Fractured Axel

Thought I'd start a topic about this for new flyers as it's something that can be overlooked.
In fact this is probably the first trick you'll need to learn as this one can end up costing you each time it goes wrong, so there's a bit of incentive to get it cracked (excuse the pun)

The stronger the wind
the less time you have to react
the more likely you are to crash the kite

So to reduce the possibility of damage to your kite whilst learning, fly in gentle winds and use long (30m) lines when the wind picks up, but avoid flying in strong winds all together until you are confident.

When the kite becomes out of control, the natural reaction is to pull on the lines. Sometimes this will work, sometimes not. However, a better overall strategy is learn to give the kite slack every time it powers up from wind in its sail. Unless you are deliberately flying the kite with power in its sail, for example doing figures and other similar moves, you'll want the kite to be more floaty than powered up whilst tricking.

So to begin with practise letting the kite be as floaty as possible. See how it reacts to the wind, throw your arms forward, step forward each time you feel the kite wanting to power up. Soon enough you'll get to know a range of predictable outcomes from your actions which don't end up in the kite laying in bits on the ground.

From there you can practise walking forward as the kite flies across the wind window. Think about it - if you're flying in an 9mph breeze, and walking forward at 4mph, in effect your kite is in a 5mph breeze so it'll pull a lot less and thus be a lot more manageable.

This is where you learn how to stall the kite, and tricks like snap stall come from. But it's also teaching muscle memory to de-power the kite in preparation for the set up to a wide range of tricks.

Most of these tricks require arms throwing forward, stepping forward, which in effect dumps wind from the sail de-powering it right at the moment before the first pop or input.

It's all about predictability in a chaotic environment. Sometimes it's better to allow the kite with slack to take a natural floaty decent, until you recognise a position with a predictable outcome that you would like to take for the recovering. Even if it means the lines get all wrapped around the kite, several times, and you have to take a walk to untangle everything.

Happy flying.

very useful, thanks - and more please.

Some useful tips.. i'll be sure to give some practice to it.

Good post.

In general, when I teach someone on my kites, I first tell them "when in doubt, walk or RUN forward...don't pull." Then I stand behind them and push them forward when appropriate. A wing wrap spiraling out of control? Jog forward till the kite is down. I encourage them to just learn to keep it at the top of the window, occasionally doing small loop(s) left and right. You'd be surprised how much control you can learn just doing this simple exercise.

A good exercise to start with is a simple flight down while walking or jogging forward to make the kite descend as slowly as possible (given whatever wind you have at the moment). This can be taken all the way to a pancake landing if you want, or when you feel more confident. Of course, then this transitions nicely into a fade take off, another essential skill in the long run.

I think Sub's point is a GREAT one for a beginner. Explore what happens when, by your own movement toward (or away) from the kite, you can add or subtract drive from the kite. If you move both your body and your arms fast enough, you can achieve moments of ZERO drive...where brief pressure (and release) on individual lines can cause rotations that otherwise would not occur.

obi

I don't post on here very much but I have picked up some very useful advice. I don't have the chance to fly with other more experienced pilots so I rely on youtube and trial and error to learn tricks.

I must say that this post (and the initial replies) was a bit of an awakening for me. I realised that "slack line" was all about understanding what the kite did with a slack line(s) by removing the drive from the sail. I started to fly in lighter winds and let the kite "float" more to see how it behaved in different situations.

As an example, I had struggled with half axels for a long time but eventualy cracked them by slowing the trick right down by moving forward as I set up the initial flare and then watching how the kite responded to further inputs.

When the basic kite behaviour is understood the moves can be speeded up and the timing of the inputs worked on.

Thanks
Stu

Snipper wrote:

I don't post on here very much but I have picked up some very useful advice. I don't have the chance to fly with other more experienced pilots so I rely on youtube and trial and error to learn tricks.

I must say that this post (and the initial replies) was a bit of an awakening for me. I realised that "slack line" was all about understanding what the kite did with a slack line(s) by removing the drive from the sail. I started to fly in lighter winds and let the kite "float" more to see how it behaved in different situations.

As an example, I had struggled with half axels for a long time but eventualy cracked them by slowing the trick right down by moving forward as I set up the initial flare and then watching how the kite responded to further inputs.

When the basic kite behaviour is understood the moves can be speeded up and the timing of the inputs worked on.

Thanks
Stu

....Good points.

I'm sticking my head above the parapet to give a suggestion that worked for me, but that I only discovered fairly accidentally last winter during evenings when it was too dark and wet to fly for real. Prior to that I had been trying to trick for 4 years, often without an understanding of why the kite was behaving as it was... Copying video tutorials and other flyers normally didn't work for me.

The following works with standard kites. However to allow more time to see what is happening, SULs usually seem easier to use.
If you have a large empty room (I did as I was care taking a house while it was being refurbished) or alternatively a grass area in a back garden sheltered from the wind, try holding a kite (without flying lines) in various positions and seeing what happens when you let go.
For example, if you hold the kite in normal flying position (nose up, kite belly towards you) and let go, the kite will drop down, but also the tail will go backward and the nose will drop down, so that the kite belly points downwards (front flip position).
Similarly, if the kite is initially held in the fade position, (nose forwards, belly up) on letting it go the kite falls backwards and the nose drops down. If the kite is now placed in this nose downwards position and the kite is let go, then the kite glides forwards and the nose rises up relative to the rest of the kite.

Once you have tried this with various positions, try the positions again but this time give the kite an initial tug as if it had been pulled by its lines. e.g. From the front flip position, providing the nose isn't so far down that the spine is near horizontal, you shouild find that the kite naturally flys in an arc and onto its back.
From the fade position, pulling the kite towards you and then releasing would cause the kite's nose to come up.

By trying enough of these positions, I found how many tricks work - When to apply tension, and when to have slack lines can be figured out, step by step through the trick. One can also sometimes figure out why tricks go wrong and what to do about it.

Some of my favourites to try are the turtle position for the lazy susan, and the fade position for the backspin. - Discussing what happens in all these and how it relates to the way the tricks work/go wrong would be long threads in themselves.

I think that the reason this exercise worked for me better where carefully studying videos and watching experts live failed is that with both videos and live experts it is very difficult to know just what wind the kite is experiencing , from moment to moment, and when the flyer is pulling on the lines and when he is taking up slack. - And in wind, just because a kite moves backwards, doesn't mean that it is traveling in that direction relative to the air around it - if the wind is faster than the kite, it might be moving forwards. In contrast, when letting a kite fall or glide through still air, one knows that if the kite is moving backwards, it is moving backwards relative to the air.


But please try the exercise and let us know if you find it useful and how you get on.

I think the point about flying on longer lines is particularly well made. I've see beginners flying in a bit too much wind, short lines, they try a trick too low down in the wind window and in the centre - result = nose plant and/or broken kite .

I think that new kiter's often don't fully appreciate that they are supposed to regulate the wind speed by moving backward and for wards (quite a lot).