Now'Air Revolution tutorials and team ballets

Now’Air is a team of Revolution pilots from the Paris region that flies precision ballets as a four. Its pilots filmed a series of five short videos, in French, on setting up and packing a Revolution kite. The basics already uses them, each at the moment it is needed. This page gathers the series in one place, in the order the team numbered it, and adds two team ballets so you can see the kind of flying that careful setup leads to.

Thanks to the Now’Air team for these videos.

Now’Air started as a pair, formed by Marjorie Truchet and Christophe, then became a trio and finally a team of four when Emmanuel and Ronan joined. Marjorie Truchet tells the story in an interview published by Addict Kite in June 2016: she learned team flying in other teams first, then created Now’Air, and she was then in the French national team. The federation’s announcement of the 2016 team lists her as the four-line pilot “of the Now’Air team”.

We found no post more recent than the April 2019 call for pilots (see below), and the channel’s last video dates from September 2018. For the team’s current activity, the Facebook group mentioned in its videos is the place to look.

This series is useful for a very concrete reason: it shows the gestures of a team that sets up the same way every time. The line lengths mentioned (20 to 25 m to start, 37 m as the team-flying standard), the figure-eight winding and the careful bridle check are habits you can adopt on your first day.

The videos date from 2016 and show a Revolution 1.5; another model may differ in its connectors or its bridle. They are in French only: the text under each video is our translation of what is said. And they cover setup, not flying itself. For flying, compare with the other authors in Explore by author.

The five videos were uploaded in August 2016. They are in French and follow the order a pilot needs on the field: discover the kite and the lines, set up the kite, set up the lines, then wind the lines and pack the kite. Each card leads to the video’s page, with what we take from it and the text of its explanations in chapters, translated into English; the timestamps open the video at the right moment. The originals are on the team’s channel.

1. 

   Introducing the Revolution and its lines

   Now’Air

   An introduction to the Revolution 1.5 and its lines, opening the Now'Air team's series. You see what line length to choose as a beginner and how to store them.

2. 

   Setting up your Revolution

   Now’Air

   Taking the Revolution out of its bag and assembling it: leading edge, vertical rods, then a check of the bridle.

3. 

   Setting up your Revolution's lines

   Now’Air

   Attaching the lines to the kite, unrolling them and holding the kite on the ground before take-off. The video stresses the checks at each step.

4. 

   Packing the Revolution's lines

   Now’Air

   Winding your lines on the winder in a figure eight, then securing them so they come out without twists.

5. 

   Packing your Revolution

   Now’Air

   Taking a Revolution apart and rolling its sail into its bag without damaging it. You see the order of the rods and where to put the bridles.

A ballet is flown by several pilots who share the same sequence, and what counts is precision and synchronization more than height or speed. These two ballets by the team of four give a concrete idea of that work. While you watch, follow the spacing between the four kites and whether they start and finish their turns together. Team flying explains how the formations and calls work.

The team’s second ballet at the European Cup, held from 4 to 6 September 2015 on the beach of Malo-les-Bains, in Dunkerque.

A team ballet by the four pilots at the Portsmouth international kite festival; the video is dated 15 August 2016.

More ballets are on the team’s YouTube channel, up to the Dieppe festival in 2018.

The team’s YouTube channel documents ballets published between 2014 and 2018, among them at the festivals of Dieppe, Dunkerque, Berck, Portsmouth, Houlgate and Châtelaillon-Plage. In the winter before the RICV festival of April 2019, the team and Panam’Air, a two-line team, founded a joint club, PanamNowAir. Panam’Air’s interview says that their first outing would be the RICV in Berck, with a ballet of seven pilots mixing two-line and four-line kites.

In April 2019, the team also posted a call for pilots on the Au Fil du Vent forum, after losing two pilots. It describes how a team like this works: about five to seven performances a year, five flight training sessions (two of them on weekends) and two evening meetings a month to prepare the ballets. No level was required, because learning happens during training; you only needed to control a Rev in every orientation and enjoy working as a group. The team also mentioned a specific rigging, bridling and tuning for precision flying.

Addict Kite also relayed some of these videos, presenting Christophe, a pilot of the team, as their author: setting up your Revolution lines, winding the lines and packing the kite.

• The basics of flying: the suggested order for getting started, where these videos are used step by step.
• Team flying: how teams fly together, with the Jst-4-Fn and North American maneuvers.
• Explore resources by author: the other series and guides.