Hopefully, all of you have been practicing Lesson #1 where you can consistently get into the Fade position from the flare or pancake. (On it’s back, nose towards you.) But can you hold it there, and for how long? Are you noticing that the nose of the kite is actually moving up and down ever so slightly? This is normal. Does the nose of the kite go up and then goes down into a lawn dart? This is normal too. All this is telling you, is that you are, or are not managing your slack correctly. Remember, your kite talks to you, whether visually, or physically ((through the feel of the lines pulling or not pulling.) Pretty freaky huh! Hey Honey, My kite tells me that I need to buy another Prism kite!!)  

We as up and coming Freestyle Pilots need to learn to “Listen“to what the kite is telling us. Let’s start with the infamous, “Once in the fade position, the kite goes into a lawn dart!” scenario. Simple answer, “Slack Management!” (Oh, Not his again, Oh yeah, this again.) So let’s try this visually and physically, flare out to a pancake, hold for a split second, pull to the fade….Where was the nose of the kite when you caught the lines on the leading edge? Don’t know? Go back to Lesson #1 using the short line exercise. OK, one more time, flare to pancake, hold for split second, pull to the fade…..AGGHH! Lawn Dart! Now I see that you took up the slack before the lines even touched the leading edge. Understandable, but wrong. Try it again, but, this time take up the slack exactly when the lines touch the leading edge. (Oh, a timing thing!) Yep, that’s why lesson #1 had the short line exercise for timing the catch of the leading edges. With short lines, you can see the lines touch the leading edges better. (You might want to re-visit Lesson #1 if you’re having trouble with this.) But it still did the lawn dart thing. Wow, that must be everyone’s favorite move! OK, let’s look at it again, but pay close attention to what the nose does when you catch the leading edges with your lines, also what do you feel when this happens. Pancake to the fade. Catch the leading edge with the lines, feel how the lines tugged your hands forward?….Ah Ha! The nose rose about 6 inches past horizontal just before your lawn dart impression. What is our kite trying to tell us? Well you’re letting too much slack out to the lines after the pull to a fade, then when you go to catch the leading edge you have to take up extra slack and by the time you do, the nose has over rotated and caught the lines for you. The tug you feel is the kite stopping in the over rotated position, then the kite actually bounces off of your lines into the lawn dart. (Wow, no wonder I lawn dart so much! I’m too bouncy!)

OK, you should have learned this in Lesson #1, but now the lines are longer timings the same, but for us “Old guys, it helps to review.” Moving on….

So, let’s catch the leading edge with our lines “Softly” and gently. Like someone throwing a kitten to you and you have to catch it “softly”, you catch but give a little. With that in mind, you can now visualize in you mind that you need to catch the leading edge before you get to horizontal and then give a little till the nose is where you want it. Once you get a feel for this, try stopping the nose of the kite when the spine is perfectly horizontal, see what it does. Then again about 1 inch past horizontal, see what it does. Keep doing this adding one inch at a time, and pay attention to what the kite does, or even better, what’s it saying to you. Good, you’re starting to listen!

Next, After that little exercise, you should know where your kite likes to be in a fade. (2 inches past horizontal, 3?) You get the idea. Now the hard part, once in a fade, the wind will make the nose go up and down, and try to come out of the fade, or if you’re lucky enough, your kite is a Fade Monster with a solid fade no matter what kind of wind you have. I’m not that lucky, so I have to pay close attention to the kite. If the nose goes up, the fade will rise, if it goes down, well you know what happens. So to keep the fade pretty solid, I try to feel the lines pulling when the nose wants to rise and actually hold the lines to add pressure so it won’t rise, and when I feel the lines start to slack when the nose wants to dive, I give just a wee bit of slack. Totally the opposite of all my natural instincts. If the wind is pretty strong, I try to walk towards the kite so it won’t oscillate so much. To add to the coolness factor, try this towards the left edge, not too far now but about half way between center and the left edge. When you get into the fade offset your hand position with your left hand closer to your body than the right hand, about 4-6 inches offset. See what that does and someone add to this thread about what the kite did and how it felt.

So now you’re do’in the fade, and your 4 year old wants you to take them to the bathroom. What do you do? Well you could tell them to go get your mom, or you can do the “Lateral Roll” to get out of the fade so you can fly to the edge and land your kite. Sounds cool, but really easy. I use a medium pull with one hand and a bit of slack with the other hand. And the kite does this roll over kind of thing with the face down nose towards you look, and all you have to do is take up all the slack and fly away to the edge and land your kite. Wow, I’m hero to my 4 year old, and I’m feel’in cool, cuz I practiced, and practiced, and then I practiced some more. Get the picture?

OK, More additional tips wanted!!

Not a problem Iddo, again, You are quite welcome.

I really don't recommend swallowing the notes. You need to chew them first! 

streamhawk wrote on May 29^th, 2008 at 8:36am:

Hi Bill, so if you're ever out in the Seattle area, drop me a PM. I'd be happy to fly with you. I do apologize for the lessons being kind of long, but I just have so much stuff in my head that I want people to understand. All people, not just the college physics majors, but the regular 9 to 5 kind of guys and gals. I even help kids, ask Tom. I try to help his son Eli, and now that guy is on the brink of teaching me a few things.

Anyways, You're welcome, and I hope it helps you with your own individual flying.

Another good lesson, Reggie. Thanks for the time and effort.

I THINK someone mentioned making a training video, but I am not sure. It's the style of commentary you make I find valuable. Things that don't transfer well through just watching a video you manage to emphasize and bing home so the fledgling can mentally complete the picture and understand WHAT a kite is doing.

"OK, one more time, flare to pancake, hold for split second, pull to the fade…..AGGHH! Lawn Dart! Now I see that you took up the slack before the lines even touched the leading edge. Understandable, but wrong. Try it again, but, this time take up the slack exactly when the lines touch the leading edge. (Oh, a timing thing!)"

Brilliant! and emphasizes exactly what one needs to look to time this manuever. This kind of commentary on a video would be priceless.

Are you a teacher in real life?

Thanks again. Nice job.

Quote:


Ed, OMG!!!! When I read this I just had to put the laptop down cuz I was laughing so hard, I was afraid the tears from my eyes would flood the keyboard. I couldn't sit up straight and my wife just kept telling me to be quiet. Man, my side hurts now, and I used my T-Shirt sleeve to wipe the tears away. I now have to change shirts since this one is all wet from my tears.

Ed, why are you reading my lessons anyways? You're way past this and you should be writing lessons too. Glad you liked it, and "Thank You" for the laugh!!

( Man you're kill'in me! )

Reggie,

Thanks for taking the time to write lesson 2, I'm sure everyone on here appreciates your effort (due to time pressure and crappy wind, I'm falling behind the course though - do I have to go in some kind of "special" class to catch up ) You probably don't remember, but holding the fade was the subject of my first ever post a few weeks ago - thanks!

One thing I find really useful in the way you write, is the explanation of what happened and why, when it doesn't work. Knowing that the lawn dart out of fade occurs because of too little slack, or taking the slack up too early really helps. I figured it out by trial and error, and short lines really helped with this. For holding the fade, I found the hardest thing was to re-program my head that giving slack makes the nose rise (eventually) and taking up slack pulls the nose down. It's really easy to see the nose drop and default to "pull to increase altitude" mode... Always resulting in a lawn dart.

I guess one other thing I found (apologies if this is obvious) is that stuff like this can be practised higher in the window - giving you more time to sort the kite out after you come out of the fade before you hit the ground. As confidence and proficiency increase so can the altitude be decreased… Maybe this is the second law of freestyle kiting “trick altitude is inversely proportional to skill”. I’ll leave you to come up with the first law (maybe “the size of the quiver is proportional to the ambition of the pilot” or “reduction in bank balance is proportional to the altitude of the kite below zero”).

Keep writing the lessons, and I’ll keep trying to fly them – deal?

Ben

Great comments, but has anyone gone out and done this? And If so, what were your results? As the writer of these lessons, I need the feed back to make future lessons better.

Thanks in advance!

UBNVUS wrote on May 30^th, 2008 at 9:18am:


Nothing! Mate you're in the groove....

Go Reggie, Go Reggie...

Well maybe one little thing

Quote:


I like the word pressure here. As the nose oscillates up apply pressure, oscillates down, reduce pressure...

With the 'fade', the word pressure is more appropriate than the  connotation of the word slack, having 'slack' (excess droop in your lines) isn't ideal, but proactive controlling of your pressure/tension on the lines is closer to the zen of this move...

But I had to get pretty bloody picky to find that...

The 'what just happened then' aspect of this is the thing I haven't seen explored enough elsewhere. Providing the what 'wrong' looks like is very helpful, many other lessons are based on  just doing it the right way... describing the other outcomes that can occure will short track the learning for many I think.

Good work Reggie!

WD

Don't Stop Till We Get Enough!

WinterDaze wrote on May 30^th, 2008 at 8:46pm:


I knew you would find something! I do admit I looked at that very sentence a few times, but in my haste to post the lesson I did a lousy job of editing.

Thanks WD for your insights. This is the stuff I'm talk'in bout! More comments like these will make the lessons better and easier for our readers to learn and be successful. Great job WD!!

So Bill, What did you take from the lesson to the flying field that made you successful? I'm curious.

Hey  Bill, Sorry to make you strain the brain, but inquiring minds want to know!

Thanks again for sharing. Just think, your comments might help someone achieve this faster. I know it took me a long time to get the timing for this move.

Gotta say, am enjoying the educational combo Reggie and WD 

Quote:


Can I add that WD has been a good inspiration for these lessons. I still need a good kick in the pants once in a while, and someone had to do it.

Thanks WD!!

Great Video Ben, I like it!! I guess I need to go out and practice this too. Now can you make an animation of the nose osscilating and when the tension should increase or decrease? Nose up for the rising fade, rocking the nose up then down for a flic-flac, Wow, It's only the beginning....

Ben, way cool! I'm gonna have to have you show me how you do this!!! This is going to make the lessons even better.

Thanks!!

Jim, Sounds like you're well on your way. the !/2 lazy with the nose pointed towards you then pull both lines to a pancake then back to the fade is the start of a Flic-Flac. Just repeat it a couple of times and you'll be Flic-Flac-ing all over the place.

Great job of noticing the pancake position during the axel, I find that if I do a soft axel, it slows down so the pancake position is almost perfect for the pull to fade.

Now I know you'll love lesson #3!! 

Hey Beau, Glad all your hard work has paid off. When ever you get a chance you should PM me when you can make it to the Hill. I'll be happy to work with you on lesson 3 and 4 since we didn't have a lot of time at the Kite Fly. Glad you could make it!!

Yes, the Pactice, practice, practice part is very important, but I should have added "Patience" at the end..

See ya around!!

At this point I am just starting to FADE from a flare but am able to FADE almost always from a ground launch (nose away, belly down and right line over left - this cross-over HELPS - a tip from Shawn). One thing I noticed and this makes sense from this pictorial from Reggie is once you get into a fade what is the worst thing that can happen. Obviously - only ONE thing - a QUICK nose plant particularly in moderate to high winds. One technique I am using and it seems to be working which I picked up from a recent TRICK PARTY in Connecticut - is once you get the FADE - try some baby steps FORWARD until it stablizes. Remember as the kite pitches down slack will make it RISE. I have started to do this and find almost all my FADES rising to a comfortable height after being airborne. I then hold and then lateral roll after 60 second holds. Just a thought. I got a good tip from a Masters flyer at Liberty SP recently in terms of hand & arm sweep movements to get the FADE from the flare - so that is this weekend at Asbury Park, NJ. Flic-Flacs are next on my trick list. Its strange - I have recently done multi-lazies and Lewis's but still can't flic flac - I have been ignoring the FADE much too long. Time to break through Dean ...