A Revolutionary Morning

[Skyclad01]

Think of long top leaders as giving you a "neutral" in your kite. Now you have to tell it to do something, not have it jump at every gust. Having that neutral will also help the hovering. Once you get in position to hover, having the neutral helps hold it! Now, any corrections are minor adjustments, rather than coarse movements.

Just for fun try putting the other leaders back on, and try flying. To launch - take a step back as you lock your wrists into forward drive. The step adds a little momentum to a pull and lock launch. Get used to some movement, flying isn't about being static (feet in cement), but flowing.

I probably will try putting the other leaders back on top after the next couple flights. The wind wasn't too good today, but just well enough to tell the difference in the leader.

[dragonfish]

How many knots do you have in your leaders? If there's just one on the original top leader, and one on the original bottom, which you attached to the top, then you need more knots. Have several knots about an inch or less apart, so you can make incremental adjustments. Find the position that works for you. Sometimes minor adjustments will be made depending on wind conditions. Just make sure when you tie them that the right and left sides have the knots at identical positions.

Also, if you haven't already seen this: http://www.revkites.com/forum/topic/4409-my-leaders-your-thoughts/

[Skyclad01]

How many knots do you have in your leaders? If there's just one on the original top leader, and one on the original bottom, which you attached to the top, then you need more knots. Have several knots about an inch or less apart, so you can make incremental adjustments. Find the position that works for you. Sometimes minor adjustments will be made depending on wind conditions. Just make sure when you tie them that the right and left sides have the knots at identical positions.

Also, if you haven't already seen this: http://www.revkites.com/forum/topic/4409-my-leaders-your-thoughts/

No knots, it was just the bottom leader attached to the top leader. I have see that thread before, I just need to get me some bridle line eventually.

[Paul LaMasters]

did you test the reverse capabilities of your tuning/settings with the kite inverted on the ground?

It must back-up inverted or you don't need all four control strings. Adjust the down (leaders) until you can slowly walk backwards with the kite inverted and just above the ground (a tiny movement of your hands and some backwards walking energy to generate increasing power). This is the exercise that will create immediate results in quad-line control.

The first lesson should be the cartwheel. How to roll the kite over and back to upright leading edge (instead of dragging the leading edge across the soil to force it airborne again). once you know how to do this technique you seldom have to walk back downwind to the kite anymore (if it falls over or lands inverted).

Work on inverted flight and imagine you have to fly underneath a soccer goalpost exclusively. A very restricted flight area, controlling your hover, limited directional changing space to maneuver (even if that means you are actually walking backwards to do so).

All this reverse in the tuning (as well as your hand placement positioning on the handles) will get the sail more "square to the wind" creating maximum pressure, you can MAKE a quad fly when most every other kite is grounded because the wings are independent control surfaces

Setting up a quad is about finding where the reverse hides and exploiting it as much as possible with your comfort factored in. All the cool control and tricks are behind those bottom leaders. You can and should move your grip on the handles as experience grows. Up high gives snappy forward surging capabilities, gripped down low (I place my pinky finger below the foam) creates a kite that backs up like it was on railroad tracks, it will not go forward at all!

Playing with the tuning is an ongoing adventure, what happens if you change it?, does the kite "feel better" on the end of the lines?

[Skyclad01]

All good info Paul. Thank you. I do know how to do cartwheels, so thats not a problem there. Im still beginning with all this (about 13hrs flight time so far with my Rev), cant really do reverse flight too well yet and my inverted hovers are wobbly at best and only last about 15 seconds before it drops or rotates out. Though I am working on keeping my maneuvers quick and snappy as well as keeping a restricted flight area (because using the entire wind window would be too easy). Still trying to find the neutral zone with my handles and am continuously trying to coax reverse flight from my rev when its going left/right as well as working on my inverted hovering when I do dive stops.

Tips are always useful, but the biggest thing is just flying and becoming more familiar with the controls and the capability of the kite itself.

[John Barresi]

Skyclad, sorry I didn't get in on this discussion earlier but (1) I knew you were in very good hands with these folks and (2) I think its often better to get this kind of information from people "in the trenches", closer to where your perspective is... Just having read through this whole topic, you're on track, really truly enjoyed your accounts of trial, challenge and success. A++++

I have nothing to add that hasn't already been covered, except to include the link below for the 3rd time... Far as I'm concerned, it's one of the most important things anyone with an EXP needs to know and add.

http://www.revkites....-your-thoughts/

Rock on good sir.

[Skyclad01]

Skyclad, sorry I didn't get in on this discussion earlier but (1) I knew you were in very good hands with these folks and (2) I think its often better to get this kind of information from people "in the trenches", closer to where your perspective is... Just having read through this whole topic, you're on track, really truly enjoyed your accounts of trial, challenge and success. A++++

I have nothing to add that hasn't already been covered, except to include the link below for the 3rd time... Far as I'm concerned, it's one of the most important things anyone with an EXP needs to know and add.

http://www.revkites....-your-thoughts/

Rock on good sir.

Ah yes, the leaders. I just need to find some bridle line first off. Though for now with some doable line I have in my house, I was able to make 1" leaders for the bottoms of the handles replacing the original stock ones. I may try larksheading those leaders to the existing top ones to give that a try.

[makatakam]

Get a hold of the folks at Flying Smiles by phone or on-line. You can view the availability of bridle line on-line, or just tell them what you want to do with it. Bridle line is not expensive. For less than $20 you can get what will probably be a lifetime supply.

[John Barresi]

Or try some of the shops listed on the forum home page, they do help keep this resource going.

[makatakam]

Oops, sorry John. Somehow I managed to read AZ as NC? No idea how that got in my head. Thought he was close to them.

[Skyclad01]

I just got back from a nice 5 hour flight with my Rev and other than being a little warm out (90 degrees) it was wonderful! So far now, im about 2 weeks into it with about 24hrs flying time on the kite already and the only bad time I had with it was that first day of flying. But I guess thats to be expected for anyone who's never flown a Rev and doesn't have someone by their side to coach them. That first day flying for me was such a disappointing and frustrating time with the kite. But I believe a lot of that was because of me. I watched the videos, got advice in chat and read tons of posts about flying a Rev, and I also did a lot of mental visualization to the point where in my head, it all clicked. I knew I was going to make many errors, but with all the pre-flight prepping I did I wasn't expecting everything to go so completely opposite.

Fortunately im more of a "glass is half full" type of guy. And with as defeated as I felt and was, I knew I had to push through it. So after that first flight, coming home and unwinding, I was able to relax, breath and clear my head. My 2nd day of flying the Rev was a complete 180 from the first day. The kite actually flew, and I had some semblance of control while I had it in the air. Yes, I did crash a lot (as to be expected), but I was able to reset the kite and get it back into the air and keep it up there for a while.

Now two weeks later, my dive stops are going great (or would that be stopping great?), my hover spins are are somewhat staying in one spot when they spin and im slowly getting the hang of reverse flight. My hovers in general still need some work as do my 90 degree turns when hovering. But its all getting there. It seems that each time I fly the rev, im able to notice that my control with it is just that much better than it was the last time flying it. Though my control still needs a lot of work as its still all over the place at times, I can still see the slight overall improvements with my flying.

Though I know I still have a long ways to go till my skills get as good as most of the rev flyer's on this forum, I know that (and this goes for anyone who's starting out on any kite - or trying to learn a difficult trick) with a clear head, a calm mind and a little perseverance, I will get there.

Eventually I will increase the length of my leaders, but for now I am getting comfortable with my current handle set up. Im sure that once I have better control of my kite, I will change up the leaders. But for now, I am doing fine with them as they are. Right now, my main focus is obtaining better flying control as I still (on occasion) tend to flip one wing due to using too much brake at times. Especially when attempting reverse flight.

But with practice and perseverance, I will get there. Theres no doubt about that!

[makatakam]

Good to hear you're getting the hang of it. I'll mention this again, at the risk of being a nag, but lengthening the leaders now will give you that extra control, free of charge! Trust me, or if not, ask anyone else.

[John Barresi]

Yep, what he said.

[Skyclad01]

Next time I fly, ill try larksheading the stock bottom leaders to the top and see what happens.

Edit: Just now attached the stock bottom leaders to the top ones as I said above, plus I put a knot in the center of the added leader for extra adjustment. Hopefully launching wont be too difficult and hovers will be a little easier to hold now.

[Wayne Dowler]

You might find the launch needs a little more effort, than before. But in flight, you will get much better control!

[makatakam]

Yep, what he said.

[Skyclad01]

So today I figured I would give a try flying with the extended leaders. Normally I would have passed on flying today due to the winds bordering on what I would consider being too strong for the kite. But I knew that with longer leaders, it would take a bit more effort to give the kite forward drive, so I figured I would I go the park and see what happens. It turned out that I did indeed need a little more wind than that which I usually fly in for these longer leaders.

Theres some changes that I need to get used to all over again using these longer leaders; A higher hand position (Different than what im used to, but nothing major), and more effort to launch the kite and keep a steady forward drive. Also, with those two changes, I also basically need to relearn how to control the kite a bit as the longer leaders make a significant difference as to how the Rev handles.

Overall though with all that aside, it was a good flight with those leaders. My dive stops were less bouncy, though I need to get used to the brakes on it because instead of bouncing, it tends to go directly into reverse flight. Hover spins weren't too bad, but I need to relearn how to keep the kite from dropping when I spin (nothing major there, more flight time will correct that). My biggest surprise was at how well I was able to fly the kite in reverse. It was definitely a lot easier (after I learned to be more gentle on pulling with the brakes). Now, I was able to fly the kite in reverse all the way from one side of the wind window to the center of it before the kite decided to start to rotate, as opposed to before where that would have been a major task for me and would have taken a bit of luck to get the kite to reverse that far.

It will be interesting to see how I come along with the kite using the longer leaders once my control improves with it. Makes me look forward to even more flying time despite the temperatures getting up to the high 90's now. I think I will need to go to my local Big5 and get myself a hydration pack. The aluminum sports bottle im using works good, but with the rising temperatures im drinking the water a lot faster now, plus its a slight pain to have to stop flying just to get a drink.

[Wayne Dowler]

On the hydration pack - get a minimum 70 oz size (holds two big bottles of Gatorade). I learned my lesson at WSIKF on keeping liquid "on board"!

Glad to hear you went with the longer leaders!

[makatakam]

Grats on the longer leaders. You'll find that with a little bit more time you'll be adding more brake. Once you get it off the ground, pump it and keep the sail loaded, and watch that puppy move! When you get the hang of keeping that sail loaded most of the time, everything else will become gravy.

[Dave362]

This thread is a great read. Congrats on your victories, and thank you for the detailed accounts. Your dialogue with the more experienced fliers is a great benefit to the rest of us new to the Rev

[Skyclad01]

Grats on the longer leaders. You'll find that with a little bit more time you'll be adding more brake. Once you get it off the ground, pump it and keep the sail loaded, and watch that puppy move! When you get the hang of keeping that sail loaded most of the time, everything else will become gravy.

That's what im certainly hoping on, and im sure it will.

[Skyclad01]

This thread is a great read. Congrats on your victories, and thank you for the detailed accounts. Your dialogue with the more experienced fliers is a great benefit to the rest of us new to the Rev

Thank you.

Actually thats kind of a big part of why I created this thread. The first post was just me venting out my frustration and kind of a cry for help in a way. After looking through the forums a bit (and not only this one), there wasn't much of anything in depth in relation to new Rev fliers and their experiences. There would be a post or two here and there (which were helpful) and that was about it, leaving me with little to relate to. So after my initial post, I figured I would kinda keep it going with significant victories, failures or general experiences of note. A kind of quasi journal if you will.

Now I know that to the more experienced Rev fliers, it would just be nothing more than ramblings of no importance - and thats fine, I get that. But at the same time, I have also received a lot of help from the more experienced Rev fliers as well, which I am grateful for. And I really hope that my ramblings/experiences which I have posted here along with all the helpful replies I have received will also help new Rev fliers, giving them something to relate to all in one spot, and hopefully save them a lot of frustration since these posts were made by a newbie Rev flier.

[Wayne Dowler]

Ramble on!!

[makatakam]

Experienced flyers learn a lot from beginners too. Sometimes I read a newbie post and think, "Why didn't I think of that?". Seeing it from a "new" perspective can even open the eyes of a die-hard. Questioning how and why things are done the way they are leads to breakthroughs and improvements in equipment, and new methods of flying.

[John Barresi]

Ramble on!!

Experienced flyers learn a lot from beginners too. Sometimes I read a newbie post and think, "Why didn't I think of that?". Seeing it from a "new" perspective can even open the eyes of a die-hard. Questioning how and why things are done the way they are leads to breakthroughs and improvements in equipment, and new methods of flying.

Yes, yes, YES... Can't agree more, these threads stimulate me a great deal, genuinely interesting.