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Sub
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Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:56 pm

Here's my input, having spent the best part of the end of summer learning all this, hopefully my technique will be of some use to you :cool:

Pancake to fade is easy to learn if starting off the ground. When landed middle of window, orientate the kite into a pancake, square it up nice and take off again by pulling or yanking the lines and allowing the kite to go into a fade. Hold the fade, practice balance, and depending on the windspeed allow it to rise too. Practice coming out of the fade by pulling gently on one line. The important technique to learn here is how much to pull or yank the lines, what this effect has in varying winds. Practice, practice, loads. Once you've mastered this technique then doing a pancake in flight is easy and a pancake to fade can easily become flic-flacs.

Axel to fade is nice and rewarding. If your axels are good, then this is the next move to work on. Half way through an axel the kite is nose away (in a pancake). But instead of waiting for that to happen before deciding to try and flip it into a fade, I find it's better to combine the inputs for a more fluid and predictable result. So aproach the move as an axel to fade from the outset. Start the axel as you would normally (example right hand), then just after the kite has started doing its move, yank the opposite line (left hand), and with practice the kite will flip round into a fade. The trick is to catch the weight of the kite with that second pull, and direct the energy of its momentum you started. There is a narrow window of opportunity to do this, wider if the wind is low, so I'd advise trying this when you're all nice and floaty, gentle inputs, relaxed and calm. When you know the zone then in higher winds it's a quick flip~flap and its in a fade no sweat.
 
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feathers
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Wed Jan 23, 2008 12:32 am

lol thanks for all the replys guys,

Mark, axels and axel based tricks are all i've been able to do the last 3 months, so rather well practised at those! lol, (i've far too much time on my hands) joy's of studentship! as i've been flying the stranger & physco.

i think that i'm going out tomorrow to have a play with different fades, i know i can get the DS into fade from the pancake on the ground just need to practise how to hold it there....and then learn the axel to fade.....

Any advice on tricks to follow? or combinations to try? So happy to have the DS now.....much easier knowing it can do all the tricks :D....lol....
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Popeye
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Wed Jan 23, 2008 6:42 am

Don't forget the old school stuff too like punch turns, snap stalls and slides.... Allright call me old fashioned :lol:
 
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jaydub
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Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:49 am

Keep up the fade advice, guys.

I'm flying a Talon rather than a DS, but I'm also having problems getting into a stable fade.

Pancake to fades off the ground resulting in the nose rising and then dropping again. It's a bit hit or miss whether they rise again or not.

I'm having more problems with aerial fades. Pancake to fades either don't get as far as the fade or bounce back off the lines. Axel to fades tend to roll out of the fade almost immediately, whether I pull on both lines when the nose is away or go for the Benson style pop almost immediately on the opposite hand to the axel hand method.

I've had more success with other kites but don't doubt that most of the problem is my technique. I'm just not sure whether I'm pulling too hard to bring it into the fade or not catching the kite softly enough on the lines.

Adam, sorry to hijack your thread but I don't doubt you'll have, or be having, similar problems. Don't forget, that fades are easiest in steady 6-8 mph winds. Today may not be the best learning experience.
 
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ObijuanKenobe
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Wed Jan 23, 2008 8:00 am

Yeah, I agree here...esp. with Mark and the axel and half axel. The half axel is not only a slick move that MANY fliers can't do that well, but it leads to all sorts of great tricks.

I also find that there is alot of pleasure in being able to CRACK the sail on corners. Just these few skills can make you look and feel very good quite quickly. I have been told that I can make any kite look ultra precise...and that's only because I LOVE to practice french corners. (Thanks Lars!)

And the half axel leads to soooo many other advanced tricks as well...IMHO.

Good luck.

obi
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Pierre
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Wed Jan 23, 2008 4:22 pm

I have been told that I can make any kite look ultra precise...


Who the f.... told you that ?? :badgrin:

I gues it was me huh...Jay

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bryan beasley
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Wed Jan 23, 2008 4:38 pm

Neither the DS, nor the Talon need big inputs to pancake / fade, or indeed Fractured Axel / fade. 'Sall about controlling the slack - not just just throwing slack at it, or taking it up again.

Bryan
 
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dubster
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Wed Jan 23, 2008 6:11 pm

Very useful advice guys, might just print this thread out & keep it in my kite bag !!
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kevspilly
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Wed Jan 23, 2008 6:24 pm

Pancake to fades either don't get as far as the fade or bounce back off the lines.

You may need to almost feather your lines in an action were you almost using your arms in a catching movement after pulling for the fade.

Get your arms further behind you if you are not getting a pancake.
Walking forwards while performing this trick also helps, gives you lttle extra slack.
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jaydub
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Wed Jan 23, 2008 8:35 pm

The pancake bits OK as far as I can tell. I let the kite go flat and pull back.

It's the strength of the pull back and the managing of the slack afterwards that seems to be the issue. If I try and stop the kite in the fade when its flat, it bounces off the lines; if I give it more slack then it goes way beyond the horizontal; if I don't pull as hard it doesn't get as far as the fade.

I know it's a balance between the quickness and the length of the pull and 'feathering' the slack afterwards. It's just trying to find the right balance.

Thinking about what Bryan said, it's possible I'm flaring with too much slack. If I do too soft a pull, the kite tends to pancake again rather than nose dive towards the ground. I may then be having to hit the kite harder than I should to get it back into the fade and as a result have problems catching it.

Something else to try anyway.
 
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Aeri
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Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:30 am

I have been told that I can make any kite look ultra precise...


now there is someone thats never flown a level 7 :-D
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randyg
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Thu Jan 24, 2008 2:11 am

Zippy8 wrote:
I'd advise picking just a couple to "work" on at one time. And remember - there's no need to flail at the kite. Keep the arm movements to enough, not as much as I can manage.


+1
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ObijuanKenobe
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Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:37 am

ObijuanKenobe wrote:
I have been told that I can make any kite look ultra precise...


Hmmm...I sound pretty full of myself here. :shock: Sorry for that. Carry on.

obi
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Tony S
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Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:35 am

if you can't get the kite to stabilize in the fade position try changing the way you do the "pull" part of the move. You can do the "push" as hard as you like to make the kite pancake out, but the pull to go from pancake to fade can be done as a much more gentle "sweep" motion.

Easiest way to get a feel for this is to put the kite on the floor in the pancake position, and practise this sweep into the fade, and catching the kite on the lines.

Tony
 
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misterbleepy
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Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:56 am

As Tony just said - if you 'sweep' gently from the pancake to the fade, the kite is easier to 'catch' without it bouncing out of the fade straight away.

I found it surprising how much easier this made catching a fade.
Keith B
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