The basics of windless flying by Aerialis Kites

Transcript

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   Windless flying

   0:56

   Hi there, kite people from Aerialis Kites, and welcome to this tutorial: the basics of windless flying. You know, when I tell people that I fly kites indoors, well, they look at me with that strange expression on their face: what, you fly your kites indoors? Do you use fans? No, no, no, you've got to be kidding. But no, I'm not, because indoor flying, or windless flying, is much easier than it might sound. It's big fun, and it definitely improves your general flying skills. So in this tutorial we are going to take a look at some basic moves for flying in an absolutely windless environment.

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   What you need

   1:39

   But first, what do you really need to get started? Well, four things. You will need a kite. You will need some flying lines. You will need a pair of straps or handles. And windless conditions. Four things. In theory you can fly almost any kite indoors, but there are kites that are specifically designed for such conditions, and you'd better start with one of them. A good beginner's kite for indoor flying is a kite that's large enough to be kind of floaty, should be stable in the air, light of course, and the frame should be stiff enough for your input so that it reacts responsively, and also soft enough to cater for the somewhat irregular input of a novice indoor kite flyer. In this tutorial I'm flying an old kite of mine called the Sweetie. It was made in 2003 by the German kite manufacturer Wolfgang Sebera. It's a great beginner's kite and it will take you quite a bit down that road, so that you will become a much better indoor, or windless, kite flyer. However, that kite is probably going to be hard to get on the market today, but if you get in touch with a physical or an online kite shop, I'm sure they will lead you in the right direction for a kite like that. Then you will be needing a set of flying lines. My personal preference of length is 3 to 3.5 meters. Yours might differ, but anyway, if you're flying indoors, the ceiling will limit the length of your lines for sure. Personally, like I said, I like flying on 3 meters, maybe 3.5 meters, but why not experiment yourself and find out what suits you best? Some people also like very light lines for flying in no wind conditions, down to 20, 25 kilos. I personally prefer a little heavier lines, because I find those really light lines kind of linger, kind of float in the air for a split second, but the heavier lines will drop and give me a better response when I do my input to the kite. Personal preferences, there is no one truth, so check it out yourself and fly on what you find best. Then the handles. Well, actually you might not need them, but I prefer to use them. I use my finger straps. I don't put my fingers through the loops, but I hold them between my index finger and my thumb, and that works very well, at least for me. You experiment yourself. Then finally, you will need a total windless environment, because if there's any kind of draft in the air, any kind of breeze, whatever movement, it's more difficult to fly an indoor kite where there is a slight draft than when there is absolutely no wind. Trust me. So go find yourself a nice place with no wind whatsoever: outdoors if the wind dies completely down, or indoors in a gym, a sports arena, a convention center, or, like I do, in an indoor riding arena. But now, enough talking: let's go and fly some kites.

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   Two things to know

   5:45

   Okay. Before we go into the details in this tutorial, there are two things I want you to know about when dealing with windless kite flying. You know, most people associate kite flying with wind, and of course there are obvious reasons for that, but technically speaking, a kite doesn't need wind to fly. What a kite needs to fly is air pressure on the sail, and when you're flying in a completely windless environment, you'll have to provide that air pressure to the sail of your kite yourself. Number two: the wind window. You know, when you're outdoors flying in that nice breeze down on the beach, your wind window is kind of half-dome shaped, you know: left, right, over you, forward. There you can fly your kite, and the wind will build enough pressure into the sail of the kite so the kite will fly. However, when you move to an indoor location, or a place where there's absolutely no wind, your wind window will change. It will change from a half dome into a full dome, so that you can fly your kite 360 degrees around yourself, from one side of yourself, over yourself and down on the other side. And flying in this full dome is often referred to as 3D flying. With that out of the way, let's get into the details.

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   The launch

   7:10

   And first, you need to get your kite off the ground: the launch. Before you take off, you must put both the kite and yourself in what I call launch position. You know, the kite should be standing on the ground or the floor on its wing tips, with its nose pointing up, and make sure to lean that kite a little bit backwards as well, so it won't fall over onto its belly. Now the kite is in launch position, but you have to be in launch position yourself. For me it works very well to stretch my arms fully out in front of me, bending my upper body a little forward, and also placing one foot in front of the other, so that I can quickly take a couple of steps backwards. Now, when both the kite and myself are in launch position, we are ready to get that kite out into the air, and I'll have to do three things pretty much simultaneously. I will need to sweep my arms down and back, I will need to straighten my upper body, and I will need to take a couple of steps backwards. This will put pressure into the sail of your kite so that it will take off, and it goes like this. Okay, make sure that your movements are smooth: no jerking or yanking, but smooth moves. Yeah, right. And let's take a look at the launch from a couple of other angles.

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   Up and over

   9:52

   So when you know how to do the launch consistently, we are ready to take it one step further, and that's to include the up and over move. As its name implies, you fly your kite from one side, up and over yourself and down on the other side, and when you get it right, it looks something like this. If you paid attention to what I was doing in this little video, you may have noticed that I turned around on the ground, 180 degrees, while watching the kite as it was climbing up over me and started to glide down on the other side on its belly. That 180 degree turn of mine on the ground is crucial for nailing the up and over. And while I turn, I also watch the kite as it flies over me and down on the other side, and when the kite nears the ground, I give slack to both lines, so the kite will flare and land gently on its belly. Check it out again: position your kite and yourself in launch position, launch the kite, turn around 180 degrees while watching the kite, guide the kite gently by walking slowly forward, and then, just before the kite hits the ground, give slack to both lines and the kite will land on its belly, nice and slow, like this. Okay, now at full speed: launch, turn around, watch, guide and glide, and land. And make sure to emphasize that you turn around 180 degrees on the ground while watching the kite. Keep it in your eye, so that you can start to guide with your hands when it starts to glide down on its belly. Let's check it out a few more times from different angles.

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   The return

   12:21

   Okay, now you can launch the kite and you can fly it over yourself and down on the other side. You're ready for the next step, and that's to return and go back to where you launched from, and it looks like this. As you can see, this move builds on the launch and also the up and over, but rather than flaring your kite and landing it, you do a 180 degree flat spin, and as soon as the kite's nose is pointing towards you again, you do some kind of a mid-air launch, and the kite will start to climb up. You turn around 180 degrees on the ground again, so that you will be facing the same direction as where you launched, watch the kite as it glides over you, gently guide it down, and now you can land it again. Let's take a look at it one more time. And now one more time, now in slow motion with my guiding. Okay, the kite and yourself are in launch position: launch and turn around while watching the kite over yourself, glide and guide, the 180 flat spin, mid-air launch, turn around on the ground, watch the kite all the time as it flies over you and glides down on the other side, and guide it down as it glides down on its belly. Super, yeah. By the way, if you're not quite sure how to do that 180 flat spin: rather than giving slack to both lines, you give slack to one line only, and that will initiate the 180 degree flat spin. The kite will spin around the tighter of your lines, and as soon as the nose is pointing straight towards you, you do that mid-air launch so the kite will start climbing again. You turn around on the ground and watch the kite as it flies over you, and you guide it down on the other side. Yeah, let's check it out from a couple more angles.

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   The 360

   15:18

   Okay. You remember I was talking about this full dome shape, that you can fly your kite in a 360 degree circle around yourself on the ground? That's what the 360 is all about: flying your kite in a circle all around you. And when you get it right, this is what it looks like. I find the easiest way to enter that 360 is when you have flown your kite up and over yourself, and rather than doing that 180 flat spin, you do a 90 degree turn, and as soon as the spine of your kite is horizontal, you start flying it in a straight line. You walk backwards, kind of away from the kite, in a circular pattern on the ground. That's the key factor: walking away from the kite in a circular pattern on the ground. The faster you walk, the faster the kite will fly, and the slower you walk, the slower your kite will fly. And if you don't walk fast enough, the kite will lose all its pressure and drop to the ground. Take a look at this. A couple of tips: if you watch me in this video, you can see that I placed the hand that's connected to the upper flying line above the hand that's connected to the lower flying line. I also try to keep the upper hand as still as possible while doing whatever adjustments are needed with the lower hand. To get out of this 360, somewhere along the line you're flying, you do a 90 degree up-turn, and as soon as the spine of the kite is vertical, you do that mid-air launch again, turn around on the ground, watch the kite as it flies over you, guide it down on the other side, and you can land, or you can do whatever. Let's take a look at this move from different angles as well.

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   Wrapping up

   18:23

   By now you should know how to launch your kite, how to do the up and over, how to do the up and over and return, and also how to do a 360 and recover. So now you can actually keep that kite in the air in absolutely windless conditions for quite some time, and believe me, it's going to be a lot of fun. You will become a better kite flyer, take my word for it. So what's left for you to do now is find yourself a place where there's no wind. It can be outdoors, it can be indoors, your choice. Bring your light wind kite, practice and have fun. Until then, take care, stay safe, peace, and, yeah, I guess you all know it by now: just fly.