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Slide, leading edge down: a 360 with the LE toward the ground

This lesson is part of the Cramayailes indoor 4-line school, restored by QuadKites.org. The text is Thierry Bressure’s, in the first person, translated from French. The video commentary is in French.

The figure

Section titled "The figure"

Putting the revo LE down and flying a 360 while holding that position.

Watch the figure: slide, leading edge down

The lesson

Section titled "The lesson"

Prerequisite: the slanted 360.

This is about putting the revo’s LE downward and sliding in a 360 in that position.

Slide leading edge down lesson by Cramayailes

Key takeaways from this video — Slide leading edge down lesson

  • The slide is started from a slanted 360: accentuate the tilt to bring the leading edge as horizontal as possible.
  • The two wings have different roles: one is under pressure and controls attitude, the other is gliding and provides lift.
  • Do not start too low, as the kite tends to drop. Moving back faster or widening the circle brings more relative wind, and the small side must stay under pressure.

Transcript — Slide leading edge down lesson

  1. Flying the kite leading edge down

    0:00

    The goal of this lesson is to fly the kite leading edge down, in a slide, in a 360.

  2. Tilting the leading edge as horizontal as possible

    0:30

    We tilt the leading edge downward, keeping it as horizontal as possible. The start of the maneuver looks like a slanted 360. We really accentuate the tilt so that the leading edge is almost horizontal.

  3. Two wings, two attitudes

    1:14

    The two wings have a different attitude. The wing that is on the leading edge is under strong pressure, so that the small side does not fold. The wing on the trailing edge is in a falling-leaf position, to generate a lot of lift.

  4. Tilting into a glide by pushing the lower wing away

    1:32

    The technique consists of tilting the kite into a glide. To do this, you push the wing on the trailing edge far away. The plane of the kite then forms an angle that lets it turn in a 360.

    The wing on the leading edge must be put under pressure: it controls the kite’s attitude, that is, lowering the leading edge more or less so that it is nicely horizontal.

  5. Do not start too low

    2:25

    Do not start the figure too low, because the kite will tend to drop, so it is better to leave yourself room to correct.

    You can also move back faster to get more relative wind, or else widen the circle you move in, which will have the same effect.

  6. Keeping the small side under pressure

    2:55

    During the slide, pay close attention to the small sides. Keep your eye on that little triangle: it absolutely must stay under pressure.

Video page: transcript, series and other uses

Movement

Section titled "Movement"

The pilot moves back in a circle as for the 360.

Control

Section titled "Control"

From a classic 360, you must tilt the LE downward. The slanted 360 position is the limit of the balance between the kite’s weight and the lift generated by the pilot’s (slow) backward movement.

If you tilt the LE completely downward, the backward movement is not enough to put the kite under pressure. You would really have to run, especially as the edge of the small side is very soft.

The solution is to put the revo in a glide. To do this, push the lower wing far away by extending your hand. This wing will be “dead”, providing only passive glide lift. The other, closer wing will be under pressure. It will provide control of the revo’s attitude, that is, it will let us keep the LE downward.

Experience shows that the wing under pressure cannot be lowered to get a fully horizontal LE. Indeed, we are gliding: if the LE is fully horizontal, there is no more wind to carry the dead wing, which removes at least half of the lift. The LE will therefore always be slightly raised on the side of the wing under pressure. To lower it further, you need more backward movement.

What comes next

Section titled "What comes next"

This is the last lesson the club wrote for the indoor 4-line school.

Last updated: — restored Thierry Bressure's lesson on the slide with the leading edge down, with the figure reference