Glide and gain by Aerialis Kites

Transcript

1. ›

   A change of plans

   0:28

   Well, actually I was planning to shoot the rest of the footage for another tutorial, but due to the very low winds at the moment, there's been a slight change of plans.

2. ›

   The problem and the glide

   0:50

   So in this tutorial I'll take a closer look at the glide. You know, when flying in light winds you have to back up almost all the time, and suddenly you're out of space, you hit the wall. Then you need to gain that ground again, and here is where the glide comes into play. You fly the kite as high as it gets, you turn it with the leading edge facing down, and then you start walking forward while the kite is gliding.

3. ›

   How fast to walk

   1:33

   Make sure not to walk too fast, because then the kite will flare out and you'll lose control. You shouldn't walk too slowly either, because then your kite starts to fly again and will fly down to the ground, and you're not gaining that ground. So tend the kite while it's gliding and you'll gain some ground, and if you do this a couple of times, you're back to where you started. Check it out.

4. ›

   The test

   2:15

   Okay, here's my marker. I will start flying from here. I will be standing right here, and while flying you will see I have to move backwards to keep enough pressure in the sail so the kite keeps on flying. However, imagine there's a wall behind me, and when I hit it I can't move any further back. Then I have to start my glides to gain ground again, coming up to this point. All right, let's check it out. Let's start flying and see what happens. Please also note the marker on the ground. While doing these rotations I have to walk backwards to keep the pressure in the sail, and now I'm 45 meters upwind of the marker, out of frame actually.

5. ›

   The glide

   3:38

   As you can see, I'm still quite a bit upwind of the marker, and now the glide comes into play. I fly the kite as high as I can get it, then I turn it 180 degrees so the leading edge is facing down, and start walking downwind. Now here's a better shot: you can even see the pilot moving downwind, the kite is gliding and I'm gaining ground. I'm back at the marker again. Once more, light wind. Yeah, that's it. Now I've gained a useful piece of ground and I can do some flying again.

6. ›

   Make it part of your flying

   4:18

   When you start to get the hang of this, you can incorporate glides. When you fly this way, the glides, or gaining ground, are seamlessly integrated in your flying. So don't stop flying if the wind drops, because that's when the fun starts. Happy gliding.