Newbie Journey, Rev learning tips

[John Barresi]

Very solid flying. 🤙


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[happysuperbutton]

Thanks again guys, and Paul! For the further thoughts, more valuable notes for me to take to the field next time

Seems like it all boils down to "flying with intent" hehehe. Which I don't hahaha. I go with the wind. For now.

well, 10 months ago I tried my hardest to stay away from kids, fearing I would lose control of my QLK and smash down on an unsuspecting little one, maybe even decapitate lines slice through them like butter.

but now 10 months later, I thoroughly enjoy having the kids around, run up and chase and play with the QLK. I even taunt them jokingly and invite them over as they stare from a distance. Some have even "role played" calling it a spaceship and "shooting it down" hahaha...oh joy.. thanks Sport Kiting hobby!

 

gonna keep practicing ^^

[riffclown]

@happysuperbutton  Great work.!!!

[Wayne Dowler]

Just don't have happen what JB had done to him  years ago at a clinic. He was playing with some kids. One had a stick !!!! Goodbye center panel!!!!! OWCHIE!!

[makatakam]

Be VERY careful playing with the kids. Are you FULLY in control? Don't do it if the wind is fast and buffeting the kite. Use common sense and don't hurt anyone. 

They love it don't they? Just be careful. Angry parents are NOT fun!

[happysuperbutton]

Hahaha @ stick !

Yup yup always safety first, last thing I want is to slice a toddler's fingers or ear off.

[John Barresi]

Yup, this is one of those things - I never go there unless I am 110%, and I’ve developed a number of formulas for gauging depth, emergency exit maneuvers, predictive behavior etc. 👍🏻

[happysuperbutton]

when measuring lines, how should I measure 50ft,

line out to 50ft then sleeve down however many inches

or

line out to 49.xxx ft then add however many inches of sleeving to get 50ft?

or

line out 50ft and then some for sleeving and knotting loop?

When it says "LPG 90# x 120ft" what really is the 120ft, does it mean from leader end to leader end.. I haven't had the chance to measure yet, measuring tape still en route.

[Wayne Dowler]

Over thinking!!! A difference of inches really doesn't matter at 120'. But most will say measure to 50;' and add extra for loops and knots. In the end, it should be 50' overall.

[oapbillf]

Whatever length you are after whether it be 30ft or 120ft that length is your finished target but as Wayne says it does not have to be dead accurate !

I usually add 3ft to my cut lengths which is ample to allow for sleeving at both ends and a bit of trimming to finish.

 I made up a set of 30 and 50ft from a standard 80ft set, sleeved at the handles only, the 30ft ended up at 30ft, the 50ft ended up at 47 ft, no big deal ! 

[happysuperbutton]

I dunnit!

Cut down my first set of lines, ever. another newbie journey's first. ^^

Little fumbles:

- no measuring tape longer than 33feet.
wanted to make a 50ft lineset, measured 30ft, marked the lines, and then plus 20ft, marked the lines for 50ft, then plus 1ft, marked it again for sleeve.

- no proper sleeving tool
o m g this was the headache. but i figured it out.
3 out of the 4 lines, thank you Mr.Barresi for the Equilizing Lines video, it came to play here so valuable knowledge I never thought I would need this seriously. Untied the knots on the sleeves, grabbed the line that poked out the other end to prevent it from slipping back into the sleeve. Phew. Did this for the 3 lines, slid the sleeve down 70ft of line to my 50ft mark I made before.

Then the 4th and last line, was cut already (about 2ft in) from group flying previously. So the sleeve was separated from the "main line" and I could not employ the slip-n-slide trick done for the previous 3 lines. 

I first tried larksheading the broken line end to each other, thinking I could pull the line through the sleeve this way (like holding hands!). The resulting knot was too big to squeeze through the sleeve :l

Scrambled through all my hobby kits at home to find some kind of wire, long and thin enough for the sleeve. Best I could find was rubber-insulated wire. Skinny enough, smooth enough, to shimmy through the sleeve. But that got real messy real fast. Rubber-insulated wires are actually a bunch of tiny wires twisted or clumped tightly together then wrapped or packed tightly in the rubber insulation. Rubber started slipping fast and the tiny wires started poking through everywhere the sleeve, knotting the sleeve braids up. UGH.

So I tried super gluing the rubber wire tip, no more slip, smooth point tip, excellent!

No, didn't work, glue still tore and little tiny wires got all pokey again.

I tried a paper clip next, too fat.

Then I found bread wire, the kind of short twisty wire they use to bundle your new cables with. Stripped it and used that inner wire, perfect, skinny enough and smooth single wire pointed tip. Made a loop at one end of the wire for the kite line to be threaded through. 

But that loop made a sharp tip pointing up, snags the braids on the sleeve again as I tried to thread through the sleeve. Sigh. So close yet so far.

Used tape to tape down that loop, smoothing out the little wire's profile.

 

Voila. 

Threaded the line all the way through the sleeve with the bread wire.

 

All 4 lines cut and sleeved, went out to test fly and all went great. 50ft didn't seem short enough after all, I was picturing an even shorter set.

Still have like 60ish ft remaining line after cutting 50ft, going to make a 30ft and 20ft and 10ft from it.

Where do I buy kite sleeving from? What's the one LPG or KiteShoppe uses?

Great tip for other newbies, watch JB's tutorial videos! Never know when it'll come in handy!

Thanks for reading, til next time ((:

[Wayne Dowler]

Kite Shoppe uses LPG bridle line and pulls out the core to make sleeves.

You can make those short sets with no sleeves, just add a knot to the loop for undoing a larkshead.

I use an old Shanti Spleever for sleeving. A guitar high "E" string works too. Just fold it in half and away you go! Others have used floral wire!

[Breezin]

Now you know why I think the $4.00 I gave Kites and Fun Things was money well spent LOL.

[makatakam]

Or, you could just skip the sleeving and about an hour and a half of agony, which, once you've sleeved a few sets is only 30 minutes of agony. But you can skip it all by skipping the sleeves. Just remember that the flying line is no longer protected by the sleeving or as easily handled when it's cold out so take appropriate action to compensate for these characteristics.

 

[Wayne Dowler]

Pull tabs on the loops can be made from other line and added to, or make the loops long and tie them into the setup using the ends of the loops. Either way works.

The only set to be fairly accurate with is the 120's if you plan on flying with others. Everything else is fair game ......

[riffclown]

I keep several of these in my bag.. makes it simple and the tool work is already done. 

 

[happysuperbutton]

Thanks again you guys! Good suggestions always appreciated

couldn't really imagine without sleeves, feels like I'd miss out on the convenience and durability of having sleeves :x

[Breezin]

Video gets an A. Sucker for Flamenco guitar so music gets an A+  🎶.

[makatakam]

21 hours ago, happysuperbutton said:

Thanks again you guys! Good suggestions always appreciated

couldn't really imagine without sleeves, feels like I'd miss out on the convenience and durability of having sleeves :x

It is a trade-off of durability versus performance. I like sleeving at the handle end to take the abuse of making multiple adjustments I make as the wind or my need changes while flying, and no sleeving at the kite end so it helps reduce the weight the kite must lift. The wear at the kite end is limited to setting up and breaking down most of the time. Unless wind conditions change a lot I'll keep flying the same kite until I get tired of it. If wind is variable I may have two kites set up and fly the one more suited to the immediate wind.

[happysuperbutton]

Looking for more technique explanation on how to do an Axel (flat spin). Read and watched John's Axel thread but couldn't grasp enough to know what I should be doing.

What actually is happening when you Axel the kite? Hard tug on one side's leading edge and simultaneously slack off the same side's trailing edge? Then tug back the same leading edge that you started the Axel with?

Would be nice to have close up slo-mo of the plane movement.  I wanna first understand what's happening with the kite! Then my actions will follow to make it happen hehe.

and is it easier to practice this move on shorter or longer lines? Probably preference as usual...but will welcome any opinions on this too. Thank you!

[riffclown]

Practice on 30's if you have them.. I'm also just learning this move but John told me first thing to switch to short lines to start with..

[riffclown]

Worst case scenario, it's a shorter walk to reset if needed

 

[makatakam]

It's a fast hard POP with the brake line towards and slightly beyond your thigh. When first trying to learn it, it is easiest to do the axel from a Samurai slide in light to medium wind. Remember to practice both directions. It's more difficult with your non-dominant hand. You want to POP the end of the kite that is closer to the ground and immediately give the other complete slack. Later, you will be able to try different directions of entry.

[happysuperbutton]

Thanks for the tips riff and mark (:

I went out to play, and went for it! No success yet hehehe. 😂

50ft lines, with big wind and the midvent is all i have to play with.

Combining cues from field friend (Steve) and trying this spin starting with the leading edge rather than trailing edge. Hard tug on the leading edge corner that's higher up in the side slide.

Can't really get the movement combination right to make it flat yet.

[makatakam]

Leading edge axels are about 300% harder to do and you will have much better results in 6-10 mph wind. The Samurai Slide is different than just flying forward with the kite at a skewed angle. The purpose is to get the kite face as close to parallel to the ground as possible before you initiate the move. Google Spencer Watson or Watty axel videos for a really good idea. You try to get that bottom tip as far away from you as possible so that the top tip is nearly pointed at you. The kite can even be stationary. You can also do an axel when you are gliding the kite away from you as you do when recovering ground.