Revolution Kite and Rev Eagle: Basic Setup and First Flight by Revolution Kites

Transcript

1. ›

   Introduction

   0:00

   Hi, I'm Joe Hadzicki, inventor of the Revolution, and one of our followers asked about launching and setting up the Rev Eagle on the beach in higher winds. Well, we don't exactly have high winds today; we're probably in that range of five to eight miles an hour. But let's go through the setup on a standard Rev, and also the setup and launching for a Rev Eagle.

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   Attaching the line sets

   0:19

   Let's start out by setting our line sets up and attaching them to the handles. We start this process using a lark's head. Lark's head: two fingers, fold it over, pinch it. This forms this loop. Put that loop onto your line, cinch it down and slide it up against the knot. White lines go on top, black on the bottom, red on the right. Stake your handles to the ground with the top of the handle at the stake, red on the right side, white on the left side, and let's wind out our lines. This is a good time to take your time with your line sets to avoid unnecessary tangles.

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   Spreading the line pairs

   1:08

   When you get to the end of the line set, take off your two pairs, put the winder in your pocket, and spread your two pairs apart. Don't worry a lot about tangles at this point; it's much easier to clear them once you have the tension of the kite on the lines. I like to put the red lines on this side, actually, because we're going to set up the Rev upside down on windy days.

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   Rules 1 to 3: leading edge

   1:34

   Setting up your Rev can easily get out of control, so here are four basic rules to follow to keep you in control. Rule number one: unroll your Rev and keep your leading edge into the wind. From here on out, keep this leading edge into the wind. Rule number two: build your Revolution on the ground, where the wind is less. Right now it's not a big deal, because there's not a lot of wind, but in all other cases it's a good idea to keep your Rev on the ground. Rule number three: whenever you move your Rev, keep that leading edge into the wind. So if we need to turn our Rev over, keep that leading edge into the wind. Don't turn it over by pulling it up like this, or like that; you'll end up with trouble.

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   Rule 4: stay downwind

   2:26

   Rule number four: keep your Rev downwind. What do I mean by downwind? Well, you can see that the wind is blowing in this direction. That is downwind, and that is upwind. You want to keep your Rev downwind and the leading edge facing into the wind. This sets you between the wind and the Rev, so you're right in the middle. You want to keep that Rev downwind of you. If you bring it upwind, it tends to blow into you, and then you can get into trouble with this kind of situation. Keep your Rev downwind. Okay, we're ready to build our Rev. It's always a good idea, when you first get your Rev, to build it at home so you have a sense of how everything goes together, so then when you're at the beach you don't really have any surprises.

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   Assembling the leading edge

   3:12

   All right, let's assemble our leading edge. This is the leading edge of the kite. Grab your outer spar and slide it in. You have a center spar that also has a ferrule, so you have to feel those two go together, and make sure that those spars are completely together. Then put on your end cap, and do the same on the other side. If you're not sure about the fit of those spars, slide the whole leading edge out and assemble it outside. This way you can make sure it's completely together, and then slide it back in as one piece.

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   Controlling the kite on the ground

   3:50

   Next, we're ready to assemble the downspars. Our wing is face up, so we need to assemble this on the back of the wing. How are we going to do that? Let's follow the rules to stay in control of your Rev. Number one, keep that leading edge into the wind. Number two, rotate it and keep it downwind. Number three, lay it back down on the ground so there's less wind. If you're on the beach, you can use the sand to help control your Rev: you can put a little sand on the wing, and that will help keep it under control. If you're not on the beach, use your hand to keep that leading edge under control so it doesn't blow away. And make sure you don't get your knee on that leading edge and possibly break or crush it.

8. ›

   Fitting the downspars

   4:37

   Okay, we're ready to put our downspars on. Start out by putting the top of the spar and the top cap at the leading edge. Number two, attach our Reflex spring, but make sure that spring is on the inside of the wing. Number three, attach your bottom cap, and make sure the bridle is clear. Do the same on the other wing.

9. ›

   Turning the kite over

   5:00

   All right, we're just about ready to hook our lines up to our Rev. First, let's turn it over again. Pay attention to those basic rules: control that leading edge, keep that leading edge into the wind, and we've got to spin it over, leading edge into the wind, back down on the ground, and we're ready to set our lines up. As you notice, the sides are flipped because the Rev is upside down, so that will come into play when we attach our lines. Okay, remember what we said before: the right wing ends up being on the left side because it's upside down, so that means setting up the red lines on the right side.

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    Attaching lines to the bridle

    5:35

    We're going to do the same thing we did before: lark's head, knot, pinch those fingers over, and we have our loop. Attach that to the top bridle point on your Rev, cinch it down, pull it up to the top. Attach the bottom line to the bottom bridle point. Do the same thing on the other side.

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    Preparing for first launch

    5:54

    All right, we're ready to set up our Rev for our first launch. Again, keep control of that leading edge. We need to turn it over, roll it over, keeping that leading edge into the wind and staying in control. Remember, our handles are staked, so we can put some tension on our handles now and tighten it back. Make sure everything is clear. What we're going to do now is tilt this wing underneath. This keeps the wing down. If you don't and you leave it like this, a little gust of wind can lift it off and self-launch it, and you'll be out of control. So tilt those wings under, make sure all your bridles are clear, and let's go back and launch the Rev.

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    Leader line position

    6:38

    If you're launching in high winds, over 10 miles an hour, you can move this leader line out to the end knot. This will slow down your Rev and help you keep it under control. But in lighter winds like we have today, I'm going to keep my knot and leader lines inside.

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    Steps for a successful launch

    7:01

    All right, now the steps for a successful launch. Pick your handles up off the ground. Keep forward thumb pressure to keep your Rev from self-launching. Step back, and make sure all four lines are clear and all four lines are tight as you take a step back. Launch: thumbs back over your shoulders. This will cause your Rev to fly up. The minute your Rev leaves the ground, the second you're flying it around, push those thumbs forward, stop it, and back it back down. It looks like this: step back, launch, stop, backwards, back down. That was a perfect first flight. Excellent. Step back, launch, stop and back it down. What you should be focusing on is total control and rotation of those handles. Practice that several times and get a feel for how sensitive the Rev is.

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    Finding the hover

    7:54

    Now we take it to the next step. Let's pop it up and find the hover. Lines tight, thumbs back, pop it up, find that balance point. It's not going up, it's not going down. Finding that perfect hover, then back and down under total control. That's perfect. Launching and crashing and launching and crashing builds a weak foundation. Stick to the basics, build a strong foundation, and take it up from there.

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    Setting up the Rev Eagle

    8:21

    All right, let's set up our Rev Eagle. Let's roll out your Eagle, and notice your body is attached to the wing. It's always a good idea to open up your Rev at home the first time and set it up; this helps to avoid any surprises out in the field. I'm going to put my Eagle head in my pocket for safekeeping. Take the spars out of the wing and open your wing up, leading edge into the wind. Let's do a quick check to make sure that our bridle is clear, just like on our XX.

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    Eagle leading edge

    9:05

    Let's assemble the leading edge first. Grab that leading edge spar and slide it in. Remember, we're going to connect that ferrule toward the wing, and of course make sure it's completely in. Once again, if you're not sure, slide that whole leading edge out, pre-assemble it, and slide it back in. Clear your lines, pop your end cap on, and make sure there's no bridle tangle. Do the same on the other side. All right, we've got two options here. We can just flip our wing over and start to build it as we did on the XX, or we can attach the body and kind of get it out of the way, and then flip the wing. Let's do it that way. So let's attach the