Hang on to Both Handles

Date: 10/17/2011 Place: 100 Acres Park, Moorhead, MN Kites: Rev 1.5-b "Sunset" 4-wrap on 75' Wind: 15 to 21 mph, NW Weather: Sunny, 52º $64.4/flight

This was a nice wind for the vented Rev. And it was a very pleasant evening, sunny and not too cold. I flew until about 20 minutes after the sunset.

At one point I lost hold of one of the handles. I'm glad the wind wasn't too high at that time -- the kite just settled to the ground.

I practiced moving the kite in different directions without changing the orientation of the kite. I also practiced diving the kite (leading edge first) and then braking right at the ground then letting the bottom lines go forward so that the kite is basically "parked" on the ground. This is a fast way to land the kite. Another skill I worked on is to have the kite upright on the ground and then take-off, immediately do one propellor spin and then land the kite again upright.

One more skill I worked on is to fly the kite back and forth across the wind window with a downward turn to switch directions, but without losing altitude. I pull on the "top" hand lines to slide the kite up a little just before the downward turn. Then a pull with the new "top" hand as it comes out the turn. This seems to work well.

A fun evening!