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Windy With Watty


Spence Watson
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I recently found a new field in town to fly in, and thought it to be a great place to start filming my outdoor tutorials. ;) As in the Windless With Watty thread, I will make a new post, and edit the first post every time I come out with a new video. I do not want to include any technique oriented things in these tutorials because that is something that is very complicated, and difficult to explain even through video.

Flic Flack:

Axel:

Falling Leaf:

Toss and Catch:

*BONUS* This is not part of my Windy With Watty videos but is a tutorial, so I might as well post it here. This is not something that I would normally make a tutorial of, but someone was having trouble with it and contacted me, so I made this video.

1/4 Turn Clock Work

Bicycle Spins:

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Nice work Watty, I've gotta debate the method on that flic flac however...

A proper flic flac is started with a hard hit on the bottom lines, and AGAIN on the same (bottom) lines to recover.

This is contrary to the instructions you provided, which state that you basically hit hard reverse, then the forward lines.

Just figured I'd offer my 2 cents. ;)

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Nice work Watty, I've gotta debate the method on that flic flac however...

A proper flic flac is started with a hard hit on the bottom lines, and AGAIN on the same (bottom) lines to recover.

This is contrary to the instructions you provided, which state that you basically hit hard reverse, then the forward lines.

Just figured I'd offer my 2 cents. ;)

Like any thing, there are many different methods. My logic behind pulling on the top lines at the end is that the other end of the top lines is farther away from you than the other end of the bottom lines. So, it's a little easier to pull on those top lines. Do you see what I mean by this? Plus, when the kite is in the "Flic" position, I guess we can call it, the top lines are being lied over the trailing edge, so when the top lines are pulled, not only is it pulling the leading edge up, but it is pulling the trailing edge back down.

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True, but you'll get two entirely different results...

The method you described tends to make a "whump-whump" kind of sound, and doesn't generally flic the kite all the way over so the back of the sail if flat to you.

Hard hit with both bottom lines and a step towards the kite flips it over so the back is square to you, then another hard hit with both bottoms lines and a step back will flac the kite back to flight position... Sound is more like "SNAP-SNAP".

All comes down to style, but I've found the latter method to be more consistent and better looking.

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Hard hit with both bottom lines and a step towards the kite flips it over so the back is square to you, then another hard hit with both bottoms lines and a step back will flac the kite back to flight position... Sound is more like "SNAP-SNAP".

All comes down to style, but I've found the latter method to be more consistent and better looking.

Hmmm, interesting! Do know of any Youtubes you might have done this move in? I think I understand what you're saying, but I'm better with visuals...

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Nice work Watty, I've gotta debate the method on that flic flac however...

A proper flic flac is started with a hard hit on the bottom lines, and AGAIN on the same (bottom) lines to recover.

This is contrary to the instructions you provided, which state that you basically hit hard reverse, then the forward lines.

Just figured I'd offer my 2 cents. ;)

Like any thing, there are many different methods. My logic behind pulling on the top lines at the end is that the other end of the top lines is farther away from you than the other end of the bottom lines. So, it's a little easier to pull on those top lines. Do you see what I mean by this? Plus, when the kite is in the "Flic" position, I guess we can call it, the top lines are being lied over the trailing edge, so when the top lines are pulled, not only is it pulling the leading edge up, but it is pulling the trailing edge back down.

John when you are flicking you are getting a partial wrap if I understand what you are saying. The big difference is giving enough slack with a step forward to allow the additional rotation.

Is what Watty is showing what you call falling leaf or something similar. This is what I have been doing and it is ok but it is easy for the kite to rotate horizontally in lighter winds.

Tomorrow I will be trying your flic flac.

Has anyone ever achieved a full wrap? It seems like the structure of REV is not conducive to that.

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Is what Watty is showing what you call falling leaf or something similar.

I think a falling leaf is when you flic and leave it there and it floats or flutters for a while as it comes down in a horizontal position then flac later to the original hover.

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Is what Watty is showing what you call falling leaf or something similar.

I think a falling leaf is when you flic and leave it there and it floats or flutters for a while as it comes down in a horizontal position then flac later to the original hover.

Yes, a falling leaf consists of the flic, then when leaving a lot of slack in the lines, you let the kite free-fall for a bit, then finish the manouver with a flack. I may end up doing a seperate tutorial on this. I have to play with it more to make sure I got it down first ;D

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Sorry, I just did a cruise through my video lists, couldn't find a proper example.

The difference is really obvious from the side view. ;)

Hmmm, Ok! I will definitely pay more attention when seeing you or other flyers do this! :)

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Sorry, I just did a cruise through my video lists, couldn't find a proper example.

The difference is really obvious from the side view. :ani_notworthy:

Hi John-

I don't know if this helps you, but I found this from Monday at Wildwood, 2008, as the weekend came to end.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/video/3036263030103193240wPrOAI

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It would be good to see the results of both methods from the side :ani_notworthy:

whump-whump - I was rather under the impression this happened in lighter wind :confused!:

The Flic part is stronger than my Flack on days like that.

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Gave it a try the other day in relatively light winds (4to 5) and concentrated on getting the flic all the way to back facing flyer. That seems to be a give it slack to allow it to go 180. The flac is still unreliable. I think the key might be to get all of the input on the bottom lines so that kite is only rotating.

Got to get this one down as it is cool in ballet especially in the kind of music I like to fly to.

John

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  • 2 weeks later...

OK... Another awesome video showing how SIMPLE it is to handle and trick a Rev...

Now... To make a few of us newbies feel a little better... Where's the promised Out-Take/s video to prove you're human!

Your always-amazed fan,

Jynx

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Here's another video that I just finished editing today. I wanted it to be finished at the same time as the axel video, but I ran out of time and was unable to edit it on the same day.

This is another one of those bonus tutorials. This one was a request from Baloo.

This really isn't much, but I think it is enough to get one started. Things like this need a little guidance, and tons of practice.

Split screen would have been nice to put in this, unfortunately, using just one camera, it can be tough to get longer maneuvers with varying speeds to sync up.

Bicycle Spins:

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Watty, the one thing I found severely lacking was an explanation of what exactly a bicycle rotation is.

i.e. pulling the upper most edge of the kite towards you as it rotates over the top.

Instead, it sounded like you explained pulling (loading) the lower part of the kite to get it up and over the top, but didn't spend enough time breaking down the fluid transition between the four basic hovers (right, upright, left, invert, repeat, repeat).

I won't be adding it to my tutorial playlist unless that info is included, as I feel it's the most crucial aspect.

Just my 2 cents.

Still love ya!

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Watty, the one thing I found severely lacking was an explanation of what exactly a bicycle rotation is.

i.e. pulling the upper most edge of the kite towards you as it rotates over the top.

Instead, it sounded like you explained pulling (loading) the lower part of the kite to get it up and over the top, but didn't spend enough time breaking down the fluid transition between the four basic hovers (right, upright, left, invert, repeat, repeat).

I won't be adding it to my tutorial playlist unless that info is included, as I feel it's the most crucial aspect.

Just my 2 cents.

Still love ya!

Yes, see this is part of the reason that I don't like getting into things like this. It's too complicated to really explain thoroughly, even in video. I don't expect people to know how to do a bicycle rotation, but it is at least something to give someone a place to start.

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