Figure 8 by KiteLife

Transcript

1. ›

   Holding pattern

   0:00

   In this tutorial we're going to introduce the basics of the figure 8. It's essentially the holding pattern for team flying, and frankly a great holding pattern for individual flying too: a simple maneuver you can do almost absent-mindedly with a little practice, which keeps the kite in motion and gives you a basic flight path to follow your teammates.

2. ›

   Upturn and downturn

   0:27

   There are two versions. In the upturn figure 8, the kite turns upward most of the time; that's the one to start with as a new or intermediate flyer, because the kite faces up most of the time, a very familiar position. I come into the bottom right corner, fly around that outside corner up to the top, then bank down across, and repeat on the other side: turn up, fly around the outside, then down through the center. For the downturn figure 8, I head to the top right corner, turn underneath, down through the bottom along a straight diagonal, curve around the outside, then another straight diagonal.

3. ›

   Squeeze and pull

   1:43

   The real trick, surprisingly, is adding a little dual line input. Normally, to turn a quad, we squeeze down on the bottom and rotate off the index finger, which gives a pivot-style rotation around its axis — a bit like grease on the track. Around a figure 8, you might slide out, lose drive and have to start again. To compensate, I keep my forward drive on, apply the same turn input, and pull that same hand back a little: it dulls the turn and reduces the pivot. Squeeze and pull: if I only squeeze, it turns too tight; if I only pull, it doesn't come back around. A little of both gives a really smooth rotation.

4. ›

   Hourglass

   3:11

   Now let's take that 8, fill the whole window and give it intent and direction with a basic hourglass shape: top right corner, all the way down to the bottom right, face top left and go all the way up there, then straight down and back up through. It sets four points in the window that I always come back to and helps me break down straight lines: whatever happened before, I have to get to that top point. Even flying a curved, proper figure 8, I still mark those four points, which lets me fill the entire window consistently. Practice them regularly.