Indoor Rev: redirection by John Barresi

Transcript

1. ›

   Why redirect, and spatial awareness

   0:00

   In our last tutorial we took you through the basics of setting up your kite, launching it, and going around in a 360, and how to create the pressure that actually makes the kite fly. This time around, what I really want to cover is redirection: redirecting the flight path of your kite. If we take a 360 one way, we can go around and around and around, and chances are we will get pretty dizzy. So the idea is to be able to turn the kite around and go the other way. I will also show you how to land the kite and accomplish much the same thing: you can 360 one way, land, launch, and 360 the other way, or we can just make the turn like this.

   The other thing I want to stress is what I would call spatial awareness. With an indoor venue, particularly if you are sharing the space with other people, you want to be very aware of where you are backing up to, and learn very quickly how much space you need in order to move and make the kite fly. As you practice, you want to work toward a point where you can fly and stay in generally the same area, as opposed to backing all the way across a room and having to start over from that point. Essentially you can launch, turn around, come back here, and then come back here again, so we are just maintaining that space.

2. ›

   Redirecting in the air

   1:24

   But first we will start with redirection, just turning the kite around. The main thing you will notice when I make that turn is that it is very similar to the first turn, where I just give a slight input to turn the kite and we go around in a circle. I give that slight input, but at the same time I give a little extra pull, and it is always an upturn. Let me demonstrate. As we talked about before, the standing launch: very relaxed, walking backward and long. Now we are going around in a circle, and I give a little turn and a little pull and redirect the kite, so I am going the other way. Once more, a little pull and a slight turn, always with that left hand: left turn, and a little pull. It is very slight. It really relies mostly on the amount of pressure you are giving the turn. I do not increase the movement of my hands very much, but I do put a little more power in the sail. With that same technique it can work back and forth, just like that. That is another way you can practice as well: you can make it a little higher on the turn if you want that space, or quite small, or with bigger turns, just up over the top a little bit. There we go. So there is the basic principle of redirection: turning so that you are able to change the flight path of your kite.

3. ›

   Redirecting by landing

   3:25

   Because everybody has a different style, the main thing is to be comfortable and to approach your learning in a way where you do things you accomplish and feel good about. I use that same technique myself. We should do what we love and love to do what we do. So again it is really about simplifying the process. This time we are not going to do the redirection in the air: we are just going to land and change directions. It is accomplished much the same way. When I am in my 360, I make half of the same input I was making to turn: just a half input, and then I set the kite down. You will notice that I continue to walk backward even after the kite lands. So we launch into one 360, slight turn up. I am still moving, because it needs pressure to stay there. Then I launch and go the other way, and land down. We can even do that in increments. By using those two basic techniques, you are able to manage your space a little more just by being able to change direction.

4. ›

   Managing your space

   5:04

   If I back all the way up to one end of the room, by being able to turn I can start moving back toward the other side of the room again. That is particularly useful if you are sharing the space with other flyers, or other users, basketball players, whatever you might have, where you are fitting in.

5. ›

   Redirecting on the ground

   5:19

   The other thing I am going to show you is another way of redirecting, where the kite actually stays on the ground. We start much the same way, and this time I just keep it there and walk around it. As long as I have a slight amount of pressure on the kite, it is able to stay upright, and you can see it is almost spinning on one wing. So let us say I am flying, flying, flying and I am out of room: I just turn the kite and then start again. Here is a good example: maybe I am a new flyer, and I think, oh no, here is the wall. What I will do is just set the kite there and walk around. When I am doing this, you will notice I am careful not to pull the bottom lines too much, because the kite would slide out. So it is always important to keep a little bit of forward on when you have that tension.

6. ›

   Erasers on the wingtips

   6:33

   Some people also put small rubber bits, erasers or vinyl end caps on the end of the wingtip. We will give you a close-up. We did it the cheap and easy way: we cut a very thin strip of eraser, like the one on your pencil, glued it onto the wingtip, and then used a file to polish it off. The end cap is naturally quite slippery, so I hit it with a file first to make it rough, then put the super glue on, then the eraser. What that does is keep the wingtips from wanting to slide out so quickly, and it tends to be a little beneficial sometimes, depending on what you are doing.

7. ›

   Wrap-up

   7:21

   So there is your basic introduction to redirection of pretty much all kinds. I really stress the importance of spatial awareness: knowing where you are going, how much space you need to do what you are about to do, and setting the ground and terms of your flying so that you are able to make the most of it. With that said, we will let you practice that to your heart's content, and we will see you in the next tutorial.