Re: axel frustration

Subject Re: axel frustration
From abw@peritas.com (Andy Wardley)
Date 4 Jun 1997 08:13:54 +0100
Newsgroups rec.kites
One in a series of three: 
Chris Tulumello wrote:
> [...problem...]
> 
> Can you understand this problem?

Yes.

In FS2, Dodd teaches the Axel in the centre of the window. To get the kite to stop there, you have to aggressively snap stall it (not easy on all kites - particularly some trick kites) and then pop the Axel quickly before the kite flies off. When you get it right, the trick can look very impressive but it demands a reasonable level of skills.

The Axels you have been doing at the edge of the window are much easier to get right. I called this method the "Eezy Peezy" way to learn Axels when I first described it right here on rec.kites. The original articles are amongst those on my web site at .

I would recommend reading the articles and then practice the technique to get happy with what you're doing. When you know what an Axel is, what it looks like and how to do it, it's a lot, lot easier to go on and learn the other harder variations. 

> A fella on the field saturday (his looked exactly like dodd's) mentioned
> that my yank was not deliberate enough, more deliberate yanks (kinda
> more like a crossover move: popping hand (right) headed for my left
> shoulder) today proved a few tangled turtles - ugghhh!

No, not really. Out at the edge of the window you do need a very gentle pop which should give you a nice gentle, flowing Axel. You only need to pop hard when you're in the middle of the window or in some other position where an Axel doesn't "come naturally". 

> Any words of wisdom or am I doing a reverse axel and not even knowing
> it?

A simple Reverse Axel would be to fly from the centre of the window out to the left edge, turn the kite up slightly and than <pop> on the left line to get the kite to Axel clockwise back into the window. The normal Axel is the same with a <pop> on the right line to go counter-clockwise.

Hope that helps

A