Revolution Line Management for Your Rev Kite by Revolution Kites

Transcript

1. ›

   Unpacking the line set

   0:00

   Hi, I'm Joe Hadzicki, inventor of the Revolution, and although line management is one of the least exciting aspects of Rev flying, it's one of the most important skills to lock down. Here are a few tips to avoid the dreaded tangle frustration. Here's a factory set of Revolution lines. It comes on a winder and it's locked down with a stretchable shock cord. Take that shock cord off and carefully take the sleeve sections of the lines off. This is a common place for twists to occur, so pay attention.

2. ›

   Separating the two pairs

   0:30

   Notice you have two pairs, and each pair is connected together with a lark's head knot. Carefully wind off a few feet of both pairs and separate them. These two pairs represent the left and right lines. I use the red pair on the right and the black and white pair on the left. Attaching and detaching lines from your Rev and from your handles is a very common place to add twists, so take your time and be precise. I suggest one pair at a time to help avoid tangles.

3. ›

   Attaching lines to handles

   1:01

   All right, let's attach our line set to our handles. Slide the lark's head off, and we'll attach the top line, which is the white line. The lark's head is made by putting two fingers through, pulling over and pinching. This forms a loop, and that loop goes onto the top leader. If you're in high winds, leave it out toward the end, and in lighter winds, bring it in. Do the same lark's head on the bottom: fold it over, pinch it, take that loop and put it on your bottom leader. I remember this because black and bottom both start with the letter B. Do the same on the other side.

4. ›

   Staking out the handles

   1:44

   Now let's put a stake in the ground and take our handles to it, red on the right, so your right handle, black and white on the left, your left hand. Put the top of the handle at the stake, not the bottom of the handle, the top of the handle at the stake. This will make your Rev stable on launch. All right, now let's unwind our lines. Some people like to just flop them off as they go out. I don't like to do that because they'll bind up. I like to stay in control and carefully take them out. If you notice that the lines are coming off like this, stop, take your time, realign them, get them coming off evenly again, and then continue. All right, when you get to the end of your lines, carefully take them off, put your winder in your pocket, take the two pairs, spread them apart and stretch them all the way back to the handles. I'm not worried about twist this time; we'll take care of that in a minute.

5. ›

   Connecting lines to the bridle

   2:58

   One of the easiest ways to break a shaft in a Rev is to wrestle it in the wind, so follow this method to set up your Rev. Set your Rev down on the ground face up, leading edge into the wind, so your handles are back there. It feels like it's upside down, since your struts are on the back of the wing, so our wing is upside down. This is actually the right wing, and this is actually the top of the bridle. So separate your lines, take your white line's lark's head and attach it to your top bridle, then take your bottom line's lark's head and attach it to the bottom of the bridle. Do the same on the other side.

6. ›

   Holding the Rev on the ground

   3:51

   All right, we had a wind shift, so we switched our kite angle around. Now what I want you to do is take your Rev, pull it back and stand it upside down. You see that leading edge is into the ground. Remember how we set our handles out with the handle tips on the stake: that gives it forward flight, and this is driving our Rev into the ground, so this makes it stable. This is the right way to hold your Rev on the ground. It's the most stable way to do it, unless you need to reverse launch from here.

7. ›

   Launch options

   4:16

   If you don't have your reverse launch yet, you can flip the Rev over, but remember to set up for forward flight. It'll take off. Kick those tail stakes underneath like that and you're ready to launch. We're going to flip it over and start with the inverted launch.

8. ›

   Undoing twists with tension

   4:36

   As we clear our lines, let's go back to the handles. I like to use line tension, with the wing pulling back on the lines, to undo tangles. Lift it off. That's why these handles are positioned like this, to keep that Rev flying down into the ground. It's a stable position, but as you start moving your hand over and twisting your handles, if you rotate them your Rev can launch, which is kind of tricky. So if you're in high winds, you're new at this and you're not used to moving handles around, switching handles and keeping those handles back, I have a foolproof method for you. Here it is. Here's the scenario: you're brand new to Rev flying, you just got your Rev, it's your first time flying, you go out on the field and the wind is blowing 20 miles an hour. You don't need to be out there with your handles and your Rev hooked up, trying to untwist the lines.

9. ›

   Clearing twists before hooking up

   5:25

   So we're going to do it this way. We set up the lines, you've walked them out, you've spread them apart, but before you hook them up to your Rev, come back to your handles. Here we go, back at our handles. Clear your handles and make sure your lines are separate. Put them back on, top to top. Separate your four lines in your hands and walk them back to the kite. Any twist that you run into, you can fix in your hands. All right, our lines are clear, tangle free, we're ready to launch. For more information on basic flying, go to our basics video.

10. ›

    Packing up the lines

    6:09

    All right, we're done flying for the day. Land your Rev nose down, separate your handles, flip them over, clear your handles, lay your Rev down, and remove your lines at the kite one pair at a time, lark's heading them together. The goal here is to have two pairs, not four lines. Stake your two pairs into your winder so they're coming out. What I like to do is keep those two pairs separated: I put my pinky right in between the two pairs, and then I reach over and grab the set. Now they're going in together, but they're separated by my pinky as I wind them in, so there's no way to get a twist while I wind these in.

11. ›

    Winding with a figure eight

    7:08

    I come across, and I like the figure eight: down, up, down, up, down, up. You see they're being separated all the way to the line set. Here we go: down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up. Apply some tension, but not too much tension. You don't want them flopping around on here loosely like this, but you don't want to be dragging them down through the set either.

12. ›

    Finishing the wrap

    7:37

    As I'm coming into the end, I don't like to drag the handles, because they will wander in and out and twist themselves up. The other thing I don't like to do is lift the handles up off the ground, because they can spin around inside themselves and twist. So I move down toward the handles as I finish the wrap. Then for the last few inches or so, I've got my split, so I separate those two and I run them through the cleat once, maybe even twice, and this guarantees that there are no twists up to this point. Now there might be twists after this, and we'll have to clear those, but next time you open up your line sets, you clear them down to that point, and they're completely clear. And then when you take them off the winder, they're completely set. All right, a lot of pilots don't take their handles off because it's just extra time in and out. So what you do here is just wrap them on carefully, lay them down as smoothly as you can onto your winder, grab that shock cord, pack your line set, and you're ready to go next time.

13. ›

    Dealing with a serious tangle

    8:55

    All right, what if you do have a tangle, I mean kind of a serious tangle? Don't panic. Don't grab the lines and pull and tug and hope you're going to get it out. The Spectra is very fine and slippery, and it'll just pull into a tight little knot that you'll never get out. A method that works really well for me is to take one of the lines and weave it out through the tangle, so now you're down to three lines in the tangle. If you still have an issue, take another one out. That usually gets you to the point where you only have a couple of twists going on with two lines. That's a great way to do it.

14. ›

    Have a system

    9:22

    Here's the real key to line management: have a system and practice that system. After you do it a few times, carefully and slowly, you'll get a feel for it and it'll become natural to you. That's why the pros look so easy when they're putting their lines in and out: they've done it a thousand times. If you've got any questions, leave them in the comments below and we'll see you on the field.