KiteJust4Fun quad-line progression path — Thierry Bressure

The learning path created by Thierry Bressure, author of KiteJust4Fun, is one of the few substantial quad-line resources written and filmed in French. It combines written explanations, pilot-view diagrams, and short field videos.

Its value does not come from having the broadest catalogue. It comes from a clear intention: start with handle inputs, become an autonomous flier, then develop the precision required to join a group or megateam.

• An explicit progression: forward flight, reverse, turns, rotations, and slides are introduced before the drills.
• A gesture-based approach: several diagrams show handle positions from the pilot’s point of view.
• A practical destination: stops, clockwork, horizontal lanes, and rotations are trained for clean group flying.
• A French-language resource: the explanations and videos are in French.

• This is a personal path, not an official method. Thierry explicitly builds it from his experience and advice gathered from other pilots.
• The vocabulary and equipment are strongly Rev-oriented. Most principles transfer to similar flat quad-line kites, but some details belong to the models used.
• The buying advice is dated and assertive. Recommendations about B-Series kites, LPG lines, 120-foot / 36-metre sets, and the required budget reflect a specific period and a megateam-oriented practice. They should not be read as general purchasing advice in 2026.
• The source remains a blog. Material is split between the main path, articles, and supporting reference pages.

The path can be followed in ten stages:

1. Understand the effect of the four lines and handle positions.
2. Prepare the lines and place the kite in a safe parking position.
3. Load the sail and launch without a sudden pull.
4. Fly forward, turn, and maintain a horizontal path.
5. Stop the kite on command.
6. Fly in reverse without losing sail pressure or distorting the path.
7. Practise clockwork to stabilise several orientations.
8. Launch and land along a clean path.
9. Hold a horizontal lane and turn tightly at its end.
10. Add side slides and travelling rotations before joining a group.

Thierry’s written path, published under a CC-BY-SA licence, starts with the controls: a Rev is flown through actions on the handles. Every input comes down to the kite’s angle of attack and the direction of its pull. The photos in this section come from that path.

The four attachment points give four points of traction: you can change the angle of attack, and even apply different angles to the two half-wings. The lower attachments, the brakes, connect to the kite’s wingtips; the upper ones, the front lines, connect to the leading-edge bridles.

• Forward: releasing the brakes on both handles increases the angle of attack.
• Reverse: pulling the brakes on both handles gives the kite a negative angle of attack.

Change the resultant of the pull toward the direction of the slide, by pulling the handle on that side.

While the kite flies forward, brake one wing by pulling the brake line on the side you want to turn toward.

Rotation around the kite’s centre comes from sending one side forward and the other backward. Releasing the left wing’s brake while pulling the right wing’s gives a clockwise rotation.

Thierry presents the main handle inputs and their effect on each half of the sail.

Thierry starts with how to place the lines and the kite, which can be done in two ways.

Handles first. Attach the lines to the handles, then unroll them, leaving the brakes, the lower lines, well away from the stake. With the lines unrolled, lay the kite with its leading edge toward the handles and the wingtips away, and attach the upper lines, near the leading edge, then the brake lines, near the wingtips. This forces you to lift the wingtips: the Rev is then in parking position. Its angle of attack digs it into the ground and the wind cannot lift it off; this is the safe position.

Kite set up first. Lay it flat according to the ground. On grass, leading edge away and wingtips pointing the way the lines unroll, bridles underneath: the Rev is “on its belly”, on its lower surface. On sand, leading edge pointing the way the lines unroll and wingtips away, bridles on top: the Rev is “on its back”, on its upper surface, with a little sand on the wing near the leading edge to hold it.

In both cases it must be brought to parking position: on grass, by walking backward and pulling the left and right handles alternately to fold the sail and let the wind rush in; on sand, by pulling the brakes to lift the wingtips. Then use the technique in the video to flip it upright, leading edge up.

Thierry is blunt about it: launching with the sail loaded is “the most important lesson”. He skipped this step himself, because of his indoor gliding Rev practice and a first quad-line flown with a slack sail, and says it cost him two years before he understood that loading the sail is essential to flying a Rev.

This video brings together several first skills and works best after understanding how to load the sail.

A stop is not merely a pause: it becomes the foundation for precision, clockwork, and collective flying.

Reverse flight requires balanced sail pressure rather than simply pulling harder on both brake lines.

The previous exercises teach you to fly: the pilot can then enjoy flying alone, safely. The following ones aim at mastery of the movements, built through training discipline, to a level sufficient for group flying. These are not spectacular tricks: they help a pilot occupy the correct space, hold an orientation, and maintain a clean movement.

Clockwork is an exercise for learning stops in every rotation position. In Thierry’s view it is the number one exercise for flying in a megateam, where holding the stop in every position is a prerequisite for static figures.

An in-line megateam can launch by climbing the Revs side by side. A more elegant way is to start with a loop, without spending time climbing to the top of the window; landing can likewise be done without coming back unlooped to the edge of the window. These manoeuvres can be practised alone, to be ready when the time comes on the field.

In a megateam, holding your altitude is not only about looks: each Rev must stay in its own space, and a little higher or lower is another Rev’s place. In dynamic figures with crossings, you must stay in your flight lane, and be able to turn on the wingtip at the end of a line so as not to waste flight window.

Thierry films a variation of the wingtip turn at the end of a line separately.

Moving the kite sideways without changing its orientation.

Beyond the path itself, a few pages of the site are worth a look:

• Wind matrix: reference points linking wind strength, kite ventilation and line configuration.
• Quad-line kite museum: the B-Zen, B-Series, Djinn and Fulcrum.
• 3D animations of the main figures: outdoor, for megateam flying and indoor.
• Competition figures: practising and analysing the compulsory figures.
• Writing a ballet: preparing a flyable kite ballet and how to learn a ballet (in French).

KiteJust4Fun is especially useful for a French-speaking pilot who wants to understand why stops, horizontal lanes, and clockwork are worth practising. Its scope is narrower than KiteLife, KiteForge, or Fly 4 Fun, but its direction is easier to see: gain enough control to fly with other people.

We recommend following the control exercises in order while using a more recent source for tuning and purchasing decisions. QuadKites’ theme pages also let you compare each movement with other instructors.

• The basics of flying
• Team flying