Best day yet!

[p23brian]

Today was a nice sunny day and the wind was much more cooperative than it has been recently.  At one point I had the kite in the air without touching the ground, pretty much in complete control, for about 30 minutes.  Big improvements in my hovers.  I even tried the inverted hover.  I started getting it, but didn't have the right-is-left and left-is-right thing burned into muscle memory and pulled the wrong string a few times.  Definitely made a lot of progress.  I think I spent the most time working on using the 'brakes' to stop the kite's forward progress.  I was really getting precise with this by the time I quit.  The weather forecast isn't as promising for the weekend and on Tuesday it's back to work, so I may not get out again for a while.  

[makatakam]

Cooooool. Great to hear you're making progress. Work interferes with my kite flying all the time also.

To get the inverted hover down pat easily and quickly:

1. Fly to the top of the window.

2. Turn the kite over towards the ground.

3. Fly toward the ground as slowly as possible.

4. Repeat, trying to go slower with each repetition.

After 100 repetitions you will own your hover. Honestly. Just get the speed down to a snail's pace, and stop briefly a few times along the way. Do it literally 100 times and the hover is yours. Boring as hell, but trust me, it works.

[John Barresi]

Also, try lowering your hands closer to your belt buckle immediately after you've made the turn at the top and are pointing downward... This increases the "natural" tension on the bottom lines and will reduce the amount of leverage you need to apply on the actual brake inputs.

[SparkieRob]

Great to hear! Every bit of confidence will help unlock skills. Pretty soon it will come automatically and the really cool thing is, you will go "hold on, I just did that without thinking to!".

Oneness with the kite....

Ommmmm.


Sent from my iPhone using KiteLife mobile app

[Wayne Dowler]

Or if you have trouble with the "top down" method - try this one:

Set the kite on the ground LE down, Step back til you have tension in the lines. Point your thumbs at the kite (may need another small step back), and it should rise inverted. Stop moving and hold for as long as possible, then step forward to land. Only need to gain a little attitude to get off the ground and a quick step forward keeps thing safe (read - no breakage)!! Just another way to get there!

[p23brian]

On the inverted hover I used variations of both the "top down" and "bottom up" methods that Makatakam and Wayne mentioned.  I was able to take off successfully with the kite inverted.  I only had trouble when the wind changed and I had to make corrections quickly without time to think.  Sometimes I used the wrong side.  Keeping perspective straight is also something you have to work at flying quadcopters in a slightly different way.  If you have the copter flying towards you, you have to remember that right and left are reversed. A turn to your right is to the copter's left and vice versa.

 

[makatakam]

Don

17 hours ago, SparkieRob said:

Great to hear! Every bit of confidence will help unlock skills. Pretty soon it will come automatically and the really cool thing is, you will go "hold on, I just did that without thinking to!".

Oneness with the kite....

Ommmmm.


Sent from my iPhone using KiteLife mobile app

That's the "AHAAA" moment.

[makatakam]

Don't think of it as left and right -- as a matter of fact don't think at all! Instead, "feel" what the kite is doing and how the wind pushes it and let your hands and arms act as shock absorbers or bungees. Instead of up, down, left, right, get into a forward, backward, clockwise, counterclockwise mind set. No matter which direction the kite faces these movements will always be the same.