11 replies to this topic

[drdante]

 

Hey Rev. airmen

 

I want to hear if there are some who have some really good exercises that you can use for training to WSIKF 13.

I'm looking for exercises that are to intermediate Rev. pilots. possible a series of exercises or routines that make it easier to grasp a flight with such a large mega team.

I know precision, hoover and narrow turns ect is important. But combining it in a training session?

 

Thank you in advance

[Watty]

The basic skills that you need for the mega fly are explained in this video:

 

A large majority of the mega fly is basic hovers. You may very well end up sitting in an upright hover for over an hour, so be prepared for that. Any individual movements are slow, and not particularly significant. If you have a solid hover in all positions, you should be golden. In order to pull off such a large mega fly, we have to keep the required skill level as low as possible to get as many involved as we can.

[drdante]

Thanks Watty

 

Yes, I ought as a member of kite life, might take advantage of this good page and have looked at the wide range of training films available on kitelife.com

:-) :-)

 

And this was not an advertising :-) ...... !

[katrina]

Yeah, like Watty said, it's all in the hover.  Be sure to to practice ALL positions, not just left right up down.  With that large of a group, it's hard to predict where you will end up on the big ball.  You may find yourself inverted, or facing out at an angle.  Unless there's new stuff this year, the ball is the only slightly tricky thing in the whole mega fly.  So here's an exercise for you: go hover somewhere, then imagine John calls for a big ball.  Pick your spot in the sky and back into it.  Hold.  Then burst (try slow and fast), and back to ball.  Back and forth, over and over--burst and reverse to ball, trying to keep on a straight track.   Another very simple exercise: Just try picking points in the sky and flying to them smoothly and accurately.  Also practice flying at the very edges of the wind window, including the top and the bottom.  It's less comfy there, but it's great practice. 

 

Now, don't stress!  The mega fly calls are easy and slow.  Nothing complicated.  Yes there will be a lot of kites in the sky, but you won't even be aware of them.  You'll just be looking at your kite and the kites right around you. If regular group flying is like square dancing, then the mega fly is a large group doing the macarena.   (!Ay!) 

[goestoeleven]

You'll just be looking at your kite and the kites right around you. 

 

Except when you get distracted and forget which one is yours . . . ooooh . . . . look at all the pretty kites . . . . Happened to me this year at TI when we had about 17 revs just doing follows and pez and other random stuff . . . . "hey, what are those kites at the other end doing and they should join or get out of the way" followed by "hey, who is the idiot messing up the line" . . . followed by "oops, that would be me."  Don't worry, have fun.  You will have fun.  Hang out, fly revs.  Join the big groups.  It's all good.  No, seriously, it is really all good.  

 

Actually, it's probably easier to focus when you are brand new as you are so worried about messing up that you really pay attention to your own kite, plus you've been flying all day without taking a bio break . . . so you are more "focused" as a result.  And the rest of us don't care if you mess up - we've all been there and will be there again.

 

Keep flying, have fun.  See you at WSIKF!  

[Kitelife]

Good advice all.

 

The payoff will really come for those who arrive on Monday or Tuesday, and have a chance to slip into groups early on.

 

The Northwest Rev fliers are VERY well versed in team flying, we have several callers, and there is lots to be learned for the early birds.

[mtp]

it would be fun to be a part of this and good enough to fly in it.  but ill be filming it with my crew! its going to be amazing!

[Kitelife]

I feel the same... I won't be able to fly in the record attempt, as I'll likely be doing much of the calling.

 

Impossible to track 99 kites on top of my own, I top out around 50.

[drdante]

We very much look forward to fly with you all. and we are very excited for the trip.

And thank you for all the tips. It gives us an idea of ​​what to work on!

 

see u all, Dan

[mtp]

i dont know if im more excited for the fly or for meeting all the fellow revers all in one place! 

[HedgeWarden]

For me (as Katrina said) the trickest maneuver is the ball. Backing into the lower corners of a ball with the usual turbulance from the other kites is tricky. Maintaining the burst speed to synchronize with the other kites - watch me, I'm usually either the first off the line (before simon-says "now") or the last (oh - everyone else is already moving - that's what "now" meant) or travelling the wrong speed - but those are just my personal devils.

 

In light wind, holding an upright hover can be difficult - espeically at the top or the bottom of the group.

 

Generally people are very tolerant of mistakes - we are all just having a lot of fun. (Serious fun, not goofing off.)

 

Hope to fly with you, Dan.

-Howard

[Stone in Shoe Bob]

Okay, first of all I have to apologise for what may look like a shameless attempt at self promotion. I was going to post some advice, but anything I was going to say I have already said in an earlier thread. A while back I wrote an account of my team flying debut at Portsmouth in 2008. Things have moved on a bit since then and I believe there is much more space at WSIKF for marshaling than there is at Portsmouth, but anybody following this thread may find something to help in A Make-Weight’s View of the Mega Grid (clickable).