now have a Rev NYM, and this is my first post. I really hope you won't mind my (beginners)conversation!

Once I erased every lesson I ever learned flying a 2-string, it hasn't been hard to learn the basics.

Here's my first question for you folks: there seems to be universal agreement that lengthening the top lines helps control. And yet, I have been SHORTENING my top lines, perhaps because I often have minimal or squirrelly winds. I found that I was having to crank back my wrists to a level of discomfort and shortening the top lines allows me to straighten out my grip a bit. I'd love to hear any comments on this subject. I appreciate it!

I suppose that I might mention also, that the Rev videos are invaluable to me. Many of you are past them, but I'm not and I don't have a kite community here in Austin Texas, and so no teacher either. Hopefully if I keep flying someone will walk up and go "oh, I fly a quad too!"

[mebeatee]

Yeehaw!!!!

Welcome to quad world!!! As in all kites ya can’t just stop at one.....however you have made an excellent point regarding leaders. You can’t generalize making adjustments because, as you say, no one wants to have any level of discomfort when flying. You have to find out what works for you and not what the general consensus is....although I have always used that as an initial guideline. Everyone’s bodies, arms, wrists, the flexibility’s of etc. are all different, as are the movements.

Are there adjustment points on the bottom leaders as well? I have a pair of handles where I adjust the bottom rather than the top and works just fine for how my wrists work. I must also add my wrists are a big part of my livelihood.....I am a drummer.....so I’m not going to screw around with them just to go fly a kite or three...lol. I also have a few pairs of handles where I have found the leaders sweet spot for both the size of kite....1’s, 2’s, and 1.5’s (NYM), and the windspeed. This meaning the leaders are set with no adjustment points and I will change to a longer or shorter length of handle according to windspeed.....shorter handles for more wind and longer handles for less wind. This also gets rid of the superfluous bit of leader that flaps around if you are in the middle of the adjustment points for example.

My determining factor in finding the sweet spot was to feel how my wrists reacted to a full on dive stop....when the kite stops dead and what pressure is on my wrist.

bt

[frob]

On 11/19/2024 at 12:37 PM, glench said:

I don't have a kite community here in Austin Texas

Hol'up!  I'm here! And a few others are too.

I try to arrange a monthly fly on the second Saturday of each month but usually it's either just me alone or me and a family member. We've had a few times where some others join in, between about a quarter to half the time. I fly most Saturdays at the same place if I'm in town, but just don't advertise the flying beyond possibly posting a video on youtube. 

There's Austin End of the Line kite team, but they've been hit by some medical issues last year. There's Go Big or Go Home, although they're transitioning a bit due to age as well.  There are a few other people in the region but most are quiet online.

On 11/19/2024 at 12:37 PM, glench said:

Here's my first question for you folks: there seems to be universal agreement that lengthening the top lines helps control.

As Mebeatee said, there's a lot of views there. I'm not a big fan of the French style, but it's another popular method.

It is not so much about the the length, its the difference top and bottom total line length.  Go back to when the Rev was introduced in the 1980s and the company had shorter lines on bottom and longer lines on top. Moving a leader to the handles allowed for lines to be equal length, and the longer length could be easily adjusted at the handles.

Each kite can have a different 'sweet spot', especially when switching brands or models. 

I'm a fan of the way John taught it, although I've no idea who came up with it, possibly Lee Sedgwick.  With equalized lines, short leader line on the bottom on the longest setting. Put the long leader line on top, find the farthest out that you can still launch the kite, then go in one knot from there. The result mid-air will hover in a neutral position, with the grip balanced midway down the foam on your handles neither pulling forward nor back.