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*TOSS AND CATCH*


Hector Herrera

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This has been done by many people, I just want to share this video and encourage someone to give it a try. The way to do it is to pull the top lines, BUT BE VERY CAREFULL...DON'T DO IT WITH STRONG WINDS..."IT MAY CUT YOUR HAND OR YOUR FINGERS". This is very important for everyone safety. Now go ahead and give it a try, I was doing it with 12 feet lines lenght. It is easier, if the wind elevates the kite a lot, pull the lines at a very high angle, if the wind is low, pull the lines at a lower elevation. You will be your own judge on when and where to pull. Have fun.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7...46375&hl=en

Héctor Herrera

Mr. Guatemalan KiteFlier.

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I do that with my Shockwave on 85' lines and whats nice is that kite you can throw it back out and it just glides nicely. When it gets to the end of the lines hard brake snap and it holds perfect like a dive stop.

Fun thing to do and yes be careful with the lines they will cut you bad.

Usually when doing line pull tricks or water flying I always wear gloves, never know when you'll need to grab and pull in a hurry.

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Add leaders to your handles such that the overall length doesn't reach to the bottom attachment point. I use 100# high-test bridle line for my leaders, as it's easy to tie and untie the knots. All my adjustments for tuning are done on the bottom lines so the length of the tops is a constant.

This way you have a safe place to snatch the kite out of the air. If you don't have long leaders you can cut your fingers, the one that gets hacked is the pinky and it happens in the fold of skin too! It takes forever to heal 'cause that's a stretchy part of your skin and in the fold besides. This is the voice of experience.

You can wear a bandaide on the pinky finger as safety device, even some electical tape will offer protection whilest learning.

As the kite is traveling up (on a kite with a bridle) you want to place both handles into your weaker hand, then reach out as far as possible and jerk the two top flying lines down and sharply. The kite will collapse and fall off of a table, (so to speak). you run down wind to catch it, if the jerking isn't done at the right time or sharply enough.

Hector, you need to balance the kite with one hand (the one holding the handles) in the middle and push the kite with your index finger like throwing a javelin. You want the kite to fly out to the end of the string and rotate so the leading edge winds up inverted. Holding it just at the one throwing edge will occasionally catch the bridle lines. Since both handles are in one hand already, you can practice having it "paste" inverted. The trick looks the best if you throw the kite at an angle, not directly down-wind into the power zone. Throw it towards the edge, then it slows down and the paste is more dramatic.

When you and a friend do your throws, you should practice crossing the strings, but the bottom guy can't take off until the guy's kite on the top moves away. Hence the need to work on pasting it inverted and holding it.

Feelin' really cocky?,... then throw the second kite thru the strings of the first guy, thereby nesting 'em together. To separate the two kites, one guy holds his hands real far apart with the leading edge vertical. The other guys side-slides horizontal inbetween to free them up.

Have fun and work with longer lines so it's slower. Fifty feet is pretty reliable in all conditions, one hundred feet and you are really struttin' your stuff!!!!

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Add leaders to your handles such that the overall length doesn't reach to the bottom attachment point. I use 100# high-test bridle line for my leaders, as it's easy to tie and untie the knots. All my adjustments for tuning are done on the bottom lines so the length of the tops is a constant.

This way you have a safe place to snatch the kite out of the air. If you don't have long leaders you can cut your fingers, the one that gets hacked is the pinky and it happens in the fold of skin too! It takes forever to heal 'cause that's a stretchy part of your skin and in the fold besides. This is the voice of experience.

You can wear a bandaide on the pinky finger as safety device, even some electical tape will offer protection whilest learning.

As the kite is traveling up (on a kite with a bridle) you want to place both handles into your weaker hand, then reach out as far as possible and jerk the two top flying lines down and sharply. The kite will collapse and fall off of a table, (so to speak). you run down wind to catch it, if the jerking isn't done at the right time or sharply enough.

Hector, you need to balance the kite with one hand (the one holding the handles) in the middle and push the kite with your index finger like throwing a javelin. You want the kite to fly out to the end of the string and rotate so the leading edge winds up inverted. Holding it just at the one throwing edge will occasionally catch the bridle lines. Since both handles are in one hand already, you can practice having it "paste" inverted. The trick looks the best if you throw the kite at an angle, not directly down-wind into the power zone. Throw it towards the edge, then it slows down and the paste is more dramatic.

When you and a friend do your throws, you should practice crossing the strings, but the bottom guy can't take off until the guy's kite on the top moves away. Hence the need to work on pasting it inverted and holding it.

Feelin' really cocky?,... then throw the second kite thru the strings of the first guy, thereby nesting 'em together. To separate the two kites, one guy holds his hands real far apart with the leading edge vertical. The other guys side-slides horizontal inbetween to free them up.

Have fun and work with longer lines so it's slower. Fifty feet is pretty reliable in all conditions, one hundred feet and you are really struttin' your stuff!!!!

Thank you Hector. I appreciate teaching videos like this. I applaud people like you, Rob, and RandyG and others who share their technique on a non commercial basis. This is one of the best things for kiting. Plus isn't it fun making videos. It is so easy to share.

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watchign the video, reading revflyers post.... i might just have to hit a vacant part if the beach to do this.... i was gonna try this last sunday, but the chance never really happened.... the worst thing that can happen other then shredding fingers is some real running... i wonder if this can be done with a blast.... oh yea, gotta think big for no reason at all..... (waiting for the concusion bill for that one)

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the interesting part about the speed series is you don't have to do the "catch aspect" at all. The kites have such a great float ,that they will make a horseshoe-shaped turn and seek the down-wind direction all by themselves. Or, to really show-off, you can do the catch DOWNWIND, (but you've gotta' run to be effective, no ideal walking will get you down there soon enough)

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I use what ever liines I have on to do this... More then 85' and it gets tougher for me...

In this case (Catch and Throw) the Quad Sticks make a Huge difference for me.. in my opinion..They keep the Kite Flat and allow it to hover better over long distances.. I have tried to Toss my New B series and I have had a more difficult time with it.. but it does Float real well when I do it right..New learning curve for me... Its parlty because I am not used to flying without the Sticks...

There will be NO sticks added on the B-series kites.. And I think they will go away from me now... But they are Great for giving Kite lessons.. Easy recovery and no walk to reset the kite in case of a Mishap... And They allow me to set up the Kite wthout having to Stake the Lines...

But this is a different topic all together... so.. Nuff said from me...

Jay

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  • 2 weeks later...

so, I can catch, but I cannot toss. And I have no luck with 2 wrap. had a toss bounce off of my head lightly and it snapped. the bounce was so light all I felt was the sail, and it snapped. somebody needs to tell me why my 2 wrap is Uber brittle. I have had a ferule transfer, and two pieces snap from next to no pressure.

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so, I can catch, but I cannot toss. And I have no luck with 2 wrap. had a toss bounce off of my head lightly and it snapped. the bounce was so light all I felt was the sail, and it snapped. somebody needs to tell me why my 2 wrap is Uber brittle. I have had a ferule transfer, and two pieces snap from next to no pressure.

That does sound quite weird while the 2 wraps are quite delicate sounds like you have the balsa wood versions we were supposed to send to Fraser.

I would defiantly inquire about that one.

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so, I can catch, but I cannot toss. And I have no luck with 2 wrap. had a toss bounce off of my head lightly and it snapped. the bounce was so light all I felt was the sail, and it snapped. somebody needs to tell me why my 2 wrap is Uber brittle. I have had a ferule transfer, and two pieces snap from next to no pressure.

The rod was most likely previously damaged. This can happen in transport if you have you two wrap on the outside layer of your REV bag.

If you are having problems with a toss, try this. Remove the lines and practice tossing it in a good glide. I found that it does tend to glide easier and further with heavier rods such as 3 or 4 wrap rods.

I also found that the mylar sail glides much better then the all cloth sail. That being probably the only advantage to the mylar sail.

I notice that some of you are getting your fingers cut and in one case I hear someone dug their fingers through the LE venting. After many hundreds if not more tosses and catches, I have never had any of these problems.

It could well be that I do use a different technique with my toss then I hear described here.

For the catch, I think of the REV as being and egg, raw and in the shell, that I am catching.

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I'm just trying to figure out how this much can happen to a kite in such a short time.. i guess i'm lucky, and have an aura of degradation of everything around me...

It just happens sometimes, I recently ordered a 3 wrap frame for one of my kites I noticed a weird bubble near the end and didnt think much about it, slid it in lifted up 12 ft off the ground my kite folded in half in 10 mph wind.

I called the place I got it from and sent them a picture and it was replaced as defective got the new rod in 2 days.

Like everything else in life $#!t happens.

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so, I can catch, but I cannot toss. And I have no luck with 2 wrap. had a toss bounce off of my head lightly and it snapped. the bounce was so light all I felt was the sail, and it snapped. somebody needs to tell me why my 2 wrap is Uber brittle. I have had a ferule transfer, and two pieces snap from next to no pressure.

To toss, make sure the kite's bridal side is towards the ground, and the bottom points are towards you.

I've done this with 2 wrap no problem, I don't know what could be wrong.

Last tme I did the catch and toss, I was using my 30' set, and when I tossed it back out, as soon as it caught the wind one of my top lines snapped! It supised me, because the wind was real light and was barely pulkling at all. Luckily it snapped right at the handles, so I gave it my handy dandy fishermans knot, and it flew just fine.

I bought the lines from The Kite Shoppe not too long ago, so I called (on a Saturday) and left a message. I'm gonna see if I can get just one 30' line from her to replace that one. I just don't feel real comfortable with the string being held together with just my little knot.

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When I toss the kite, I hold/balance it in the middle, with the same hand holding both handles. I carefully separate the handles with a finger in between them and I also look at the front of the kite to insure no tangles are present on the bridles or flying lines (dump the sleeving, it's a tangle point and not necessary!)

The front of the kite is facing the ground while I'm holding it. The toss is executed with my index finger and depending on the line length, you may need to add momentum by taking several steps towards your target area also. I prefer to toss diagonally across the wind window. On fifty or sixty feet of line you don't need anything more than your arm movement. Imagine it's a javelin, . . . you want a nice smooth action, that acelerates away from you with the passage of time NOT a jerky motion.

The toss should cause the kite to rotate slowly, so the leading edge winds up inverted and parallel with the ground, 180 degrees from the leading edge facing the flier to facing downwind upon completion.

I believe you have more frame stability and "glide" with the magix sticks on the back of the kite.

I also don't trust the hollow ferrules either, although many of my club-mates use them without any problems. As in all things Revolution, "there are no single correct answers, it's all about your own personal preferences".

I buy my 2 ply professional use only leading edge frames with the EXP ferrules, or I use Skyshark frame members, usually the P-200s (the center tube needs to be cut down, but these tubes don't loose any strength by hackin' 'em shorter either). I have personally broken the hollow ferrules in flight and also giving lessons, but I've never had a problem with the solid carbon ones.

I do this technique all the time, it's a great crowd~pleaser. Practice, practice, practice. If I can do it, then I know you can too!

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Is it just me or does Watty have 8 versions of the same reply in sequence ?

I think that neighbors wireless is Hiccuping.

Dude it's like time lapse replying man :unsure:

I could have sworn I only posted once!!!!! Oh Well, It's all fixed now. Sorry.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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