Common Rev Problems for Beginners, with Solutions by Revolution Kites

Transcript

1. ›

   Uneven launch

   0:00

   Hi, I'm Joe Hadzicki, inventor of the Revolution kite. We've been in this for 30 years and we've given millions of lessons, and we've noticed some common problems that occur with new pilots, so let's go over a few of those today. One common problem is the uneven launch. This is what it looks like. The most common cause of this problem is twofold: number one, you're either off the wind, or number two, your lines are not tight and even. To fix that, number one, make sure you're downwind, and number two, make sure all four lines are tight and your handles are even. At this point we're going to bring those thumbs back and give it a smooth pull. Here's what it looks like: downwind, all four lines are tight, thumbs back, smooth launch. That's a perfect launch.

2. ›

   Rev won't fly up

   1:01

   Another common problem: have you ever had it where your Rev won't fly up? It feels sluggish, and it even wants to come down. For new pilots, what happens is they tend to be a little nervous, and that causes them to grip the handles a little too tight. It looks like this: I'm pulling and yanking, and it won't fly. The solution is, first of all, to realize what the problem is. The problem is that you are just gripping too tight. So let that hand relax, ease off your hands a little bit, just relax a little. Here, all four lines tight, thumbs back, launch, thumbs back, and the kite flies. Problem solved.

3. ›

   Dominant hand

   1:48

   A problem related to gripping too tightly is that one of your hands is dominant over the other, and so what you'll always end up with is a turn going on: it's always turning to the left, or it's always turning to the right. Why does it keep doing that? You go, oh no, my lines are messed up, or I need a new bridle, or the bridle's not right. It's none of those things. It's your dominant hand. You have a dominant hand, I have a dominant hand, left-handers, right-handers. You get nervous, one hand takes over, and without thinking about it you overpower that side, which holds it down and causes a constant turn to that side. The solution is to realize that that's the problem: you're holding tight, and it will usually be your dominant hand.

4. ›

   Correcting with the low wing

   2:24

   The correction is, instead of fixing that turn with the high wing, fix it with the low wing by letting the pressure off. It looks like this. Here's my dominant right hand. Don't fix the turn by turning to the left; fix the turn by letting off on that right hand. Can you let off that right handle? You're correcting, in your mind, that dominant pressure, and that's what will fix it.

5. ›

   Walking backward

   2:55

   Here's another problem we see with new flyers: they tend to walk back, and they walk back for different reasons. Number one, if you don't have enough wind, wait for a little more wind or fly in an area with better wind conditions. Number two, they walk back because when they were kids flying a kite they would run backward. Nowadays we just walk backward. Either way, that's kind of an imagined problem: your kite is flying fine, but you're walking back. Why are you walking back? Because that's what you do with a kite. Okay, I've got a perfect solution to that: stand still. Practice that and you'll be fine.

6. ›

   Two-line habits

   3:32

   The final problem of the day is two-line habits. You look at your Rev: you've got two handles and a kite on the end, so this has got to be easier, right? Let me go pull, and what happens? Crash. Here's what the real problem is: you thought you were flying a delta. You thought you were flying a two-line kite. The real solution to this problem is to realize that all kites aren't created equal. You've got to take your delta and put it off to the side, put your two-line habits over to this side, because what we're going to do requires very precise skills. You can't react with two-line skills. Learn these new skills; they're not complicated.

7. ›

   Arms extended, turn by rotation

   4:12

   There are a couple of things I want you to focus on. Number one, keep your arms extended. Number two, turn with rotation, so your hands stay together and your turns are accomplished by rotation. One of the things that causes a crash is two-line habits getting out of control.

8. ›

   Practicing launch, stop, down

   4:37

   This is why I want you to practice this technique for half a day, and almost all your problems will go away. All we're going to do is launch, stop and back down. Launch, thumbs back, stop, thumbs forward, thumbs farther forward, back down. This is what it looks like: launch, stop, back down. You see how I didn't go very far with that flight? That keeps me from getting into these crazy situations where I have to react with two-line habits, and I want you to avoid that. Every move that you do right will reinforce the right habit, so stick with it.

9. ›

   Taking it further

   5:11

   Tight lines, thumbs back, give it a pull, up in the air, stop it before it gets out of control, back it down. Do this a few times and get used to it a little bit, then take it up, balance it, and talk to yourself. Notice that your hands are together and even. There's no point going up, correcting and backing it down with anything other than wrist rotation. That's perfect. You can take it to the next level: take it up there, hover it, turn a little bit to the right, move it to the left. Whenever you get in trouble with it, just back it down before it gets crazy. If we can get those two ideas separated, you'll be well on your way. That's it for the problems. We'll see you out on the field.