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Early morning practice session


Dave362
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After the first day of JB's clinic, what I learned was so awesome that I went to the beach the next day before dawn to work on it.  I attempted to practice what he suggested and filmed these short clips to hopefully get some feedack for improvement.  Each clip has an entry, trick and exit.  No music, fancy transitions, just simple practice.  For two of the wrapped tricks, I had to fly out of frame after the wrap to get a clean entry line. The whole thing is under two minutes. I'd really appreciate any comments or tips.  Thanks so much,

Early morning practice session from Dave.362 on Vimeo.

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Nice job. Can't comment on the technique, I'm not that good, but I would practice the sequence each time then compare the clips. A bit of practice can do wonders for getting your planes (horizontal and vertical) square.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Dude! That is super helpful! I never would have thought of that.... I did film reps of all the tricks but kind of haphazardly. For this footage I'll arrange them into like tricks, and make a clip of each. Then I can study the planes. Next time out, I can film just one trick at a time, a bunch of reps of each, then study them. Thanks so much, Rob! You really helped!

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Lookin' good, Dave ! I can see that the new Lam kite flies like the ones that I've flown. The Yo-Fade looks good, that's one trick I always forget about. Fades on that kite look strong, as well as the reversing backspins. The tough part is the catch from the backspin back into a fade. It all comes down to the universal suggestion, more slack... I have a tough time with slack, because it goes against the primary impulse to keep the kite in the air.

Looking forward to more videos !

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Thanks for your kind words. What started all this was something JB said to me the day before. I hope its clear I repeat his words with the deepest respect. He told me to pay closest attention to alignment. Not just because the tricks will look better, they will, BTW, but because when everything's straight the flyer has less corrections to make. I thought about that all day. The next morning when I hit the beach, that was all I was trying to do, pay closest attention to "keeping the spine aligned."

There are two wap doo waps in the first 30 seconds of the vid. I've known this trick for years, but it has always been very inconsistent. Its kinda tough... Employing what John suggested caused a real, repeatable breakthrough. If you watch those clips again, in both wap doo waps I don't hit the over rotated flic flac or the wap rotation until everything is straight. You can see a split second hesitation as I wait for it to line up. Both rotations come off cleanly and easily set me up to exit back into a fade. This was huge for me. Thanks John! :)

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You're on the path Dave, looking good, and can only get better! :)

Nothing else to offer at the moment, except...

As SparkieRob mentioned, "trick study" (repeated trick) footage will likely be very useful - but I would also capture similar "study" video of your body movements for personal review... The kite flying is telling, but so is your hand and footwork - you'll likely pick up on some new ergonomic and mechanical improvements to go along with the kite visuals. ;)

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For others who weren't at the recent clinic, one of the key tips I always give for good trick flying is advice I got from Mark Reed of Prism Kites, simply "keep your spine in line"... Look for the straightness of your spine throughout tricks, such as true horizontal (R/L/R/L) on Cascades, watching for the vertical straightness on Turtle and Fade aspects of a Jacob's Ladder, that sort of thing.

To show how key this is, take a look at Lam Hoac's latest video - great trick flying:

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For others who weren't at the recent clinic, one of the key tips I always give for good trick flying is advice I got from Mark Reed of Prism Kites, simply "keep your spine in line"... Look for the straightness of your spine throughout tricks, such as true horizontal (R/L/R/L) on Cascades, watching for the vertical straightness on Turtle and Fade aspects of a Jacob's Ladder, that sort of thing.

I want to be sure I'm understanding the essence of the advice... Is the basic idea that during the tricks you want the spine to be aligned either parallel or perpendicular to the horizon?

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If not in truth, at least in awareness, yes.

In other words, watch that alignment and pick your angles - they represent the "checkpoints" as you go through any sequence... Both in terms of spine alignment, as well as your flight lines entering or exiting.

They also serve as gauges for your speed and inputs, often making it clearer when to slow down or wait for the kite to finish a movement.

Obviously once you have it ingrained, there is a lot of flexibility, backed by deeper understanding. ;)

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