Re: Dead birds and propaganda leaflets

Subject Re: Dead birds and propaganda leaflets
From abw@cre.canon.co.uk (Andy Wardley)
Date Mon, 20 Apr 1998 11:19:31 GMT
Newsgroups rec.kites 
Airfoils <airfoils@gte.net> wrote on trick flying:
> Actually, I think it is FAR overdone and that many of the tricksters
> don't even bother with FLYING which I think is sad.

That would indeed be sad... 

> Personally I couldn't care less what Dodd says. If you want to do
> tricks, fine. Maybe you could go learn the whole thing and do some
> maneuvers too. It appears to me though that you spend 95% of your time
> under 15' flopping and flipping around.

but I think you have:

  1. greatly misunderstood the nature of freestyle/trick flying.
and/or
  1. been watching the wrong kind of freestyle/trick fliers. 
> I just think it stinks that the whole trick thing has focus and real
> flying is not.

I don't think there's any such thing as "real flying".

If I spent all my time flying a kite in straight lines or round and round in circle then it would be just as boring as flopping around on the ground doing "tricks". But would I hear cries that "Real flying is boring?" No! People would say that I was a boring flyer rather than criticising the flying discipline itself.

A flier should be versatile and creative and should encompass as much variation and difference of style into their flying as possible. If all they do is flop around on the ground then they're not being very creative. But that doesn't mean that a short bit of "Ground Flop" isn't a bad thing in a well structured context.

I can do "real" flying (as you mean it) AND I can do tricks. I reckon that makes me a more versatile performer. It means that there's more I can put into my flying to give it variation and excitement. It means that the techniques I learn in precision help me in trick flying and vice-versa. Can you claim to have the same experience from just "real" flying?

There's a great deal that trick fliers can learn from "standard" flying techniques (precision and control to name just two) and a great deal that "standard" fliers can learn from trick techniques (precision and control to name just two - but in a totally different way).

Why does there need be such animosity between the two camps? Why are there two camps at all? Aren't we just different tents in the same camp site?

My tent is always open and you're welcome to come and sit in it. It's safe and dry, and although you may still prefer your own tent, it makes a change every now and then. Anyone spending too much time in their own tent definately needs to get out more.

A 

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