review Revolution Kites Club 38

[hyzakite]

3 minutes ago, kwmf said:

Only if they teach you right...

True, But! What is right, if you don't know what is wrong? How can you fix a zika virus before there is a zika virus?

[SparkieRob]

I switched from a flip phone to an iPhone about two years ago. I'm an old fart and still finding new things it can do; almost every week I find something else I didn't know. I didn't see anything that appears to be a QR scanner yet. Is that a separate app I need to download?

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FYI, the QR reader works a treat.

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[kwmf]

It's true there are many ways to be right, just as there are a whole boatload of ways to be wrong ... and so far, everything I have seen of the 38 is very wrong.

Just my opinion ... if it gets you flying in a way that please you then have at it and don't let me or anyone else stop you

[hyzakite]

6 hours ago, kwmf said:

It's true there are many ways to be right, just as there are a whole boatload of ways to be wrong ... and so far, everything I have seen of the 38 is very wrong.

Just my opinion ... if it gets you flying in a way that please you then have at it and don't let me or anyone else stop you

You take that one guy that lived in Africa awhile back with his girlfriend Jane and his pet monkey.

If he found a rev, without club 38, he probably would have dressing in the sail and used the tubes as a blow gun for mini poison darts!

[John Barresi]

All moot if new buyers can't get past the line management hurdle - if that's not a front and center resource, it's almost a wasted effort.

[hyzakite]

To tell the truth, I haven't looked at Club 38, for that matter, I have never been on facebook or twitter and still don't have a cell phone.

Lee Sedgwick showed me wrapping the lines around the handles years ago, unwrapping took a few days for me to untangle the mess. When I viewed JB's videos and I asked questions everything fell into place smoothly and never looked back or changed my routine I've learned from the tutorials here.

I know when people that approach me when I'm flying they go into sticker shock when they ask about price. I've never looked at the dvd's or in my case the vcr tapes that came with the revs. But all and all I'm sure many people don't even know this website exists until later down the road.

Like Mark said about the beer when he joined the club 38, he will be one of the people with full first hand info about it.

 

[makatakam]

I saw mention somewhere that there are some who have already completed the Club 38 requirements, but no mention of who they are. I wish one of them would chime in here.

I put the I-nigma QR app on my phone today. Now I can watch incredibly tiny videos of Club 38. I think I will need to put the app and a camera on my computer to watch without squinting. I don't see anything so far that makes the QR code or the passwords user-specific, so if the passwords are made public anyone would be able to access the skill videos for each level. If this is true, I don't understand why Rev wouldn't make them public in the first place just to generate greater interest.

[Wayne Dowler]

4 hours ago, John Barresi said:

All moot if new buyers can't get past the line management hurdle - if that's not a front and center resource, it's almost a wasted effort.

Take it from me - it's gotta be right up front!!! You can't even hook up the kite correctly if you don't know this step!!

[bbailey49]

On 7/6/2016 at 6:42 AM, Paul LaMasters said:

Club 38?

instead of joining it attend one good festival and get all the quad-lined exposure to everything you could ever want, latest equipment, mods, techniques, folks to provide hands-on instruction, seeing some of the best strut their stuff to music

 

AND you'll make some friends besides, which is truly priceless!

Learned more in one morning of flying and eating a tasty sandwich than in every video I watched up to that point, thanks to you good sir.

[Bokke99999]

Having one-on-one assistance helps a lot.  Flying in a team is a great way to learn.  I can understand that not everyone has access to other fliers or another experience flyer to assist, so any resource is useful. However there are tons of videos on you-tube, Vimeo, etc and on the kite life forum that can help. 

[P.V. Nguyen]

On 7/6/2016 at 3:42 AM, Paul LaMasters said:

Club 38?

instead of joining it attend one good festival and get all the quad-lined exposure to everything you could ever want, latest equipment, mods, techniques, folks to provide hands-on instruction, seeing some of the best strut their stuff to music

 

AND you'll make some friends besides, which is truly priceless!

I couldn't agree more. 

[makatakam]

Sorry, nothing to report yet. Wind has been pretty much zero on each day I could have done the videos that are required. Then Pokemon GO happened -- you know how that goes! Today was windless again, so I went fishing and Pokemon hunting. I'm off tomorrow, and hoping for a bit of wind. I could have used one of my extremely-ultralight home-made Rev-like quads for the video, but figured that might be inappropriate.

[Flying Buckeye]

On 7/6/2016 at 7:35 AM, RobB said:

You said in a later post that you plan to use your iPhone to film your progress... your iPhone is your QR code scanner. 

Sorry to hear about the polo shirt vs. the T shirt. I would almost join this goofy club 38 thing for a new kite T shirt, but a kite polo shirt would be useless to me. 

I ordered a T shirt from the rev site, and was informed it was out of stock.

I got an e mail from rev saying I was going to receive a club 38 shirt, and after holding my money hostage for almost two months I get a polo shirt?

This is way to hot to wear to festivals, and events, and was a waist of time waiting for it.

 

[RobB]

I actually have a kite-themed polo shirt that was given to me as a gift. I got to wear it last year when I attended a dinner that was part of the LBI kite festival. It was actually kinda nice to have appropriate attire... but it was only the second or third time I had worn the shirt in years of occupying space in my drawer.

[White Rabbit]

Thank you everyone for weighing in on this. Your honest answers are very much appreciated.

As a relatively new Rev flier, myself, I have been curious about the program. I think there is value in having a list of what to work on next, especially for me living in Montana, away from most other fliers. Right now, I know where to improve, but that list is short and sometimes we don't always know what we don't know.

However, I am very surprised it appears that JB wasn't consulted. His videos have been shown time and again to be valuable to new and experienced pilots as being clear, concise and complete with best practices. As a corporate trainer, myself, I can speak to the frustrations of both the learner and the instructor when someone comes along and says, "Forget everything you just learned in training. Here's how we _really_ do things." If the training doesn't match what is being done in reality, then everyone suffers.

Perhaps the program will improve based on everyone's suggestions and some benchmarking. Until I hear better, I will look forward to spending my kite money elsewhere.

[kevmort]

@white rabbit I would not Wright off revaluation totally I would think most of the shop stock at the moment would be ( shall I say ) pre hiccup stock and I'm shore johns tutorials will be around for years to come [emoji4] and teaching so many more new comers to this awesome hobby


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[White Rabbit]

Oh, Revolution doesn't get rid of me that easily! Already, I have too much invested and am enjoying this way too much. Just this past weekend, I introduced my brother's family to flying Rev and may have gotten them hooked, as well. 

I just want to see a little more refinement to the 38 program before I put money on it, I think. From what I'm hearing, this is still the best place for a flier to learn when one is separated from the rest of the community as much as I am.

Trust me, though, I'm working on building a community here, though!

[kwmf]

On ‎24‎-‎07‎-‎2016 at 5:35 AM, White Rabbit said:

I think there is value in having a list of what to work on next, especially for me living in Montana, away from most other fliers. Right now, I know where to improve, but that list is short and sometimes we don't always know what we don't know.

Here's my personal (not yet awake) list off the top of my head on a cold and wet morning...

• hover facing the 90 degree marks
• hover facing the 45 degree marks
• fly forward from the hovers and reverse back to the start
• fly squares
• fly diamonds
• fly figure 8
• Bicycle rotations
• Tip pivots (360, 270, 180 and 90)
• slides

That's in no particular order (too early for me to be that sharp) and you can fill in your own variations of each. You will hear JB talk about "running track" and I do similar. Check out the below video and you will see me so hovers on the 90, squares, diamonds, bicycles, tip pivots, slides and reverse flight. Nothing more than basic flight patterns that you apply a little personal style to and create what you see. I actually was having a bad day I was shooting the video and you can see me casually looking around while flying because I just wasn't that into it.

 

If you want to see what unedited solo flying in front of a crowd looks like, check the video below. The winds were between low full sail and medium vented and switching direction (keep an eye on the foil in the background and see how it's reacting to the wind) so the conditions kept you on your toes. You'll see a lot of basic moves and track strung together - set a solid foundation and the rest is easy.

 

Quote

As a corporate trainer, myself, I can speak to the frustrations of both the learner and the instructor when someone comes along and says, "Forget everything you just learned in training. Here's how we _really_ do things." If the training doesn't match what is being done in reality, then everyone suffers.

As someone who's been on both sides of that equation (and still am) I feel your pain. That being said, I seem to have managed it from another country with zero local assistance, so I'm sure it's totally possible

As you stated, you don't know what you don't know and everyone seems like an expert so you're easily led down the 'wrong' path. As a trainer, you'll know the silver lining in that is that the experience gained from the wrong direction leads to a deeper and broader understanding of the subject matter.

John's teachings are solid (and the main knowledge influence in my flying) and you will do well using his videos to learn. I had to make do with asking questions before the videos existed, so you will do fine with his videos. If you use that as a base and ask any questions you have, you will do just fine.

[riffclown]

Another Price Change

According to the Rev website Club38 is now FREE to join..

http://revkites.com/club38/

Now I wonder how that affects those that paid to join??

[Bill Clay]

Those that paid received a nifty "T-shirt" (actually a polo shirt). No free T-shirt...


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[Buellbloke]

Here we are in 2019, my first interactions with Revs as people often call them was seeing JB flying a medley. He was flying Revs, further investigations led me to the Revolution website and that dodgy video of somebody dive bombing a kid. Still further investigation led me to Club 38, try as i might I could not find the passwords beyond the first one. Later I did find a level 2 video that has since been removed. JB's free videos are all over youtube so obviously I watched all of those several times over along with just about every video he has put out there. At the back of my mind was the thought about getting one of these Revolution kites, swoopy swoopy and spins along with dives can only hold a persons attention for so long. Being dragged around by big foils is very tiring after a while and the quad varients although much more engaging are not very accurate. I do still enjoy them though. So back to my thoughts about getting a very expensive to my mind Kite. Hmm Club 38 am going to need a Gopro, often seen but never considered. Am broke most of the time but for some reason I managed to obtain a Gopro Hero 7 Black. Best deals are on the latest model as everybody and his mum wants a return on their older models. Pity these things are designed on the apple philosophy of ripping off the buyers as often as possible for little to virtually no upgrade. They only work at their best with apple phones which is typical. Easiest resale comes from owning the latest varient.

I missed buying a Revolution XX by a week in Orange as for some reason the UK vendor was having trouble shifting that colour. By the time I amassed my funds prior to buying the gopro they had sold out blah! I ended up buying a clone of the classic b series. Now even though I enjoy watching JB's videos they are not structured in the same way that Club 38's are. Problem was I didnt own a Rev so could not partake of Club 38. All my flying was random disconected solo and very destructive, destroyed my entire leading edge over 3 outings. Luckily my kites creator took parital responsibilty due to not having branded tubes that were .5mm larger than the verticals. I consequently sold that copy b series kite as did not feel like I was part of anything owning it. Still at the forefront of my mind was buying a genuine Rev. Bill Clay's winge about his XX put me right off the idea of buying one of those as thought the XX was Reflex only so I opted for the RX. Only later did I find out that Reflex can be disabled and the XX was merely a large low wind designed kite. Joe Hadzicki offered me a custom that basically amounted to the UK price once shipped, I couldn't refuse the chance of a Red White and Blue RX signed by its creator and family. I joined Club 38's facebook page and my experience so far has been awesome, as JB says even though Joes teaching is not on par with his own due to Joes formulaic approach, whereas JB's is more of a personal approach the teaching is still structured so in that way is beneficial especially to the newbie. So Joe uses a script so what, he is getting on in years you know. Just like the rest of us his age, his memory is shot to sh*t. He could have suffered a mild stroke you would'nt know. Give the guy a break, if it werent for him and his Revs you maybe wouldnt be all the c*ck sure fliers of His designed kites you are today, respect where respect is due. As for Club 38 it aint perfect, Joes videos could do with some of JB's inspriation and certainly somebody better at pointing the camera in the right direction. The support by fellow fliers and newbie learners is cool and there are still dozens of owners out there who dont have a clue about any free training. Joe sells the complete package, it might have taken him a while to make it presentable, it might not be perfect but I like it and I along with many others thinks its cool 🖕

[makatakam]

18 hours ago, Buellbloke said:

Joe sells the complete package, it might have taken him a while to make it presentable, it might not be perfect but I like it and I along with many others thinks its cool 🖕

@Buellbloke I see that you've joined the KiteLife forum recently, and don't know how long you've been flying Revs or viewing the forum or the Revolution Kites forum but I just want you to know that there is a lot of things you may not yet be aware of regarding both. There is some history and I wonder if you would be as bold if you knew everything that happened. Unless you read every post to every thread on the entire forum you will never know.

P.S. -- I don't appreciate you giving me the finger. What have I done to deserve it?  

[Buellbloke]

54 minutes ago, makatakam said:

@Buellbloke P.S. -- I don't appreciate you giving me the finger. What have I done to deserve it?  

lol dude chill am just teasing the finger wasnt squared at you! I just dont like people slating something I found to be extremly useful. Believe me when I say am just as bald in real life ha ha As for the whole whatever went on, has gone on stuff, I've kinda spotted, been a nosey f*cker, gleaned and even spoken to the horses mouth. Anybody can see the Rev forum has died and everybody has moved across to the Kitelife forum. I already mentioned to Lolly that the Rev forum is bugged and dead. I personally have found that both Joe and JB are willing to be as hlepful as any newbie could require and life is too short or soon to be 😘

P.S Am a biker I give everybody the finger at some point its my nature.

[makatakam]

22 hours ago, Buellbloke said:

lol dude chill am just teasing the finger wasnt squared at you! I just dont like people slating something I found to be extremly useful. Believe me when I say am just as bald in real life ha ha As for the whole whatever went on, has gone on stuff, I've kinda spotted, been a nosey f*cker, gleaned and even spoken to the horses mouth. Anybody can see the Rev forum has died and everybody has moved across to the Kitelife forum. I already mentioned to Lolly that the Rev forum is bugged and dead. I personally have found that both Joe and JB are willing to be as hlepful as any newbie could require and life is too short or soon to be 😘

P.S Am a biker I give everybody the finger at some point its my nature.

I've met Lolly and David and flown with them at kite festivals. I've met and flown with JB. Club 38 is fine for beginners and anyone else who wants to partake. I have no issues with anyone who joins. I have issues with how it was planned and executed at the early stages, probably before you were flying Revs. I have no issues with the people, the kites or the company, just with how things were done and how some folks were treated. As I mentioned there's some history that you may not be aware of, that if you read every thread on this forum you will become aware of. There's bruised feelings and then some on both sides, so sometimes newcomers can say things that irritate old wounds without even knowing it. Club 38 is a touchy subject for a lot of people for various reasons. My experience with it was not the best, but I won't get into the reasons. 

I have 14 various Revolution kites, and no competing brand of quad kite, and don't have any reason to acquire any, including the Djinn, unfortunately. I am thinking about getting a Djinn bridle or two to try on my Revs.

Welcome to the forum. I look forward to flying with you someday.

[Buellbloke]

18 hours ago, makatakam said:

As I mentioned there's some history that you may not be aware of, that if you read every thread on this forum you will become aware of. There's bruised feelings and then some on both sides, so sometimes newcomers can say things that irritate old wounds without even knowing it. Club 38 is a touchy subject for a lot of people for various reasons. My experience with it was not the best, but I won't get into the reasons. 

I have 14 various Revolution kites, and no competing brand of quad kite, and don't have any reason to acquire any, including the Djinn, unfortunately. I am thinking about getting a Djinn bridle or two to try on my Revs.

Welcome to the forum. I look forward to flying with you someday.

If as a newbie I just bought a kite and got on with flying would probably never have noticed something had gone down. Besides who am I mere newbie no one lol Am new here so can only take people as I meet and find them. I think Club 38 is cool as a free addition to buying a Rev, I would even go so far as to say it helped enusure my patronage.  I would have been a lot less impressed if it was a subscription or flat fee service instead. I can imagine paying for it just prior to it becoming free annoyed a few people. Moreso if they never got a partial refund or some perks from helping to support it. At a certain point watching everyones videos on youtube one kinda expected a collaboration of inspiration and knowledge, yet further investigation threw up potential conflict instead, like something had gone down. Me am just a nosey f*cker sticking my beak where it's not wanted, ruffling feathers, p*ssing people off, yea that sounds like me.

Thanx for your Welcome Dude 😎Bit like my kite flying am a challenge lol