damp_weather

Nice dog. Dogs often get such a bad press. We need more pictures of kites and pets peacefully co-existing.

Thank you Steve and Shawn for your kind remarks. - The kite notes "book" is very much a work in progress, lots more to go in it, and of course corrections and updates - but it is good to share. Steve, regarding a wiki - do you mean a set of connected html pages, rather than a pdf as it is now? Or do you mean something like the wikipedia or the Fractured Axel wiki? Either way the answer currently is "no", but that may change. You can see my current views on adding to a wiki at the end of: http://www.seek2know.org.uk/kites/PJKites/PJKite.html. If you have a specific format in mind, experience of its advantages, and perhaps advice on how to create that format, I'd like to hear about it. Otherwise downloadable pdf has just been the easiest way of getting a formatted (electronically searchable) document out into cyberspace.

...Well, where to begin? In English speaking Europe the big trick kite forum is the Fractured Axel. Among the manufacturer's forums, the Prism one is the best/most active English language one for information. Then there is the Classy kites forum - a small and helpful mainly trick kite community, mainly US based. ...And many kite clubs have their own forums. If you speak other languages the list expands enormously. - In short, you could easily drown in all the information. If you want a list, you could download my notes from http://www.seek2know.org.uk/kites/PJKites/PJKite.html . There is a chapter full of urls. And I must try harder not to browse quite so many forums.

We had a wind meter break one exceptionally windy day. ...Well, besides kudos for knowing exactly what winds people are flying in, a wind meter is useful for those times when it is actually useful to know the wind speed down to the last mph or so. For example, last weekend at the seaside, the wind was consistently staying above 9mph, but usually only by 1 - 2 mph. I wouldn't have been able to tell that without the wind meter. - The significance of that was our vented kites fly down to 9mph, but not much below without walking backwards, and we needed something that would fly slowly and stall near the centre of the window for coaching purposes in a very crowded festival flying area. No seriously, more generally, an accurate wind meter is such a useful device for saving the time of getting out the wrong kite for the prevailing wind conditions. (Around here, that is usually about whether we need SULs or indoor kites in the 0 to 3mph range.) - And we learnt which kites were right and wrong by comparing their behaviour with wind meter readings. ...Several experts say to us that it is all about instinct. One day my partner and I hope to be good enough to accurately read conditions without a wind meter. - But until that day, I'll be the guy looking silly holding his arm up towards the sky.

Yep, This problem of recognising kite orientation is specifically why, for our very few custom made kites, we specified differently coloured wingtip panels. Personally I suspect that symmetric patterns are often chosen as it is more difficult to recognise visual clues for kite orientation, and so it adds to the mystery in videos and demos. - But not so good for learning tricks.

If you are thinking "elegant" rather than bold colours, then Kevin Saunders' Temptation, as featured in his video comes to mind (Not the Chinese manufactured versions, or even the pictures on Kevin's website.)

..You live in the Northern hemisphere, yet regualrly check out kite forums in Australia.

Well, at the risk of stirring things, for public display purposes, perform in time to a piece of music, rather than having music as a background. - IMO it is rather like dancing. - Some people can do the most amazing gymnastics, but it only starts to look to most people like a good dance when the gymnastics fits with the music and vice versa.

Oh, this depends so much on the individual. Some newbies are brilliant on yo-yos and other wraps tricks, but struggle with 540s. Others master backflips first. With me, the axel was the trick that I first really mastered. I think that which you get first also depends on your kite, its setup, and on the wind conditions. On the basis that it is the thing with the least to learn, I'd expect that the backflip low in the window would be easiest. i.e. Just move backwards and pull arms back from in front to behind you to get the kite to fly fast, with perhaps a flick of the wrists at the end of the pull back for a final bit of speed, then throw arms forward and lunge forwards to get the nose to fall backwards. - But it doesn't work that way for many people. Mostly in 1 - 4mph. But this is because of local conditions. We had to get the right SUL and low wind standard kites to make it work. I expect that people in winder places could do the same sort of thing but with higher wind kites. The low winds and low kite speeds certainly gave us more thinking and reaction time.

At the risk of second-guessing someone else's words, I suspect that what Nigel means, is to find a light wind where the kite will fly fairly comfortably without having to move backwards, and you don't have to move fast forwards much to keep the kite in a stall. ?? Is that right Nigel?

Being an Australian kite site, I guess you are not so interested in indoor flying. - But perhaps you do get still days. This is the best really low wind video I have come across (courtesy of fractured axel forum). http://www.r-sky.com/videos/venezia.divx ...The tricks are the same as in higher winds. - But they are slower and you can see more of what the kite is doing. Also low wind fliers know how difficult it is to do what they are doing so elegantly

Gary, You are probably right. Although I do not understand what would make the nose rise off the ground in order for the kite to catch the wind.

I think I am loosing it, and am no longer sure that the Prism Trick Show video shows a launch from kite on its back nose towards pilot straight into a fade. - Will have to keep trying to study that. But Gary, I think I have found the explanation for the launch you experienced. It is on the Dodd Gross Flightschool DVD, under the name of "nose pop-up" launch. Let's start with the kite on its back on the ground with the nose towards the pilot. Then pull on both lines evenly so that the kite balances on its nose, with the wingtips high up in the air. Now (and this was the bit I wasn't understanding) tip the kite back slightly, so that the spine is pointing into the air but away from the pilot. Then pop equally on both lines to pull the wingtips towards the pilot. The kite goes into a flare (maybe not a particularly flat one), with the nose facing away from the pilot, and the kite rising off the ground. Now it is relatively straightforward to pop again to convert the flare into a fade. So I am guessing that when Gary you turned away to view the car you applied tension to the lines, pulling the kite up onto its nose. Then somehow there was another pull to bring the bottom of the kite (which is uppermost as the kite is upside down) towards you and the rose off the ground. Then there had to be a third pull to convert the flare into a fade. Don't know how much gusty wind conditions could have helped to achieve this.

Big Whoops! :o:o:o Just checked the Prism DVD myself and saw that all the sleeping beautys were straight into the air. Ditto Mama74. - Surprised I didn't get well and truly flamed for this. :o:o:o In my defence, as mitigation, I enter the plea that in Prism's FreeStyle Pilot flight guide (the booklet that accompanies some versions of the Prism FreeStyle Pilot DVD), on page 5 it says: "Starting with the kite on its back with nose towards you, pull one wing to rotate the kite on its back 180 degrees, then tug the other line to scoop air under the nose into launch position." ....Talk about overlooking/forgetting things. Perhaps I should practice/check I can do it without the launch position step. P.S. In addition, on the old Prism Trick Show video, near the end, there is a launch straight from kite on its back nose towards pilot position into a fade without the benefit of roll bars and other aids. - Like alot in that video (e.g. Easy Overs, Mobiuses) don't know how they do it.

I was just taking you at your word that a sleeping beauty was not intended, as you wrote "or not" after what looked like a good sleeping beauty into launch position. I know that there is nothing new under the sun, but going straight from kite on the ground on its back nose towards pilot into normal flying without the wingtips touching the ground (excepting: going via a fade achieved with mechanical assistance e.g. roll bars) would be a new trick to me.