Need advise-buying new rev (classic or b series?)

[zerolady]

Update: I got the Revolution Classic (interesting, they put the B Series informations in the package, and the bag also has "B Classic" on it..) But thats just a side note.

Any suggestions what to practise first? I often have the problem, not knowing what to practise first...

My status: Start, land, turn right/left, dive and stop

I'd be glad, if you can give me some tips 

[SparkieRob]

Honestly, practice set up and break down. Practice unwinding and winding up. Building blocks.

Just flying and getting comfortable with the "turn left" and "turn right" is good. Landings are good too.

Not sure if said or implied but use a stake and set up inverted.

In between Heaven and Earth, there are kites.

[Paul LaMasters]

practice inverted flight an inch above the ground,.... the weight of the kite and balance points are better, easier with the leading edge facing the land.  Get comfortable flying in this position.

Imagine you are flying in between the goal posts and the soil on a soccer field.  If your kite will not do this action it is tuned incorrectly or you are flying with feet welded onto a steel platform!

Place the LE on the ground and slowly force your thumbs towards the kite WHILE you back-up with your feet (holding an inverted hover). Try to be light and smooth with your feet and only do a tiny action on the handles.  You don't want to "over-correct",.. allow you feet to add or take away energy.

Eventually you should be able to back-up to the top of the window SLOWLY and recover your field (since you walked backwards to make it smooth going up) coming back down again.

Work on your glide, take the kite to the edge and pull on handle back to your shoulder blade whilst forcing the other handle as far forward as you can reach, turn your torso too, to face the new direction.  your after an action that looks like you are shooting a bow& arrow.  Next rotate your torso back to "neutral" and slide your two arms together so one is directly over and above the other.  As you slide the handles together or force them further apart you should be able to "side-slide the kite vertically up and down.  Pick a spot on the ground a lump of dirt or scrap of paper.  LAND ON IT, swap win tips and do it again. See if you can land the center of the leading edge (inverted) onto the point of impact desired.

Practice landing on a trash can lid,... when you can take away the trash can and replace it with a empty pop can,.... and still land on it.... you are one of us.  Maybe that is an hour away or  maybe it's 14 months from now.

The quad-lined kites all about one word, "control", you make it respond and answer to your will thru practice and maybe also acquisitions (more models to expand your wind range availability)

Get someone to assist you and save years of trials and pain.  Honestly and experienced flyer can touch your kite and offer advise if everything is not tuned properly.  tuning is like driving a car, you know , you can adjust the driver's position thru seat and mirror, as well as steering wheel adjustments.  There's no right or wrong way to drive, unless you can't control your speed or stay in you darn lane!!!!  Well a quad is the same way, you can adjust it to fit your comfort and personal preferences.  A coach can teach you how to "feel" the differences and determine what suits you best for a given set of conditions.

 

 

 

[John Barresi]

6 hours ago, zerolady said:

Update: I got the Revolution Classic (interesting, they put the B Series informations in the package, and the bag also has "B Classic" on it..) But thats just a side note.

Sigh.

Still, fly in good health.

[Wayne Dowler]

Speed control - easy to get used to just zooming around and enjoying, another to keep everything slow and smooth! It will also help you when you get to do team someday! Practice crawling that kite across the sky!

Hovering - in any position! Again being able to put your kite anywhere, anytime, shows off the control of quads.  Some learn "top down", meaning they take the kite to the top, invert, and slowly start down. Gradually they can fly so slow, things come to a stop. Others go "bottom up", starting the kite on the ground and slowly learning to control the hover there, No "wrong" just different paths that hopefully get you to the same place!

[zerolady]

4 hours ago, SparkieRob said:

Honestly, practice set up and break down. Practice unwinding and winding up. Building blocks.

Just flying and getting comfortable with the "turn left" and "turn right" is good. Landings are good too.

Not sure if said or implied but use a stake and set up inverted.

In between Heaven and Earth, there are kites.
 

Thank you!

Set up invert means start inverted? One of the things i learned first, after some "crashes" on the first flights

What do you mean with "building blocks"? 

3 hours ago, Paul LaMasters said:

practice inverted flight an inch above the ground,.... the weight of the kite and balance points are better, easier with the leading edge facing the land.  Get comfortable flying in this position.

Imagine you are flying in between the goal posts and the soil on a soccer field.  If your kite will not do this action it is tuned incorrectly or you are flying with feet welded onto a steel platform!

Place the LE on the ground and slowly force your thumbs towards the kite WHILE you back-up with your feet (holding an inverted hover). Try to be light and smooth with your feet and only do a tiny action on the handles.  You don't want to "over-correct",.. allow you feet to add or take away energy.

Eventually you should be able to back-up to the top of the window SLOWLY and recover your field (since you walked backwards to make it smooth going up) coming back down again.

Work on your glide, take the kite to the edge and pull on handle back to your shoulder blade whilst forcing the other handle as far forward as you can reach, turn your torso too, to face the new direction.  your after an action that looks like you are shooting a bow& arrow.  Next rotate your torso back to "neutral" and slide your two arms together so one is directly over and above the other.  As you slide the handles together or force them further apart you should be able to "side-slide the kite vertically up and down.  Pick a spot on the ground a lump of dirt or scrap of paper.  LAND ON IT, swap win tips and do it again. See if you can land the center of the leading edge (inverted) onto the point of impact desired.

Practice landing on a trash can lid,... when you can take away the trash can and replace it with a empty pop can,.... and still land on it.... you are one of us.  Maybe that is an hour away or  maybe it's 14 months from now.

The quad-lined kites all about one word, "control", you make it respond and answer to your will thru practice and maybe also acquisitions (more models to expand your wind range availability)

Get someone to assist you and save years of trials and pain.  Honestly and experienced flyer can touch your kite and offer advise if everything is not tuned properly.  tuning is like driving a car, you know , you can adjust the driver's position thru seat and mirror, as well as steering wheel adjustments.  There's no right or wrong way to drive, unless you can't control your speed or stay in you darn lane!!!!  Well a quad is the same way, you can adjust it to fit your comfort and personal preferences.  A coach can teach you how to "feel" the differences and determine what suits you best for a given set of conditions.

 

 

 

Thank you very much for all these tips. 

I'll write myself a little "plan" what to practise, when i'm out flying.

Sounds like months of work/practise. But i am SO looking forward for it

And i will look for some people who are already good flyers. I never saw anyone here, but in this forum and another one i saw that some are not super close to me, but close enough to maybe have a meeting when the days become brighter

[zerolady]

3 minutes ago, Wayne Dowler said:

Speed control - easy to get used to just zooming around and enjoying, another to keep everything slow and smooth! It will also help you when you get to do team someday! Practice crawling that kite across the sky!

Hovering - in any position! Again being able to put your kite anywhere, anytime, shows off the control of quads.  Some learn "top down", meaning they take the kite to the top, invert, and slowly start down. Gradually they can fly so slow, things come to a stop. Others go "bottom up", starting the kite on the ground and slowly learning to control the hover there, No "wrong" just different paths that hopefully get you to the same place!

Thank you Wayne!

Okay thats something i definitley need to learn (and which is not so easy as it looks on videos hehe) : Flying slow and smooth and with control. 

 

 

[peterbruusmadsen]

It might not be popular to mention here, but I learned a lot by joining the 'club 38' on Facebook.

It teaches you the basic skilles and build on them as you go through the program. I liked that it gave me a purpose when flying, and something specific to practice. Of cause mixed with lot of 'normal' flying.

[riffclown]

24 minutes ago, peterbruusmadsen said:

It might not be popular to mention here, but I learned a lot by joining the 'club 38' on Facebook.

It teaches you the basic skilles and build on them as you go through the program. I liked that it gave me a purpose when flying, and something specific to practice. Of cause mixed with lot of 'normal' flying.

There's been a pretty open discussion of it here. -->

No one really has a problem with it other than the Club 38 curriculum renaming many common moves to terms not used by quad fliers, any quad fliers.. I got a lot more info from JB's tutorials personally.  At least a few people didn't care for the constant script referencing.

If it helps you learn, it's worthwhile. At least it's free now.. Initially they were charging $38 and would send you a T-Shirt.

Bottom line is use any resource you can.. I initially learned the Catch and throw by slowing JB's B2 launch video down to frame by frame. If it works for you then by all means use it!! Nothing wrong with utilizing everything you can get your hands on to improve your skills.

 

[John Barresi]

I’m a fan of anything that people are finding growth from, although the other (linked) discussion covers some of the differences pretty adequately.

[SparkieRob]

Building blocks, I was meaning the very basics. Setting up, breaking down, unwinding and winding up are so essential in keeping that new kite feeling positive. If you have troubles with these you are less likely to be open to just go fly. It can be over before you start.

In between Heaven and Earth, there are kites.

[peterbruusmadsen]

There's been a pretty open discussion of it here. -->
No one really has a problem with it other than the Club 38 curriculum renaming many common moves to terms not used by quad fliers, any quad fliers.. I got a lot more info from JB's tutorials personally.  At least a few people didn't care for the constant script referencing.
If it helps you learn, it's worthwhile. At least it's free now.. Initially they were charging $38 and would send you a T-Shirt.
Bottom line is use any resource you can.. I initially learned the Catch and throw by slowing JB's B2 launch video down to frame by frame. If it works for you then by all means use it!! Nothing wrong with utilizing everything you can get your hands on to improve your skills.
 

I'm definitely not implying that you only should use this Club 38 thing. I, as many others, have watched (again and again) JB's videos and learned a lot from them. But it was nice to have a sort of "script" to follow. Besides the people on the club 38 Facebook site is as friendly as you guys, so it's a nice place to be and it's nice to get suggestions on how to improving based on your videos.

As a lony flier I have no idea what moves are called. Is there a place where I can read about the names?

Anyway just wanted to throw Club 38 in, as a suggestion of one possible source of help on the basic.

[riffclown]

50 minutes ago, peterbruusmadsen said:

 

 

I'm definitely not implying that you only should use this Club 38 thing. I, as many others, have watched (again and again) JB's videos and learned a lot from them. But it was nice to have a sort of "script" to follow. Besides the people on the club 38 Facebook site is as friendly as you guys, so it's a nice place to be and it's nice to get suggestions on how to improving based on your videos.

As a lony flier I have no idea what moves are called. Is there a place where I can read about the names?

Anyway just wanted to throw Club 38 in, as a suggestion of one possible source of help on the basic.

And I didn't take it that way.. IT's all about enjoying your kites and your time with them as afar as I'm concerned.

 

[John Barresi]

4 hours ago, riffclown said:

No one really has a problem with it other than the Club 38 curriculum renaming many common moves to terms not used by quad fliers, any quad fliers..

The reason for this FYI, is that they simply don’t know what many of the community-developed and standardized terms are, they don’t live the kite flying life and had to create their own descriptives.

As long as folks understand and can apply the material, that’s what is important.

[SparkieRob]

Set up with the kite upside down. Trying to fly into the ground is the most stable and safe way.
Blue kite is safe, red kite could launch.
Put your handles so the kite has forward drive.


In between Heaven and Earth, there are kites.

[John Barresi]

Gospel.

[zerolady]

6 hours ago, SparkieRob said:

Set up with the kite upside down. Trying to fly into the ground is the most stable and safe way.
Blue kite is safe, red kite could launch.
Put your handles so the kite has forward drive.


In between Heaven and Earth, there are kites.
 

What i find difficult is, to fly reverse upwards, because the poles pull together often. But i didn't try it with the new one yet. Too low wind

8 hours ago, peterbruusmadsen said:

 

 

As a lony flier I have no idea what moves are called. Is there a place where I can read about the names?

 

 

But maybe we can meet someday to fly together

I live close to the border to denmark

 

[Edmond Dragut]

if you do not fly in reverse means the bottom lines are to long, come one knot close to handle and try again. repeat this step till you will have lift. Is common for new fliers to have the top lines to much in and to less breaks 

[Wayne Dowler]

Got pix of your handles and leaders?  Having the vertical rods move too much could be from over controlling with your inputs. Try a gentle touch (will also help in that inverted hover). Too forceful a move and you could get the dreaded "flipping a wing!". Just ease the thumbs towards your kite, maybe step back slowly, the kite should rise inverted.

What Edmund is explaining, is that most new fliers have way too much "drive" in their kites, or have their top lines pulled in too close. Depending on the leaders used, you want to have the tops out as far as you can. How to tell? Put them as far out as possible and try to launch. Not successful? Move a knot closer. Do this test til launch is successful. If the top leaders are short, you can tie knots in the bottom leaders and shorten them up instead. I use the leaders JB sells here and fly with my bottoms out at the end and my tops 3 or 4  knots in depending on winds. YMMV

[makatakam]

The best way to learn is from other people directly. Get together with others as often as possible. There are very many "Rev" pilots in Europe, and you should have no problem finding someone to fly with. You may have to drive an hour or more, but the amount and speed at which you will learn to control the kite is worth every minute of the drive.

Click on the map tab at the top of the page to see who is near you.

[John Barresi]

Re tuning and leaders...
http://kitelife.com/forum/topic/5530-pigtails-tuning-your-rev-with-knotted-leaders/


Sent from my iPhone using KiteLife mobile app

[zerolady]

Thank you all for the good tips!

[Exult]

On 11/9/2017 at 8:34 PM, Wayne Dowler said:

I recommend a std and a full vent for starters. Std first, then add the f/v.

Exactly as I did it. And you can cover a pair of vents to get a mid-vent. Still only have the std and the full vent. But on the other hand, it might not be your way since you seem always have some minimum wind. And if close zero wind happens at some rare occasion, perhaps you have another (non quad) kite for that time?

On 11/9/2017 at 10:28 PM, ACrop said:

if buying new: the b series gives you two frames with each sail

This was really a good feature of my B-series. If they wouldn't have been included I'd still not (knowing myself) would have access to 2 and 4 wrap spars. This has given me the possibility to work on sail loading and controlling the flex. If you are past the panicking and pulling the lines hard close to the ground don't fear breaking the 2 wrap spars. I can much recommend to get frames to be able to meet various wind conditions. You want to be able to curve the LE by pulling the handles to create forward drive. A constantly curved LE in too hard wind or a too stiff LE in light wind that you cannot curve is equally bad. There are some discussions here on other (cheaper and more expensive) spars which I also need to learn more from.

On 11/14/2017 at 11:24 PM, peterbruusmadsen said:

As a lony flier I have no idea what moves are called. Is there a place where I can read about the names?

Don't know. I picked stuff up here and there on the forum... The process was  nice though a bit slow, e.g. I was long confused about long leaders - thought you put them in series with the existing one on the handle... The videos are good though, also for terminology..

On 11/15/2017 at 6:09 PM, makatakam said:

There are very many "Rev" pilots in Europe, and you should have no problem finding someone to fly with.

So Sweden and nearby countries also seems to be full of them. If I would have known any kiter in Finland I could have gone there on a cheap nice large ferry boat trip (the ferries instead make their living much on tax free and food), but as we all know  there is no Finland,
https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4573 .

I daily see hoards of kiters here that I can exchange valuable information with. Likewise I get valuable experience before purchases by testing their gear ...No, I've not seen any non beginner multi line (DLK and QLK) pilot during this millennium with the exception of power foils. The only two framed quads that I've ever seen are my own. Perhaps the situation is different on the Swedish west coast?