Revolution Kites: Advanced Inverted Hover Skills by Revolution Kites

Transcript

1. ›

   Introduction

   0:00

   Hi, I'm Joe Hadzicki, inventor of the Revolution kite, and inversion skills are some of the most advanced Revolution skills. Now that you have your basic hover skills, let's have some fun. Here are some of my favorite inversions, with tips.

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   The dive stop

   0:36

   The iconic dive stop. It's surprisingly easy to do, and here's the trick. While flying forward, this is forward flight, instantly throw your thumbs into reverse. This is reverse flight. That will instantly stop your Rev in any direction. This is what it looks like. I went faster forward, so I should have stopped it harder in reverse. Common mistake number two: I did it right, I applied the brakes, just not quite enough brakes to stop it. Common mistake number three looks like this. Everything is more or less correct, but I didn't find the balance point. When you stop, you're trying to get a dead steady hover. It should look like this.

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   Practice high, then reverse launch

   2:08

   When you first learn this skill, practice high. Stop high above the ground, 10, 15, 20 feet up, to avoid unwanted crashes. As you get better, you can close that gap down, to give people the incredible excitement of that dive stop right over the ground. Here's another inverted skill: reverse launch and snap to a side hover. This is a great way to start a routine. You can also just run it all together as one move.

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   The inverted side slide

   2:57

   One of the best ways to sharpen your inverted skills is the inverted side slide. This is challenging because you have to slide all the way through the wind conditions. Out on the edge the wind is very light, in the center it is very heavy, and then it is light again on the way back out. This is what it looks like. Here are a couple of different ways to practice that inverted slide. Number one, you can start from the ground, pull, and as you're sliding, apply some thumb pressure to raise your Rev off the ground. This is what it looks like. This can be tricky for a couple of reasons. Number one, you're on the ground, and wind conditions can be difficult down there. Secondly, if you're on the beach, the sand can be pretty abrasive to your kite.

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   Sliding from the inverted hover

   4:01

   Here's the second option. Start from the inverted hover, and then, while you're in that balanced position, pull very slightly left or right, causing a slide of just a few inches. While you're in that sliding motion, practice your cross control to hold the balance. You don't want to slide too far. You just want to get a feel for this. Every second you can spend in that sliding position will improve your slide. This is what it looks like.

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   Footwork with inversions

   4:46

   The next inversion is a bit of a mind challenge. We're not only going to do the inversions, we're also going to incorporate footwork to help with the balance. We're going to go from a side hover to an inversion to a side hover. This is what it looks like. Side hover. Inversion. Side hover.