QuadKites.org

Footwork and body position by Aerialis Kites

Move on the ground to follow the wind, maintain tension, and improve precision.

From the series Aerialis tutorials. Transcript by QuadKites.org. Original article on Aerialis Kites.

Footwork and body position by Aerialis Kites

Key takeaways from this video

  • Putting a foot forward turns your upper body and extends the hand on that side, which sets the sideways angle of attack without thinking about your hands.
  • That angle compensates for gravity, so the kite keeps its height in sideways hovers and along horizontal or diagonal lines.
  • Right foot forward to go right, neutral in the middle, left foot forward to go left.

Transcript

  1. Why footwork matters

    0:00

    Hi, welcome to another quick tutorial. Today the wind is coming from all over the place, turbulent, up and down, changing all the time. But we're going to take a closer look at body positioning, and especially footwork. Why is it important? Stay tuned.

  2. Out of the wind

    0:45

    I'm hiding from the wind inside my car, and I'll do the rest of the talking in here, so you won't be bothered by all that windy noise.

  3. The sideways angle of attack

    1:07

    Alright. In some of my previous tutorials I've been talking about footwork and body positioning, but only briefly, so this time I'm going to dig a little deeper into those topics. I've been talking about the sideways angle of attack. When you have your kite in that position, you will compensate for gravity. So if you're in a sideways hover, the kite will stay stationary and you won't lose height. The same goes for flying straight lines horizontally or diagonally: you won't lose height, because you're compensating for gravity. And footwork is one of the success factors. Let's take a closer look.

  4. A foot forward turns the body

    2:12

    Hey, that's me. Ready? Yeah, looks like it. Okay, neutral position. But watch me now. Did you see that? I put my right foot in front. That will automatically turn my upper body in the same direction. And watch my right hand: it's extended out in front of me. So just by putting my right foot in front of me, I'm in the perfect position for doing sideways hovers to the right, and also straight lines to the right.

  5. Body language

    2:52

    And now we're doing stuff to the left, so I'll shut up and you can listen to my body language. Right, neutral, left. And again, but now from another camera angle. Right, neutral, left. And yet again, from a completely different angle this time. Right, neutral, left. And finally, with both the pilot and the kite in view.

  6. Wrapping up

    3:58

    Well, that's about it. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and make sure you won't miss out on any other tutorials. Thanks for watching, and bye bye.

Keep going

In the series Aerialis Kites quad-line tutorials

  1. The down turn
  2. Improve your hovers
  3. Straight trajectories
  4. Footwork and body position — you are here
  5. Split-screen pilot and kite tutorial
  6. Upright side slide
  7. Inverted side slide

See the 29 videos of the series

Last updated: — new page: the video, its key takeaways, and its transcript