Indoor Rev: relaunch by John Barresi

Transcript

1. ›

   The flat position

   0:00

   This time around I am going to talk about how to do a flat relaunch. That is where the kite is flat on the floor with the tail toward us and the bottom wingtips toward us, as you can see. A point of note: when the kite is leaning toward you, as if you were sitting on the ground and it had just fallen over on its face toward you, the kite for all intents and purposes is not recoverable. You will need to do a pick-up and standing launch, or a throw launch, which we will cover in a later tutorial. But for this flat position, it is a little tricky when you are not familiar with it. It is very accomplishable, but there is a small technique that helps.

2. ›

   The mistake: pulling hard

   0:27

   I think the first instinct for most new indoor Rev flyers is to pull on the kite really rapidly, so I will give you a quick demonstration of what that does. The preface is that indoor flying is all about space: if you use a lot of space and get nothing out of it, you have lost a lot of the area you need to move and fly. So here is the sharp pull. Most people probably want to pull really hard, and you can see that not only does the kite not come up very much, which is what we are looking for, we want it upright, but it also puts a lot of slack in my lines, and slack is not what we want. We want tight, crisp lines.

3. ›

   A smooth walk backward

   1:17

   Now let me show you how to do it smoothly, with the kite flat, tail toward you. You will notice that I do not jerk or pop my hand suddenly. I start walking backward at a confident but not overly speedy pace, and at most I might have a slight waver in my hand, very slight. What it does is shimmy the back edge very slightly to shovel wind under the bottom. Once the kite is upright, we are at a point where we can relaunch, which I will show you after. So, just a slow walk backward, a little bit of a shuffle, and the kite comes upright. There it is. Once the kite is upright, our lines are taut, which is what we need. When the lines are taut, you are able to relaunch. I will demonstrate one more time: just a smooth walk backward and a little wiggle, and the kite is upright, ready to launch.

4. ›

   From upright to relaunch

   2:19

   Now the kite, from that position, is on its leading edge with its tail up toward you. Again, with the kite fully upright, I keep tension in the kite and apply a little bit of turn in one direction to lift the wing off the ground so it is upright. Once it is upright, I am ready to launch. So here we go: we do our relaunch just like this, a little reverse, then launch and fly. Let me demonstrate once more. The kite is flat; a smooth walk backward, just filling the sail up; on the reverse line you turn and launch.

5. ›

   When a turn is not enough

   3:19

   Sometimes pulling a little bit of that turn is not enough, and you will notice that I actually pull my hand outward slightly. Pay special attention to my hands as well as my arms. So I fill the sail up, pull out just slightly, and then fly it out. That is your basic introduction to a flat relaunch, and a basic true relaunch, where you are on the leading edge and you want to get the kite over and up into the air. I am sure you will find that very useful, and we will see you in the next tutorial.