Fixing a Revolution Snap Spin: A Request from a Club 38 Member by Revolution Kites

Why a snap spin loses height and how to fix it, at the request of a Club 38 member whose forward spin worked less well than his reverse spin.

From the series Spins, hover and reverse. Transcript by QuadKites.org.

Key takeaways from this video

The level-four snap spin starts from a side hover, makes a full turn, stops on the side hover, then goes back the other way, on both sides.
To avoid losing height, pull the wing that is rising during the spin: the pull adds energy, the handle rotation makes the turn.
From a side hover, starting the spin with the bottom wing keeps your height; with the top wing, which always goes down, you lose it.
The Rev is not symmetrical: reverse reacts faster, so a forward spin needs a little more pull on the advancing wing.

Transcript

Snap spin variations
0:00
Hi, I'm Joe Hadzicki, inventor of the Revolution. Recently one of our club members posted that he's having trouble with his snap spins. He's got his forward snap spin, but his reverse snap spin is causing him some problems. Let's take a look at it and see if we can fix it. There are many variations on the spin. Here are three examples. Number one, the standard spin. Number two, the bicycle spin. Number three, the slow-motion spin. For Club 38, a 360-degree side hover snap spin is required for level four. A snap spin starts from a side hover, snaps, stops at a side hover, and then does an opposite rotation snap to the same side hover. This happens on both sides.
Why you lose height
1:42
Losing height during a spin is a common Rev problem for new pilots. To stop losing height during a spin, the trick is to add energy by pulling on the wing at the right point of the rotation. This pulling action does not cause a turn. The turn comes from the rotation of the handles. The pulling action just adds energy to the spin to keep it from losing height. The question is, when do you pull? The right time to pull is when the wing is climbing upward through the spin. So, for example, if you're spinning in this direction, this wing is climbing upward, and you would pump that wing. If you're spinning in this direction, now the wing is reversing upward, and you would pump in that direction.
Snap spins from a side hover
2:43
Snap spins from a side hover are a special case. If you initiate the spin with the bottom wing, you will not lose height, because the wing from the bottom is always moving up. If you snap spin the bottom wing forward, it goes in the upward direction. If you initiate in reverse, the reverse is going up. That's not true for the top wing. If you initiate the spin with the top wing, the top wing is always going down. This is what causes you to lose height. If you initiate the spin forward with the top wing, it will move down. If you initiate with the top wing in reverse, it will move down in reverse. Bottom wing reverse. Top wing forward.
Fixing the forward spin
3:44
Now, the Club 38 member's question. The reverse spin is good, but the forward spin is not. Your Revolution is not symmetrical. The front of your Rev is different from the back of your Rev, and because of that, the reverse reacts much quicker and stronger. So his reverse spin lifts much more easily than the forward one does. You have to generate lift on the wing moving in a forward direction, and to do this, you need to add a little more pull. Practice your spin pumps with different amounts of energy to see what works best for you, in the different types of wind conditions, and for the specific kite you're flying. We'll see you on the field.