Got some more flying in - progress update

[p23brian]

I made it out for a couple of hours the other day and had pretty steady wind, about 10 mph. I spent a lot of time practicing hovers and flying in reverse. I also worked on better control spinning the kite, e.g. stopping the spin precisely. Getting better, but I still need to work on it.

A few times flying in reverse approaching the edge of the window the top wing would flop over 180 degrees and the kite would spin. I think getting too close to the edge of the window and not having enough angle of attack left seemed to be the cause.

Supposed to have some wind tomorrow. I hope to also work on slipping the kite horizontally across the window.

Each time out feels a little better than the last so hopefully I'm on the right track.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[makatakam]

I'm glad to hear, and hope it makes you smile too.

I'm eight years in and still working on perfecting things. Once you think you have, the wind changes and you start over, realizing that you only had it right in those conditions. And so on . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. for each of the hundreds of moves, positions and conditions you will encounter. That's what makes it fun and challenging at the same time. Have you had any "AHAAAA" moments yet? If you don't know what I'm talking about, you will know instantly and without any doubt when you have one. And they keep coming for as long as you fly; they just get a little farther apart. But that also makes them twice as satisfying.

 

[p23brian]

Definitely had an "AHHAA" moment when I figured out the adjustments on the upper lines and the impact they have on the kite.  This morning looked good weather-wise so I went out again.  The wind was going from 0-15 and swinging back and forth through about 100 degrees.  I'd have the kite flying fine and then wham!   All of a sudden the wind is from a different direction and the sail would lose lift.  I had a few brief periods when the wind was steady enough to really work on skills, but the constant shifting got frustrating after a while.   Tomorrow's forecast looks good so hopefully I'll be able to get back out there.

[makatakam]

The "AHAAA" was more of a reference to flying, but everything that suddenly makes sense counts. Those ahaaa moments when you are flying and something that you've been working on really hard suddenly just becomes instinctive, are so satisfying that there is no way to describe what happened other than "Ahaaa!".

That super frustrating shifting, inconsistent and gusty wind will make you a better pilot. I have seen people who normally spend most of their time flying the nice coastal winds try to fly in lousy inland wind and ask "How can you fly in this crap?". Makes you feel great and when you get the chance to fly in those sweet coastal breezes you will fly ten times better than you thought you could.

[Steve Jenkins]

1 hour ago, makatakam said:

That super frustrating shifting, inconsistent and gusty wind will make you a better pilot. I have seen people who normally spend most of their time flying the nice coastal winds try to fly in lousy inland wind and ask "How can you fly in this crap?". Makes you feel great and when you get the chance to fly in those sweet coastal breezes you will fly ten times better than you thought you could.

Gee I sure hope so. It seems like every time it's windy (and warm) enough to take a kite in the yard and fly a while, all I do is get frustrated. I went out the day after Christmas (64 degree high in central Ohio!) for about two hours and brother, was it gusty! Made it very difficult to perform smooth, controlled movements. At times low wind and then whoosh, just pulling me forward a step. Nothing at all like the consistent coastal breeze I experienced at Atlantic Beach where I first learned to fly a Rev in September. The last time out I was TRYING to do horizontal slides across the window, but if anyone would have been watching me it certainly wouldn't have been apparent what the heck I was trying to do. Don't get me wrong, I was still having fun, and I do have more "overall control" as I gain more experience, but I sure see a lot of video where I'm left thinking, "I sure wish I could do that". 

I have been following the discussion with one of the other newbies about leaders, knots, adjustments, various frames and whatnot, but so far I don't even mess with all that stuff. Not because I don't think it won't change anything, but rather I don't think I have the experience to detect the difference! When it's not very breezy I fly my SLE with the lighter frame, and when the wind is stronger I flt my vented B series. I figure until I get more experience there probably is more to be gained by just flying, than to spend all my time messing with frames and knots. BTW, if all this sounds incorrect, please set me straight..... after all..... I am new to this.

[Paul LaMasters]

The first test of tuning is always the same.  Set the kite up inverted (leading edge resting on the ground), if, when you push your thumbs towards the kite, it won't back-up, then it isn't tuned correctly!  Now maybe in low or no wind, this actually also includes you having walking backwards too.

ANY kite flies forwards, the sooner you work on inverted hover and reverse flight the better off you'll be as a quad-head.  ALL the cool tricks and perfect control of team flying are "brakes related".  Without a big dose of reverse tuning gusts are tearing that control out of your grasp even when flying alone.

The first exercise to practice if I am teaching is usually the "cartwheel" so folks know how to roll it over from an inverted landing, instead of dragging the leading edge sideways to regain forward flight.  Slow, steady control, imagine landing the kite into a trash barrel,..... Do it forward, left tip, right tip and then again inverted.  Land into the trash-can!  

When you can replace that trash bin with a soda pop can you are one of us.  If you wanted to really impress everyone, you'd land into the hole of an empty pop can, balanced on top of a fence post!!!