We're back in Stoke Park for this month's video. I didn't do as much flying and filming in June as I would have liked. Nevertheless, I did get some reasonable footage showing some half-decent tricks and general flying.

The format is similar to previous movies, mostly comprised of short clips edited together as best I can to flow nicely and fit the music wherever possible. My ongoing apologies for this - I realise that some people prefer to see longer, single shot sequences that don't rely on camera trickery and special effects to make things fit. Unfortunately, it's hard when you haven't got a cameraman - you have to settle for single shots with the kite so small that you can hardly see it, or close-up shots where the kite is always cutting in and out of frame. And whichever way you do it, you can be sure that 90% of what you do will be out of frame, out of focus or just out of control.

So my aim has always been to produce videos that look as good as possible, and are educational or inspirational, rather than simply showcasing my flying or trying to capture on film the newest or most insane tricks known to man. Of course, I'm actually trying to do a bit of all of them, while also providing some variation and progression throughout the year. Also, don't forget that January was the very first kite video I ever produced, and this is only the sixth. So I'm relatively new to this and learning a lot as I go along. Anyway, the long and short of it is that I'm trying to shoot longer, more complete scenes in the filming that I'm now doing for July, but I was stuck with the limited footage I had shot in June.

The video features some of the simpler Wrap Tricks and also starts to explore how they can be integrated with other spin tricks and groundwork for some interesting combinations. The Roll-Up is perhaps the easiest wrap trick to begin with. Starting from a fade, the kite is flipped under and all the way around into a wrap. It is then flown down, flared out and pulled back to unwrap the kite back into a fade.

We also look at another way of getting the kite into a wrap, by rocking the nose forwards and then initiating a hard back flip. By adding extra slack in the lines, we allow the kite to complete a full Back Wrap. Once we have the kite wrapped, we can then perform other tricks, such as the Wrapped 540 Flat Spin and Wrapped Flat Spin to Land, both of which are featured here.

Wrap tricks can also be combined with other spin tricks, providing a natural extension to combinations that usually incorporate Flic-Flacs or other flips tricks (e.g. Jacob's Ladder). The video includes a (rather minimal) demonstration of one of the more interesting combinations that I'm working on right now. I call it the Mutant and it's something like an inverted backspin mutex with a full wrap instead of a simple flic-flac. First you perform a back wrap and then immmediately unwrap it, letting the nose come all the way back around and under into the nose bone position (like a turtle, but with the lines running over the leading edge and behind the back of the kite). Pull through on one line to give the kite a full barrel roll (nose pointing down like a limey twist), or if you get the kite flatter into the nose bone, half a backspin (like a crazy copter). Then flip it back under and around into another back wrap and repeat (just once in this case, but I'm working on it...).

The other trick that features this month is the Tip Stab. Never mind "Old School", this trick is "Pre-School", but it's still an impressive move nonetheless. It can be used as an entry to, or exit from all sorts of tricks, or as a hard and effective punctuation mark in the middle of a combination or routine. When executed well, it also demonstrates precise control of the kite under hazardous circumstances. I must admit, I like to stab hard, or even stab with a bit of pull through to really flex the wing on the ground, almost (but not quite) to breaking point. As well as looking good (for some definitions of "good"), you get a real spring back into the air as the wing flexes back into shape.

The music is a first cut of another original composition of mine, entitled "Airwaves". It needs more work, but serves the purpose for now.

00.00	Opening credits
00.09	Starting from a tip stand, pull on the bottom line to rotate the kite back to a reversed two point stand. Then drop it down flat and pop it up into a fade, half backspin to nose bone and then a hard flip into a back wrap. Fly up wrapped then come back down for the ground flare and unwrap back into a fade, 540 backspin, back flip to turtle and acid drop to a two point landing. Axel take-off and fly up and out to the left.
00.25	Here's the Mutant. Fly up from bottom left, rock the nose forwards a little and then flip it into a back wrap. Then unwrap into a nose bone, full barrel roll, and flip it into another back wrap. A brief pause, then unwrap, and what looks like I'm trying for another back wrap but don't quite give enough slack and have to settle for an acid drop from the deep turtle to the ground. Axel take-off and fly out to the left.
00.39	Ground pass from the right, a clean snap stall to two point landing. Axel take off into a ground pass back to the right. Simple, but classic.
00.42	Enter from right, brief stall and rock forward for a back flip into a deep lazy susan down to the ground. Axel take-off with an extra fractured axel into a fade, then half a barrel roll and back flip into a multi-lazy susan down to the ground.
00.55	Enter from top right in a slow, floating Axel down to a tip stand. Axel off the wing tip to stab the opposite tip (Coin Toss), then Axel off that wing tip and fly out to the right.
01.02	Cross-fade to a grey day and the kite belly down on the ground. Pop up into an Axel, half barrel roll and flip into a back wrap. Fly up wrapped and out of frame, re-entering from the right. Flare the kite out then unwrap into a fade, a barrel roll, then fly up and out.
01.12	Enter from top in a flic-flac, extending the last flare into a roll-up flying down the ground. Flatten the kite belly down and pop up to unwrap into a fade and multiple backspins.
01.19	Fly down from top right, with lines pre-wrapped around kite (didn't catch the wrap in shot). Flare out for a wrapped 540 flat spin, unwrap and fly up and out.
01.23	Fly down from top left, again pre-wrapped from a roll up just above camera shot. Flare out to a wrapped 180 flat spin, unwrapping to a two tip stab. Take off and fly up and out.
01.26	Cross fade to tip stab. Flatten the kite down almost to the ground and pop directly up into a fade. Half barrel roll and flip into a back wrap. Fly up and out of frame, re-entering in a wrapped power dive from top right. Flare out near the ground and unwrap to a fade, elevating upwards before flaring out to a 540 flat spin and fly out to the left.
01.39	Here's me and mirror-me flying our kites in and out of a crack in the higher dimensions of space and time. Either that or it's the ubiquitous mirror effect that I can't resist adding (actually it is quite useful in balancing out a badly-framed scene with the kite primarily off to one side). Anyway, it shows the full Fruit Roll-Up sequence, simultaneously for both hands (thanks mirror-me!). Starting in a fade, flip the kite into into a wrap, fly down, flare out and unwrap back into a fade. Here I'm also adding a backspin onto the end and a couple of axels to finish the sequence and fade to black.
01.54	Fade in to a Full Burrito Launch. This looks impressive but it requires very little skill if, like me, you wrap the lines around the kite by hand (I am working on setting the wraps in flight but I'm lagging behind Tim Benson who has almost cracked the full wrap all the way down the lines). All you have to do is pop up from the wrapped belly launch and keep gently and steady pressure on the lines, making any small adjustments required to stop the kite turning or drifting.
02.05	Fade in to a nice blue sky and the kite flying down from the right into a gently carving turn and pop up into a fade to start a backspin mutex. We do a 360 backspin (R), then a deep flic-flac right into a tail bone, then back up into a fade and backspin with the other hand (L), then revert back the other way (R) for 540 before dropping out into a stall. Axel into a ground pass and a brief flirt with the turf, followed by another Axel and fly out to the left.
02.21	Fly in from the right (it's just like Pacman's world where the edges of the screen wrap around) and carve up into a fade and a backspin cascade, ending the fourth with an extra spin-and-a-half to flip up, fly up and out.
02.32	Enter from right and stall to a backside tip stab (stabbing the wing that starts furthest from the ground, the right in this case, rather than the one nearest the ground, the left). Then coin toss to briefly stab the other wingtip and fly out to the left.
02.38	Enter from left and double axel to tip stab. Double axel off the tip, fracturing the second into a fade, then single flic-flac, flaring the kite out flat just above the ground, coming back into the fade with a half barrel roll and back flip to a lazy susan down to the tips. Axel take-off and fly out to the left.
02.49	Enter at top left just as the kite is popping up into a fade. Let it sink down to the right. A single flic-flac, half a barrel roll into the lazy susan down to a tip stab. Axel off the tip and fly out to the right.
03.01	Cascade down the window, hold it in a puddle then fountain half way back up and pop into a fade. Then a duplex sequence comprising a backspin (R), flic-flac, backspin (L), deep flare into a tailspin (R) down to the tips. Axel take-off and fly up and out to the right.
03.19	Drop down from top right into a double axel.
03.23	Carve up around the top right corner into the same double axel, but this time ending in a tip stab. Then an Axel take off from the downside stabbed wing (an Ollie) and a double Axel back the other way and fly out to the right.
03.30	Enter from top right, stall and slide into centre window. Axel cascade into a flic flac and then backspin cascade, ending with an extra spin as we fade out to the credits.
03.44	Closing credits

The video clip and associated text are Copyright © 2004-2006 Andy Wardley.

You are encouraged to download the video, copy it, and share it with your friends. You may distribute it in unaltered form for any non-commercial purpose. This includes burning the video to CD or DVD to give (but not sell) to your friends, or uploading the video to your web site for others to download, provided that you include a link back to this original page (apart from anything else, this helps to spreads the load of people downloading it from my server). You also have my express permission to create translations of the text and re-publish it on your own web site, provided that you include a link back here.