Hi,

I have seen a lot of videos of people circling their trainer kite in the power zone to scud. I know if you do a figure 8 you would be moving the kite circling left and then right, but I see videos of people just doing a circle repetitively with the kite. I cant really tell what they are doing with the control bar though. Would this make the lines tangle? do I need to circle the bar in my hands as well to make up for the circles the kite does repetitively?

Havent flown a kite before but when I do (HQ Hydra 350) in less than 2 weeks Im not gonna have anyone to ask or even have internet for that matter... thanks!!

The lines wrap around themselves and you increase the friction making it harder to control the kite, but you can unwrap the lines by spinning the bar - if you have a bar that spins. Otherwise, you'll have to loop the kite back the other way

If you loop the kite, this creates one cross in the lines per loop. You must either loop the kite back the other direction or spin yourself to get the cross in the lines out.

(Spin yourself? Get the kite to 12 o'clock in the sky, rotate yourself 360 degrees the same direction as the kite looped to get the twist out.)

The lines used in higher quality power kites (Peter Lynn, HQ, Ozone, Flexifoil, etc...) are made from either Dyneema or Spectra. These lines have a natural slickness that allows them to be twisted many times with very little drag or binding. The stronger the winds the more the drag/binding will be but you should be able to get at least 5-6 twists in your lines (5 or 6 loops of the kite in the same direction) before the lines start to bind up from the twists.

As mentioned above, you can either spin yourself to un-twist the lines, or the easiest thing to do is just start looping the kite in the opposite direction and the twists will come out. So if you twist 4 times clockwise and it starts binding, you can untwist 8 times counterclockwise before it starts binding the other way.

With higher quality lines you should be able to get 8-10 loops before binding begins. Just be careful when you are doing your twists, if you go to far and the lines do bind or lock up, the kite will go into a "death spin" and the only thing you can do then is to hope and pray that the kite just crashes so you can manually untwist the 100 or so twists to re-gain control.

Thanks! thats REALLY helpful!

I'll try to limit the loops to 4 since I'll be using a trainer right now, and it probably doesnt have as high quality lines as a real kite. No fancy spinning control bar either... Will definitely look for a fancy control bar once I get a real kite (like the one that detaches from its restricted sheeting area so you can sheet in out out alot more).

So excited to do this finally! next weekend I'll be flying the kite in 90 degree weather on the beach far away from these freezing conditions! wooohoooo! Wish I knew how to kitesurf already...

Your Hydra comes with some very good quality lines, you should do fine. Have fun and respect the power of the wind! Even though you are flying a trainer, it will spank you hard if you are not careful or take it out in too much wind.

hydra is awesome, You can spin the bar to unwrap the lines on it.. and listen to this man ^^

I have been out for 2 months due to not respecting the wind...

have fun .

I flown the Hydra a lot and gotten the loop down pretty good now. Because of the size, its the best way to generate consistent power by letting it loop continuously.

I do get a bit nervous when the line twist more then 4 times since I am worrying that the additional friction will wear down the line faster.

Also I notice the kite tend to drift towards the center of the wind window and towards the ground, so usually I try to steer it so that the uploop portion is slightly longer so the kite stay in the same position in the window.

I am stepping up to the 10m charger now and haven't dare trying the multi-loop since it generate crazy amount of power even in 10-15mph wind.

I've only been on the 3.5m rush pro, and some beginner tips i'd advise:

-if you do decide to turn the bar to get the twists out, do them one FULL turn at a time to start with, and stabilise the kite after every FULL turn (a few times the kite started moving while i was turning, then when i go to correct it, i realise i have the bar backwards and steer it straight into the ground )

-if you decide to spin yourself, practice it in a way that wont turn the bar and subsequently steer the kite. else you might turn around to see the kite heading straight towards the ground!

-if you decide to loop the kite in the opposite direction, make sure you have enough room. i find that i can do about 3 loops before the kite is too close to the ground. then i have to take it back up to the top of the window to do the un-loops.

-with the rush pro, i am able to let go of the bar, pull my leash hand back, and spin the bar with my other hand to get the twists out, then grab the bar and get the kite flying again before it even hits the ground. personally i find this method the best.
easier than spinning the bar alone, quicker than looping, and less dizzying than spinning myself :puzzled:

be aware im still a beginner, so if i've said any big no-no's, please correct me.

I'm excited to see a beginner who is stoked to share what they know! You are right-on with all of those!

Keep Flying!

[topic tangent]

I've always marveled at the iQuad guys - especially when it comes to twists in the lines. They choreograph some amazing routined with their Revs that boggle the mind. It appears that not only are they twisting their OWN lines up - they're also twisting about the lines of the OTHER kites too. As near as I can figure anyway. It seems that the whole routine has planned each twist with it's counterpart untwist but damn...sometimes it's hard to keep track.

Is it really this complex? The work these guys put into their routines? They never cease to amaze me.....



[/topic tangent]

Quote:

Originally posted by erratic winds I'm excited to see a beginner who is stoked to share what they know!

sometimes beginners are the best people to help other beginners, because they know what they're going through

but then again, beginners advice should be taken with caution, incase they are doing things wrong or unsafely