Basic hovers by KiteForge

Transcript

1. ›

   Introduction

   0:06

   In this tutorial we're going to talk about basic hovers. Frankly, one of the coolest things about flying a kite like this is its ability to absolutely control its point in space. You can have it in any orientation, in a hover at any point in the window. The way that happens is that we're able to control the angle of the sail. When the wind is coming, what we do with our handles is tip the kite in such a way that the wind wants to exit off any one particular side of the kite, or a mix of them.

2. ›

   The upright hover

   0:40

   For an upright hover, which you'll notice is when I launch: we set it to launch, and then it's going to want to drop as I touch my brakes, but I have to leave on enough gas to fight that. So we're using just enough thrust to fight gravity and maintain its point in space, without actually having it go anywhere. I'm going to launch into the air, and then very gently arrest its forward flight with a very subtle tension in my bottom lines. Once I'm there, I play an average between the top and the bottom in order to keep the kite hovering in space. So there's my gentle brake touch, and now there it is. I'm favoring my top lines, they're dominant, because that's the highest part of the kite. Of course, all the while I'm also steering and trying to keep it steady.

   Depending on the tuning you're using (I tend to favor a slightly more brake-heavy tuning), if you're working on your upright hovers and the kite does not do that effectively for you, you can of course bring the top leaders in. On the bridle end, which we'll talk about in another tutorial, you can also expand the bridle, the onboard tuning on the kite, and that will facilitate upright hovers. I have a nice solid wind right now, but it's right on the low threshold of what I'm looking for in an upright hover. Again, it's just enough if I work it. You can also fish the kite a little bit like that in order to get your lift. So that's our upright hover.

3. ›

   The sideways hover

   2:09

   The sideways hover is a little bit different. What you'll see here, most of all, is a pretty dramatic change in my stance. I always think of it as drawing an arrow. If I were holding a bow with my right hand and drawing the arrow back with my left, that's how I end up for a right-facing hover. So I go up, I turn, and then I set that left hand back. For a hover like this, the key is that if I move my handles in the direction my thumbs are pointing, the kite goes forward; if I lower my hands, or rather move them toward the bottom of the handle, whichever way they're facing, the kite wants to go backward. So I'm finding a kind of balance point there. Then my top wing is pulled back enough that the wind hits the sail, slides down the kite sideways and gives me sideways thrust to hold my position in the window.

   That's my sideways hover right there. With this hand, at first you may tend to hold it up high. There is no way to lift the kite into the air that way: it doesn't create any tension at all. Usually, down here, sitting nice and low, is the easiest way to do it. When you're in a sideways hover, I tend to think of isolating the different points of control. With my left hand, this hand right here, you can see that top wing: I'm adjusting my trim, keeping that top wing straight. I also have the same control over my bottom wing. There it is, all the while making sure I have the balance between the top and bottom lines so it doesn't go anywhere. Just to show you, if I pull that bottom hand, or let that bottom hand drop a little deeper (the top wing, I should say), it gives me more lift. I let it out and it drops. As I let that hand in and out, you can see what is occurring with the kite.

   The idea of a hover is that you're always working that average. Remember, the wind is an organic thing, a dynamic process. That's why my hands are fluctuating: the kite, in this particular wind especially, just needs slightly different subtle adjustments. I'm adjusting my trim, keeping the balance between my forward and my reverse, and I'm also playing with this average to make sure I have the right amount of lift. If I go to the other side, there it is. Now you get a slightly better view of one hand. What I'd call the anchor hand is set pretty low, nice and comfortable. I could sit here all day like this. Once more, there's the sliding up and down. Here's the thumb favor, and here's the bottom-of-the-hand favor. There it is. Then top wing trim and bottom wing trim right there. So that's the sideways hover, and you can see that switch: the highest wing is the one I'm drawing back, and the other one I'm letting out. And there's the other one. Again, the wind is a little on the light side, but once more, for a moment at least, there's our upright hover. Those are, I think, most of the introductory hovers to look at.

4. ›

   The inverted hover

   5:25

   The next one is the invert: upside down. For the most part, I think the easiest way to learn an upside-down hover is to start from the ground. One of the most difficult things to overcome at first is simply the fact that the kite is upside down. When you play with your right control, of course, that right wing is actually on the other side, because the kite has gone upside down. So what we're going to experiment with first is applying a little bit of thumb pressure and playing with lifting the wing, but not all the way, and then putting it back down. Play with lifting the other wing, and put it down, until you get some sense of being able to control that rocking process.

   Now, going back to the same idea: if I'm upside down, these are my tips, and I want to pull them forward just enough that the wind hits and goes over the leading edge and gives me upside-down lift. It looks something like this. You'll notice where my hands are: they are lower than my elbows, which favors my brake lines. In an upright hover they're at or higher than my elbows, which favors my gas lines. Brake line, gas line. Go, go, stop. So here we go: I'm just going to leverage into the bottom lines. You'll notice I'm not being over-aggressive, though. I'll show you what that looks like in a moment. Just some tension and maybe a slight step back. From here, you're playing that same wing-lift game. You're just trying to keep your balance.

   I'm here to tell you there are a lot of things you can learn super quickly from information alone. This particular bit, having a steady inverted hover, just takes practice. Spend your time living here for a while; sometimes go back down, lift it back up. Once more, you'll notice I'm not being super aggressive. If I'm really aggressive, that's what happens: the bottom tips get pulled over and it actually breaks the airfoil. What I'm looking to do is set just enough pressure on those bottom points that it creates the lift. Then, if I have to, I use a little bit of draw with my body, my whole physical being over here, and it just goes like that. You'll notice my hands are quite low, very close together, my thumbs are close together, and then I'm playing with that walking right there. If I want more rise, I put a little more pressure into the bottom lines. Again, you can see it's not a huge, gross movement. More pressure. Then I can ease off. More pressure. Ease off.

5. ›

   One kata per hover

   8:10

   If we go through them: doing the clockwork is a bit of a different exercise, and I'll cover that in another tutorial. But just to go through the pattern, sideways hover. This is a kata. If you think of martial arts, there's a particular pose or form. So take a picture in your head of what it looks like. Learn it so that when you're in this position, your body automatically takes that stance. Then here's my upside-down kata: I come square, my hands are low, pressure is down. Now the right-facing hover: I'm in the other kata. This is that form. Once you have the form, you can make adjustments from it, but this is where you live. And the upright kata, when the kite is facing up: you'll notice I go to a high-handed, close-together, top-line-dominant pose right there. My hands are now slightly higher than my elbows and I'm favoring my top lines. All of these things get much more overstimulated and much more sensitive as the wind goes up. But those are the basic formulas for making a kite hover.

6. ›

   Diagonal hovers

   9:15

   Taking it up a level: we've covered the four basic sides, and there's actually more. You can do the diagonal hovers as well, and these are very interesting. What I would do first is experiment with the slightly offset upright. The reason is that while you're upright, it's a very familiar position and control format for you, more familiar than being inverted. So once more, we're upright here. To get a diagonal, upper-facing hover, you'll notice it's similar to this one: the top wing is dominant, but now I also have to apply a little bit of leading-edge gas. Those thumbs have come back slightly more, because it's both an upright and a sideways hover. Both of those things are happening at the same time. There's the sideways, once more; the diagonal; there's the upright; there's the other diagonal upright; and there.

   If I go smoothly through all of those forms, it's 1, 2, 3 and 4: you can actually see me changing through each of the body positions. For the other set, the inverted diagonals, it looks a bit like this. It's still some of the sideways hover and some of the invert, and you can see that mix pretty clearly right there. I've got a little of that top hand, and a little of the brake lines at the same time. Then to straight invert, and then to the other diagonal invert. You'll find that sometimes shifting your feet a little, making that part of your form, makes a big difference. If I go through all the different faces: left face, lower left, full invert, lower right, full right, upper right, upright, upper left and left.

7. ›

   Hovers around the window

   11:19

   Again, the wind is just a little under the threshold to hold a really solid upright hover. But hopefully the principles I've demonstrated will hold true in your own experience. I encourage you to experiment with these hovers in various locations in the window too, because the wind is blowing this way. If you are here and the kite is here, it has a naturally flat, adjustable sail to the wind. But as you fly higher relative to the pilot, the natural angle of the kite has changed. You'll find that if you're higher in the wind window, you'll need to use more or less of different inputs. You may have your hands slightly higher or lower. Pick specific, different places in the window and practice these there: practice it somewhere, move it somewhere else, practice it there, move it to another location, and kind of pick them off. Once more, that goes back to the whole flight vocabulary passion that you'll hear me reiterate again and again. I hope you have a lot of fun with that, and I look forward to seeing you in the next tutorial.