One-handed flying by Aerialis Kites

Transcript

1. ›

   Introduction

   1:02

   Hi kite people, Sven from Aerialis Kites, and thank you very much for stopping by today. So does that mean you're ready for yet another tutorial on quad kite flying? Super, because in that case you've come to the right place. In this video I'll take you through the basics of one-handed quad kite flying.

2. ›

   Why fly one-handed?

   1:59

   Why would you want to fly a quad kite with one hand only, you might think? Well, in my opinion there are reasons why you should try it out, and the first one is because it's fun. What more do you need? You know, keep on flying your quad with one hand while grabbing a cup of coffee with the other. No, no, seriously, it is fun, and there is so much you can do using just one hand to control your kite, other than just showing off on the field. Like, if for some reason you have to walk yourself and your kite across the field, and there are some obstacles scattered all around, obstacles that it's very easy to stumble over if you don't pay attention to them. So if you know how to fly your kite using one hand only, and the other one to keep your balance while walking across the field, you're much less prone to fall over. And trust me, I've been there. So in this tutorial we are going to take a closer look at the basics of one-handed flying. Let's get started.

3. ›

   Prerequisites

   3:06

   First, let's go through some important prerequisites for this tutorial. The wind: when you go practicing this stuff, make sure to find a day with nice and stable medium winds. That makes things so much easier, and you can focus on what to do rather than trying to keep your kite in the air or worrying about being blown off the field. Strain: one-handed flying is strenuous for your hand and arm, so make sure to take frequent pauses and not fly one-handed over long periods of time. This way you will avoid strain injuries. Line length: in this tutorial I'm using a 10 meter line set, in order to bring the kite closer to me while filming. You, however, should practice on a longer set of lines, because longer lines mean a larger wind window, and that will give you more slack recovering from any mistakes you might make.

4. ›

   The grip

   4:32

   Handles: perhaps the most important element when flying one-handed is how the heck to grip your handles. You know, there are four lines, each of them needing to be controlled separately. Flying using both your hands is no problem. However, when flying one-handed, it definitely becomes an issue. But hey, I have a solution for you. There might be several ways around this, and as always, there is no one truth, but I'll let you in on the way I like to do it, so give it a try, and if it works for you, great; if not, experiment to get it right. Here's how. I'm left-handed, but if you are right-handed, like most people are, you just mirror my instructions. All right, let's go. I like to hold the handles kind of like you would hold your chopsticks. You know, this grip lets you move the chopsticks separately, and the same goes for the handles. Being left-handed, I go like this: I put the left handle in my left hand, and then I put the right handle also in my left hand, and place it so that I can use my fingers to move each handle separately. I know this is kind of hard to explain with words only, so let's jump over and take a look at the video. Put the left handle in the left hand, then put the right handle in the left hand too, but watch my fingers now and see how I can move the handles, at least kind of separately.

5. ›

   The three basic moves

   5:54

   All right. When the handles are placed correctly in your strong hand, my left one, let's continue with the three basic moves. The three basic moves I'm going to cover in this tutorial go as follows. The first one: launch and upwards, meaning flying the kite forwards. Then stop and hover. And finally, down and land, meaning flying the kite backwards. Yeah, I know, pretty basic stuff, but this is how you start to build the foundation for what is to come in future tutorials. Anyway, this is what it looks like.

6. ›

   Hand positions and set-up

   7:12

   Before we start, I just want to emphasize the hand positions. Thumb back will power up the kite and fly it forwards. Thumb forward will brake and eventually fly the kite backwards. Thumb somewhere in the middle, in a neutral position, will hover your kite in the air. This should be familiar to you when flying using both your hands, and it will of course apply when flying with one hand too. Now start by flying your kite into position using both your hands and land the kite on its down spar tips, and lean it a little backwards so that it sits solidly on the ground. Now the kite is ready. The next step is to put both handles in your strong hand, as I went into earlier. If left-handed, it goes like this; if right-handed, mirror my instructions. Okay: left handle goes in your left hand, and then the right handle in your left hand too, and make sure to place it so that you can use your fingers to move each handle separately.

7. ›

   Launch and climb

   8:13

   Now align the handles and put yourself in the launch position by stretching your left, or your strong, arm out in front of you and putting one foot in front of the other. Launch the kite by pulling your left, or strong, arm back while simultaneously pulling your thumb backwards. In lighter winds you might have to take a step or two backwards to add pressure to the sail. Try to keep your hand as still as possible while you fly the kite to the top of the wind window, and to keep the leading edge as horizontal as possible while climbing, make just subtle finger input. Too much, and you will probably overdo things.

8. ›

   Hover at the top

   8:55

   When the kite reaches the top of the wind window, hover it by very gently moving your thumb forward until you hit that neutral position. The higher in the wind window your kite sits, the less you will have to push your thumb forward. Now hold the hover for a few seconds, while using, once again, very subtle finger input, trying to keep the leading edge horizontal.

9. ›

   Down and land

   9:37

   Finally, it's time to bring the kite back down and land it on the tips of the down spars again. So now gently push your thumb forward until the kite starts to fly back down towards the ground, and make sure to maintain pressure in the sail all the way down. Once again, make subtle finger input only, to keep the leading edge horizontal. Guide the kite all the way down to the ground and try to land on both tips simultaneously. Yeah, actually that's all there is to it.

10. ›

    Practise

    9:57

    Now go out there and practice these three moves until you can do them blindfolded, well, you get the picture. When you really start to get the hang of it, you can try to do a stop and hover the kite halfway up and halfway down the wind window, and now pay attention to the differences between the thumb neutral positions when hovering in the middle of the wind window and at the top of it. This difference should be significant. And adding to this, make more stops when ascending and descending your kite. I'm pretty certain you will have it all down really soon. So what are you waiting for? Grab your to-go kite bag, hit the field and start practicing, so that you'll be ready for some more tutorials on one-handed flying soon. Until then, take care, stay safe, peace, and just fly.