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My First Rev. Training!


Guru4tru
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It finally happened...MrDenny & I...met at the Lori Wilson Park on the ocean in Cocoa Beach Florida at 9:30 am today and what a great experience for me. Winds were real light at first, but after awhile were running a steady 15 mph or so.

Having never flown with another kite in the sky with me before...it was really scary and the first couple times he got close to me I would freak out and crash...sometimes taking him with me! But as the hours passed I got a little more use to it and by the end of our fly I was getting "better" at things. OK, I still need a world of practice before I face a Mega-Flight, but this was a really good start!

If anyone out there flying a Rev. has never flown with or tried to follow another Rev. you've got to do it...it's a whole different experience...for me a new learning experience that showed me where I was at and where I have to go! :kid_devlish: practice-practice-practice :kid_devlish:

Thank You MrDenny!! And sorry about hitting you in your head that time with my hamdle...that must have hurt! :kid_devlish: heehee!

Keep It Up!

Duane

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Fun day indeed! You did great! After the first time jitters you were like an old pro. I hope we get to do it again soon.

The Guru got to try several new thing. He did VERY well on a Blast and I think he fell in love with a full vent.

post-1817-126922123895_thumb.jpg

Phone pics are ok. Next time I'll bring a camera.

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I have tried that follow the leader stuff with a couple of other kites in the sky. Crashed and burned on that one BIG time.

Think I ought to offer an official aplogy to ALL the folks that were trying to use Weston beach on that Day. Specially the guys I was trying to beat into the ground. :kid_devlish:

Glad you had a good time Duane. Well done Mr Denny.

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Yeah!! I really had a great time, but more then that, I got an idea as to where I'm at when it comes to flying a Rev. Flying alone, I had no idea as to how well or poorly I was doing. :confused!:

And as MrDenny mentioned, I also learned something I didn't want to learn!! :doh: My kite buying days aren't over!! :kid_devlish::kid_devlish:

Damn, did his "Full-Vent" fly "smoooth" in that wind!! :kid_devlish:

Keep It Up!

Duane

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OK, so if you get one more, do you honestly think you can stop at 3?

Hmmm...that is troubling!?!?

Do they have a "Kite-aholics Anonymous"?? :kid_devlish:

Keep It Up!

Duane

Yes but you have to give up your kites... that may drive you to drinking...

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... If anyone out there flying a Rev. has never flown with or tried to follow another Rev. you've got to do it...it's a whole different experience ...

Okay Duane, here's the next step. A Kite Party 8 pic of one of the mega flys. The purple kite is mine. You'll notice that I'm carefully leading JB (dark blue) and TK (light purple) through the maneuver. Well actually, I think they were staying behind me so that I couldn't get them in trouble.

The pic is extra cool for me 'cuz it's the second year that John Chilese caught the kite I was flying in the vee of the lines. I think he was hoping for a picture of a massive screw-up and settled on my kite as having the highest probability of being in the center of it.

The other neat thing is that this year I remembered to take a breath every once in awhile ...

Cheers,

Tom

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Hi Tom,

That is really amazing!!!...and really scary!!

Just Denny and I was scaring the hell out of me! :kid_devlish:

I'm going to need a lot more time with Denny before I'd ever try getting into something like that. I just hope Denny can hold up through my training...I hit him it the head, pretty hard, with my handle last time as I was flailing my hand around to avoid a crash...heehee! :kid_devlish::kid_devlish:

Keep It Up!

Duane

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Hands low and in front, all the time. :)

Rule of thumb, your hands should be between your solar plexus and your belt vertically, and no more than 8" or so outside the width of your torso.

In our clinics, I call this the "power zone"... Think about it ergonomically, anywhere outside this area, our arms are in a weakened position.

Also, the further apart our hands are, the less control and accuracy we actually have. ;)

Food for thought!

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Hands low and in front, all the time. ;)

Yes, I know that!!!! But, somewhere deep in the reptilian part of our brain are a few cells that still believe that hands up equates to kite up ... and, hands down yields kite down. When the oxygen stops flowing to our brain because we've stopped breathing due to the stress/excitement of flying in a group, that part of our brain takes over. So the mantra has to constantly be ... breath - hands down - breath - hands down - breath - hands down ...

Works most of the time.

Cheers,

Tom

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Psssst.... Tom... Breathe. ;)

I had to tell that to Steve de Rooy before every demo for our first couple of years with iQuad. lol

Opps, so it's spelled with an "e" ... must be why I became an engineer, can't spell for beans.

Thanks for sharing that on Steve ... now I have one thing in common! Well, besides a love of flying Revs.

Cheers,

Tom

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MrDenny gave me another bit of advice I found really helpful!

We were flying and I said, "I don't know, it just isn't flying right?"

He looked at my Rev. and said, "You might want to put the vertical rods on the back of the kite!!" ;)

Heehee! MrDenny didn't know what he was in for!?!? :)

Keep It Up!

Duane

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Congratulations Duane! It'll keep getting better and better, remember that. Even when you don't have others to fly with, you can at least practice the things you've learned from them. I still need to remember to breathe too. :/

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All this talk about breathing?!?! :unsure:

I haven't paid any attention to how I breathe at all...but, come to think of it, I must not be breathing like I normally do, because I notice my cigar keep going out! :ani_smoke:

I'll have to check that out tomorrow!

-------------

Yeah, I practice about 3 to 5 hours a day, except for when it is raining or no wind. Today I was practicing 180' down turns mostly, so I can exchange with other kites like in Dosey-Do, Benefits & Blender. I was really screwing that up with MrDenny! When vertical, facing to the right, and I turn down (clockwise) 180'...that's the problem spot I was trying to work out today!

;) Practice-Breathe-Practice-Breathe-Practice-Breathe :)

Keep It Up!

Duane

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Opps, so it's spelled with an "e" ... must be why I became an engineer, can't spell for beans.

I really wasn't correcting your spelling ...

No problems mate, I knew that wasn't your style. But, it is a fact that my mind leans towards the technical side.

Cheers,

Tom

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Duane,

I just had a fabulous few days at the Long Beach Rev clinic. I had my mid-vent black rainbow (see avatar) flying around when Steve de Rooy flies over and says, let's play follow the leader. I've never been on the same beach with another Rev flier before (well, once there was another Rev about 1/4 mile away). I started by trying to copy his motions beside him, and somehow got snookered into following him. Steve, I think, cheats - he flies in front of you so beautifully that you think you are following him. ;)

After a few minutes, and after I settled down enough to do a 180 properly (turn down, NOT up) two more instructors from iQuad joined in. Hah! I've flown with iQuad now! (Again, I think they just make duffers like me look far better than we are.)

Then about 16 fliers, including me, attempted some grid work under John's direction. There were at least a dozen excellent fliers - I was not one. I got sufficiently flustered to cause crashes while supposedly parked on the ground. :blink::ani_smoke::unsure:

Off to the remedial training group with Bazzer. Thanks, Bazzer, for your patience.

I also found out that in moderate winds, a full vent B would be much better than the mid-vent SLE. So, I too am back in the buying mode, Duane!

It's not enough to have held an inverted hover for 2 minutes in good winds once or twice. One must back-into, hold, back-out of 4, 6, and 8 o'clock in good winds and gusty, for many minutes at a time, even when tired. :)

What was your mantra? Oh yeah, "practice, practice, practice". :lol::P

Fair winds,

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Congrats Howard!!!! Where else can you be as old as we are and have white knuckles ... and not be wrecking something. Now you know several things to practice. The up side is that you'll be a much better flier for the experience. The down side is that they'll stretch you a little more the next time.

Thanks for sharing and making me smile ... been there none it ... ain't it great!!!

Cheers,

Tom

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Duane,

I just had a fabulous few days at the Long Beach Rev clinic. I had my mid-vent black rainbow (see avatar) flying around when Steve de Rooy flies over and says, let's play follow the leader. I've never been on the same beach with another Rev flier before (well, once there was another Rev about 1/4 mile away). I started by trying to copy his motions beside him, and somehow got snookered into following him. Steve, I think, cheats - he flies in front of you so beautifully that you think you are following him. ;)

After a few minutes, and after I settled down enough to do a 180 properly (turn down, NOT up) two more instructors from iQuad joined in. Hah! I've flown with iQuad now! (Again, I think they just make duffers like me look far better than we are.)

Then about 16 fliers, including me, attempted some grid work under John's direction. There were at least a dozen excellent fliers - I was not one. I got sufficiently flustered to cause crashes while supposedly parked on the ground. :blink::ani_smoke::unsure:

Off to the remedial training group with Bazzer. Thanks, Bazzer, for your patience.

I also found out that in moderate winds, a full vent B would be much better than the mid-vent SLE. So, I too am back in the buying mode, Duane!

It's not enough to have held an inverted hover for 2 minutes in good winds once or twice. One must back-into, hold, back-out of 4, 6, and 8 o'clock in good winds and gusty, for many minutes at a time, even when tired. :)

What was your mantra? Oh yeah, "practice, practice, practice". :lol::P

Fair winds,

Damn Howard!!

I thought you were "PRO" at this stuff!! And I find you, a little higher, but in basically the same box I'm in!! That's Great!! I love company! I would have loved to have hit that Rev. Clinic with you too!

If I save my pennys maybe I can make a Rev. Clinic sometime....well...No...that won't work....I flew MrDenny's Full-Vent last time out...(and although I love "Elvira" my mid-vent) my next coins, like yours, are probably going into a full-vent!....Damn!! in 15 mph wind...MrDenny's full-vent flew soooo smooth, I couldn't believe it!!

Anyway, thanks for sharing your experiences...it's good to know I'm with friends!! heehee!!

Keep It Up!

Duane

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