Windy With Watty: outdoor Revolution tricks

“Windy With Watty” is a series of short video tutorials on outdoor tricks with a Revolution kite, published by Spencer “Watty” Watson in 2009. This page gathers the six tutorials, each leading to its video’s page, with a few key takeaways and the transcript. The indoor counterpart is Windless With Watty.

Spencer “Watty” Watson is an American kiteflier from the Pacific Northwest, active in indoor and sport kite competitions. He also builds and sells his own kites under the WattyWorks name. His website is watty.us and his YouTube channel is WattyRev.

The series was published in 2009, in parallel with the indoor series. Each episode is one to four minutes long and was originally offered to KiteLife subscribers. Watty teaches on a Revolution kite, in wind.

• Each episode covers a single trick, with the kite and the hands both visible, sometimes in slow motion.
• The explanations are short and concrete. They assume you can already launch, hover and land your kite.
• The videos are from 2009, so image quality is modest.
• Everything is shown on a Revolution kite, in steady wind. Other kites and conditions may need adjustments.

Videos are in English. You can activate subtitles in the YouTube player if you need to: how to activate subtitles.

1. 

   Bicycle spin

   Spence Watson

   The bicycle spin, a continuous rotation around the centre of the sail. You see why to exaggerate the bottom-wing movements so the kite does not turn on a wingtip.

2. 

   Clockwork

   Spence Watson

   The quarter-turn clockwork, with a clean stop at each position. You see which lines to pull so the kite pivots on its centre.

3. 

   Toss and catch

   Spence Watson

   The toss and catch outdoors: bringing the kite down into your hand with a sharp pull on the top lines, then throwing it back like a javelin.

4. 

   Axel

   Spence Watson

   The axel outdoors, from an inverted slide. You see how to judge the slack: too little and the kite does not spin flat, too much and the leading edge hits the ground.

5. 

   Flic flac

   Spence Watson

   The flic flac from a hover: tipping the kite backwards, then bringing it back with a quick pull on the top lines. You also see how to chain it into a clockwork.

6. 

   Falling leaf

   Spence Watson

   The falling leaf, a flic flac that waits: the kite falls on its back and flips just above the ground. You see why to start at the top of the window and how to give slack by running forward.

The indoor axel uses the same hand movement.

• For tricks organized by trick, with other authors’ approaches, see Quad-line tricks and freestyle.
• For precision moves such as the clockwork and the bicycle spin, see Precision flying.
• To practice the same tricks indoors, see Windless With Watty.