Reverse flight by KiteForge

Transcript

1. ›

   Introduction

   0:06

   In this tutorial, I'm going to touch on some of the little tips and tricks that can make reverse flight a lot smoother and a lot more understandable with a quad kite like this. Reverse flight is of course based on tension in the back lines. Reverse will in fact work in any given direction, even rising, even in a circle. The takeaway today is that we usually apply reverse by squeezing the bottom of the handles or pressing on the thumbs, both of which are valid. But there are a couple of things that can really help a lot.

2. ›

   Starting gently

   0:49

   First, understand that typically, at the moment you start to apply reverse, I've found there's about half a second of load-up time before the reverse actually kicks in. So it's not unusual, when you're trying reverse and just putting in the input, for something inside you to say the reverse isn't working, and so we end up applying more, trying to overcome that. The biggest thing is to gently start to apply the reverse, and then ramp up that pressure. It's starting, and then I build into it. There is that moment where the kite is just loading up, changing its form and starting to direct all that wind out of the sphere of the sail and up over that leading edge. Again, that just takes a moment.

3. ›

   The karate chop edge of the hand

   1:35

   But here's the real takeaway: the way we actually apply the input. In my classes I describe it as the karate chop edge of your hand: chop, chop. Wherever you're holding the handles, when you want to fly reverse in that given orientation, pressing the hands slightly toward the karate chop edge of the hand, without applying more thumb, squeezing or turning the handle, will start to induce reverse. I'll give you an example from a sideways hover in this direction: I'm pressing my hands toward the karate chop edge. If you look closely, you'll notice that I didn't specifically apply more pressure on my thumb or rotate my wrists at all. I'll show you going in the other direction. There it is, and it's very, very subtle. You have to watch it a few times to see my hands settle in toward the karate chop side of my hand right there. It gives me a much, much smoother entry. Once I have that started using this method, I might then start to apply a little bit of gentle steering.

   I'll show you the other directions too. If I'm here, it's very similar: toward the karate chop edge of my hand, and the kite automatically starts to move. It's the same here, although it feels more simply like a lowering of the hands and then following through with the kite.

4. ›

   The reverse square

   3:04

   As for directed reverse flight, if you want to fly shapes, let's start with the reverse flight square. We'll go over here and I'll apply the reverse, then I'll change my orientation. (We'll talk about bicycle rotations in another video.) Then again I apply pressure to the karate chop edge. I change my orientation, pressure toward the karate chop edge, change my orientation, pressure, change my orientation and pressure. All of that, in my experience, gives me personally a much, much smoother entry into the reverse.

5. ›

   Flying curves in reverse

   3:41

   Now, the trickier bit is when you want to fly curves, some sort of reverse shape. For me, I'm not trying to fly the whole shape. I'll fly a reverse circle here as an example, and I'm not actually trying to fly the circle as much as the parts. What you'll see is that I start reversing, and then, while I'm reversing, I slowly turn to face down while I'm backing up, and that naturally makes the curve. So I'm reversing, I slowly face down, and it automatically produces that sort of curve. It takes a little practice to get it precise, but it works.

   Again, even here I'm pressing in the reverse and then slowly facing left, karate chop edge, slowly facing up, and then again the chop direction, slowly facing right. If I push all that together fluidly, I'm changing the orientation of my kite four times, all the while applying that pressure toward the karate chop edge of my hands. There's the invert, there's the left face, there's the upright, and there's the right face. All of that comes together to give you a slightly broader sense of reverse. Some of the steering can even be done by easing on or off those chop edges and then using the thumb, the hand twist or the wrist rotation as finer work. It's a subjective science, but I wanted to share some of the tips that have really helped me, and we'll see you in the next one.