Re: Jam Session Rising Fade

Subject Re: Jam Session Rising Fade
From abw@cre.canon.co.uk (Andy Wardley)
Date Thu, 4 Jun 1998 14:51:14 GMT
Newsgroups rec.kites 
Robin Perry wrote:
> Funny you should say that because I did this a couple of times with an
> Activated (TM?) BoT over the weekend.  It happened when the wind changed,
> my timing on 540s went out and I just started pulling back both strings
> out of frustration.  I found it hard to continually repeat in the fashion
> you are talking about, though.

One thing that's worth mentioning is that the Active Bridle very much likes to be "controlled". Brian Todd mentioned this about the Trick Tail just recently and it struck a chord. If you're Flic-Flacing, Flat Spinning, or whatever, the best results tend to come when you've got enough slack in the line to let the kite move, but enough tension so that you can feel the bridle and control the kite.

Slow down the Flic-Flac and feel the bridle movement during the action. Walk forwards, if necessary. The kite should float fairly well on it's back or front.

It is also possible to adjust the motion of the kite during the Flic-Flac and control the final direction of the kite. A nice variation is to do a Flic Flac where the nose points alternately down to the left and then right sides of the window. Each time, you empahsis one hand slightly more than the other to turn the kite during the Flic-Flac.

This is the essence of the Sykwalker. Fly out to the edge of the window, pop the kite into a Flic-Flac and then repeat the Flic-Flac, complete with the rolling left/right motion while the kite slides across the window.

As described earlier, it is possible to make the kite go up in a Flic-Flac.

Similarly, it is possible to make the kite Flic-Flac sideways across the window using the same technique. 

> I have definitely found it considerably easier to get really flat
> flic-flacs with your active bridle (as well as greater precision and
> "multi-axelability") which probably helps.

Have you tried doing Flic-Flacs to the ground and back up? If the wind is light, you can Flic-Flac the kite with the tips just rubbing on the ground. Not rising, not falling, just rubbing. Very cool! A nice way to come out is to do the final kill slightly unevenly so that the kite is bellied out, nose away with just one tip on the ground. Pull hard on the wing that's not on the ground and you can get a superb Flat Spin backwards off the tip.

I had a name for this but I forgot it. "Backstab Spin" or something like that.

And finally, the neatest trick of the lot.....

Start in a low ground pass. Pop the kite into a Half Axel and then pull early (i.e. before the nose is fully away from you) on the other hand as if rising up to a Fade. Pulling on one hand causes the kite to start rotating while it's coming up into the Fade. Ideally, the Fade should come in so that the back of the kite is mere inches off the ground. The kite continues to rotate, as if turning around the spine and eventually recovers to continue flying in the original direction.

If it happens quickly and smoothly it looks like an impossibly low trick that has no business not crashing into the ground. No names for this one yet but I'm thinking something along the lines of "Barrel Roll".

Sorry, it doesn't explain well. You really have to see it. 

> Any chance of that definitive set of measurements for the BoT bridle
> (sorry to hassle you - again)?

OK. If I don't measure the bridle tonight, I *promise* I will do it over the weekend. There will be enough people at Basingstoke to hassle me if I forget.

A