Dual Line Sport Kites
Part 2 : Trick Kite Flyer's Memos
The object of this part is to describe my struggles to learn new tricks, in the hope that it may help someone, somewhere, somehow ! It's no good writing "how to" instructions after you have learned the tricks, because, you'd never have any problems to describe ! It's a sort of idiot's guide to trick kiting.
Contents
 | Push turn |
| Wind window |
| Basic tricks |
| Intermediate tricks |
| What am I working on right now
? |
The Push Turn
I suppose for the first 30 years of my life I had always pulled my right hand towards me to turn right and left to turn left. Then, after I bought my reflex, I read that you could push with your left hand to turn right ! It made sense ; it not only worked, it produced neater turns, letting wind out of the sail.... so why had I never thought of it before ? You can also take it a step further and push with one hand while you pull with the other.
The Wind Window
You must imagine you're at the bottom tip of a giant ice cream cone ( split in the middle and on its side ). The wind is coming from behind you. Now you'll see why the kite stalls when it reaches the edge of the window. It will also drop sometimes when it's at the top of the window if the wind dies down suddenly... because right then the wind window decreases in size. The Prism site and video explains this very well. You can use this knowledge to practise landings and even stalls and axels on the edge of the wind window.
Basic Tricks
You should be able to learn some tricks straight away : a stall landing ( both tips simultaneously ) on the edge of the window ; a spin landing on the edge of the window ; see sawing the kite on the ground from leading edge to leading edge ( to aid cartwheels ) ; a cartwheel towards the centre of the window to right the kite for a re-launch ; a leading edge takeoff towards the edge of the wind window ; a controlled descent straight down the centre of the window in light wind ; a flip launch ( belly down, nose pointing away ) ; a pancake landing on the kite's belly with the nose pointing away ; a belly launch from pancake landing. I personally found flipping the kite on its back ( a turtle ) very easy with all my kites... I was doing it before I had even heard it was possible.
Intermediate tricks
Sliding stalls, sideway floats and snap stalls come next. Snap stalls are tough to get really neat, and as with many tricks, it will all depend on how much wind you have and what kite you're flying (i.e. how big is the sail ). Tricks should be performed with 75 feet or less of 90 Lb spectra line. I find 60 feet is also good. I only use 100 or 130 feet ( 150 lb Dyneema ) lines for precision flying or stronger winds. In 60 feet I can do a pull - pull snap stall with my reflex in light winds. Stronger winds require much more practise or they'll be messy !
What am I working on right now ?
23.Aug.01
Classic axels ( or what I thought were axels....apparently what I
thought was an axel was a flat spin done with the wrong hand ?!? ) on the left edge of the window. I've pulled off quite a few
of these with my i2k, especially when the kite is quite low, say 10 feet off the
ground. This must be because of the favorable angle of my right hand pull. Both
hands should give a little slack, especially the left, which will serve to
flatten the kite by rotating the far wing away from me, pointing the kite a
little to my left. Once I've popped the right hand to start the axel I must give
slack in both lines, especially the left, which must allow the kite to rotate
without any tension. After all, it's the wingtip on your left line that is going
to rotate the most on the outside. I'm not sure if axels on the left side of the
window are meant to be performed by pulling the right... but that's what's
working for me now.
Axel Update : I don't think it matters much. I have now learned to axel with my hands low, waist level, and not popping the hand across my chest, as this never seems to result in a full 360 degree rotation. Slack is also vital, so that one must fling both arms forward ( almost as in a pancake ) and slack is important in the popping hand if you don't want to snag a wingtip with your line.
24.Aug.01
Snap Stalls. I'm working on pull, pull snap stalls. The major factor as
to the amount of force needed seems to be the wind. In a light wind fast short
and above all little snaps are all that's needed to stop the kite. Flying from
left to right, across the centre of the window, even a sharp pull / turn left
seems to stall the kite in light winds. I've often executed a half axel ( I
think ) by yanking too hard on the left then right. The hand that initiates the
snap stall is always the hand nearest the inside of the window ( i.e. the inside
hand ) must be followed very closely, or almost immediately, by a lesser outside
hand snap ( pull ). Now I hear that snap stalls are meant to be different from
Benson to Prism kites, say. I still think my snap stalls are messy and
imprecise. Probably I'm missing the whole point... yet everyone keeps telling me
not to worry about it... if your kite is floating backwards you can just go
ahead and do any trick...it doesn't matter how you got into a stall... and if
necessary just go to the edge of the window. Oh well, I still hope to perfect
this tricky maneuver one day !
27.Aug.01
Floating the kite vertically down with wingtips parallel to the ground,
for control. I notice that the wingtip that is falling can be raised by a light
brisk tug on that side, as long as your other hand / line is not slack. Keep the
other line under minimum tension, and give a short pull to the side that is
dropping to raise it thereby leveling the kite. Also remember foot work ; walk
towards the kite or away to keep the right force of wind on the sail.
29.Aug.01
The real Axel ... Ha : Yesterday a dude told me my axels were flat spins,
but luckily I learnt the real axel ( or so I hope ) in a few seconds. The same
hand ( usually the outside ) that gives the slack, and sets up the move actually
gives the hard pull to spin, or axel the kite. The kite is not at all flat or
horizontal to the ground, it was more or less upright. I also seem to be getting
used to my i2k, and starting to really like it !
6.Sept.01
The fade : I did my fist fade today. Half axel then pop both lines and
hey presto ! You need steady wind conditions, and watch out, if you don't quite
make it into the fade, your kite is pointing straight at the ground and could
slam in nose first ! In the meantime I have also learned to belly launch towards
the centre of the window, and to balance on one tip ( needs very steady ground
wind ). My axels do get wingtip wraps every so often, but I am learning to pop
my left as well as my right now. I asked the newsgroup for help doing a graded
list of tricks that you can tick off as you progress. Didn't get very far...
though I still like the idea.
October 15th.
Half axel turn. Is "differential" another term for this ?
Anyway, I have been working on changing direction at the end of a
ground pass using the half axel. Firstly, after a half hour lesson, I realized
that a slight pull on the upper wingtip points the kite upwards slightly so you
can visualize what the axel will look like. Then the pop follows ( with the same
inside hand which controls the upper wing ), and of course some slack in the
other hand. Now, make sure you haven't left the wind window by flying too far,
or you might end up in a stall floating to the ground. Practise on both sides,
and remember the setup move before doing the (half) axel. Choke the axel so that
you only do a half axel.
November 4th
540. Hooray ! My first repeatable 540s today ! The tip, from a fellow
kite flyer, was to pop the right hand as I was doing the pancake ( can also be
called a flare I think ). Obviously I was doing the pancake and the trying to
spin the kite - but it was always pathetic results... the only thing to do is
pop the right practically at the same time as the pancake. I suspect it's
towards the end of the pancake... what a great feeling the first few times ! And
you know it's right when it works 3 out of 4 times ! Also, the wind was strong,
so I was popping right hand but doing the 540 on the left edge of the wind
window... otherwise the wind would have been too strong for a pancake in the
middle of the wind window. Now, I tried more 540s today and couldn't nail even
one of them. I mean the kite did sort of turn 540 but not flat. Maybe the wind
was too strong for my O/S on a 60ft line.
Nov 6th
Backspin takeoff. Pop one hand (small) then the other. Kite on its back
nose towards you. Sometimes works, sometimes I rotate the kite too much with the
first pop. Wind's got to be good for it... especially ground wind. Shouldn't be
too hard to nail.