Cramayailes indoor 4-line school

This school teaches you to fly an indoor quad-line kite, on the Revolution Indoor, in order: warm-up, first 360, turns, backward flight, then competition figures. Each lesson explains how the pilot moves and how to control the brakes, and ends with a video. The movements apply to indoor quad-line kites in general, but sail size, weight and lines vary from one model to another.

Thierry Bressure wrote it for the Cramayailes club. QuadKites.org restores and translates it with the club’s agreement, because the original site is fragile (addresses that change, text in French only).

We cover the Revolution Indoor quad-line kite here. Other types of quad-line kites exist, with different flight characteristics. The club’s members fly the Revolution Indoor, so we only talk about this type of kite.

The Revolution Indoor is a large kite, at least as large as an outdoor revo. Its longer, lighter spars give it a larger sail area, so only a little backward effort is needed to keep it flying.

Outdoor revo pilots who fly “purist”, using handle movements only, will have no difficulty indoors. Dual-line fans will struggle a lot.

The indoor revo is very sensitive to the slightest breath of air or friction. It must not be used outside, and it needs very slippery lines (LPG). Otherwise, avoid loops so the kite does not pick up twists: favor turns over the top in forward flight and turns from below in backward flight.

The club also published a method for making your own 5-meter lines, since none can be found in shops.

The course is based on Thierry Bressure’s experience flying the Revolution Indoor. Flying style depends on the pilot: here, slow, smooth flying is preferred.

The indoor revo can be flown gliding, but that is a beginner’s fault. You must pressurize the sail. Gliding leads to a practice that is not true to quad-line flying, since it relies on pulling the front lines, which is closer to dual-line flying. So pressurize the sail and fly with the brakes.

The relative wind is generated by the whole body: the legs for sustained action, the upper body for slight, short pressure adjustments, the arms for quick, short pressure changes. That is why the warm-up is compulsory, as in any sport.

Vocabulary. The outdoor revo vocabulary stays the same: the front lines are the top lines, the brakes are the bottom lines. The “small triangle” is the part of the wing outside the vertical spar. “LE” means leading edge; the club writes “BA” (bord d’attaque) and “CV” (cerf-volant) in French.

The flight window. With 5-meter lines, the window shrinks to 3 revo heights. Only the first level, at eye height, and the second level are really usable. The third level, at the top of the window, is harder.

The club first filmed the figures seen in competition, then wrote the lessons that teach how to fly them. Each lesson of this school therefore starts with the figure on video, followed by the explanations.

The 4-line figures reference lists the figures seen in competition today, as videos. A short description goes with each video, but for a detailed explanation, refer to the lesson.

The club distinguishes six skill levels. To match the ISKCB, an international figures reference oriented toward outdoor flying, it keeps only four: autonomous, intermediate, experienced and master.

The autonomous level is the first level of the path, because it marks the ability to fly in quad-line mode. It is equivalent to the ISKCB novice level. The club has only written lessons for the autonomous and intermediate levels.

This level works on straight-line flight (360), direction changes, simple backward flight, one simple figure, and the hand throw and hand catch.

1. Warm-up
2. 360
3. Turn
4. Loop
5. Hand catch
6. Hand throw
7. Backward flight

This level deepens backward flight to build fine brake control, and direction changes must also be mastered in backward flight. The pilot discovers window crossings with the Over the Top and the guillotine, and learns to use the top of the window (the second and third flight levels).

1. Backward flight, leading edge on the ground
2. Turn in backward flight
3. Alternating forward and backward flight
4. Over the Top
5. Guillotine
6. Polar circle
7. Slide, leading edge down

We now introduce complex figures that require a lot of precision or sequences. This is notably the chance to learn to use the window as an endless board and draw patterns (friezes) on it, and to perfect backward piloting. Crossing lines should no longer be a problem.

• Point turn in backward flight from above
• Centered turn in backward flight from above
• Loop in backward flight
• Backward flight at the top of the window
• Small-side slide on the ground
• Small-side slide on the ground in backward flight
• Pyramids
• Crenellations
• Ladders
• Ladders in backward flight

Here the pilot must prove perfect mastery of the revo in both directions, as well as the ability to combine figures with each other.

• Pyramid in backward flight
• Crenellations in backward flight
• OTT with a 90° rotation at the zenith
• Half OTT with a 180° rotation at the zenith
• OTT with a 180° rotation at the zenith
• OTT with a 360° rotation at the zenith
• Half OTT with a 360° rotation at the zenith
• Small-side slide in flight
• Small-side slide in backward flight

For these two levels, the club only offers the list of figures: it did not write lessons.

The club’s path opens with an aerodynamics explanation: a kite wing is flat, it does not generate lift from a difference in airflow speed the way an airplane wing does, and its tilt is what gives it lift. On a dual-line kite, the overall angle of incidence is set by the bridle; on a Revolution, it can be changed in flight. It is restored with its three diagrams on the page Why quad-line kites are not flown like dual-line kites.

The 14 lessons of the autonomous and intermediate levels, the aerodynamics page and the article on making lines are restored and translated into English. The experienced and master levels only have a list of figures in the source.