Welcome to the fourth installment of
Wing Tips! In the last issue, we covered the technique for performing a snap stall.
Now,
let’s explore two variations of this popular maneuver - the snap landing and
the wing tip stab. Since both of these tricks have a higher degree of
difficulty, you should be proficient at the basic snap stall prior to advancing.
So, how do you presently land your dual-line kite?
The
typical technique is to fly the kite to the far edge of the wind window. Once
there, a landing is easily achieved since the kite will naturally slow down and
loose lift. However, landing at the extreme edges does have its disadvantages.
Since there is minimal air pressure on the sail, the kite is prone to falling
flat on its face after touchdown (resulting in the "walk of shame" to
reset your kite!). Also, relaunching from the edge can be difficult.
The snap landing eliminates these problems since you will now
be able to land your kite directly down wind. Plus, it’s a lot more dramatic
and fun to perform! The technique is basically the same as the standard snap
stall in that you still execute two quick combo turns (remember the
push-pull/pull-push hand motions from last issue?). The only difference is that
the snap landing will begin with the kite in a vertical dive instead of a
horizontal pass. Therefore, the initial combo turn will be held just a bit
longer to allow the kite to rotate a full 180 degrees until nose up. At that
moment, immediately perform the second contradictory combo turn to stop the
rotation and stall the other half of the wing. After this, your hands should be
equal with the kite in a nose up stall. But remember, since the kite is in the
power zone, you will have to instantly walk forward (or run if the winds are
strong!) to get the kite to descend until the wingtips touch the ground.
It is desirable to delay the snap landing until the kite has
dove very close to the ground (usually no more than 10 feet from impact). This
way, the ensuing stall will have the kite positioned low enough that you only
have to take a step or two forward to land the kite. Conversely, delaying too
long will result in a nasty crash and have the onlookers wondering if your
playing ‘lawn darts’ instead of flying a kite!
So, to minimize damage to your kite, begin learning the snap
landing in this manner: Before attempting to land on the unforgiving ground,
pick out a flying spot that has a hillside, tree line, building, etc. on the
distant horizon and well beyond the length of your flying lines. You can then
use these objects as ‘soft’ landing barriers to judge your accuracy. This
will be a lot easier on your equipment since you can now practice pseudo
landings with the kite 10 to 20 feet in the air were mistakes aren’t so
critical. Once comfortable, progress to actually landing on the ground.
The
ultimate goal is to perform the trick so low that the stall and landing appear
to happen simultaneously - in other words, the perfect snap landing!
The second snap stall variation is the wing tip stab.
As the
name implies, the object it to stall the kite and then have one wingtip ‘stab’
into the ground. (And yes, be prepared to break a few lower leading edge spars
or ferrules!) To start, it will be easier to learn this maneuver by flying the
kite down in a 45 degree diagonal pass from an upper edge to the lower edge on
the opposite side of the wind window. And, like the snap landing, it may be a
good idea to try stalling on ‘soft’ barriers. Then, after you can
consistently stall your kite with the one wingtip dipped down, try stalling
lower until the wingtip will contact the ground. The final progression is to
execute a wing tip stab from a vertical dive straight down wind. One final tip
regarding the wing tip stab; always try to orient the kite so the wingtip
contacting the ground will be closer to you. Therefore, right before contact,
pull back on the flying line that corresponds to the grounded wingtip and
simultaneously feed the remaining line. This will aid in stabbing the tip and,
more importantly, angle the kite so you can easily maintain a steady wing tip
stand.
Hopefully, these two articles on snap stalls will prove
beneficial to those wishing to learn these maneuvers and also add to your kite
flying enjoyment. Just remember not to get frustrated since adding new tricks
only comes with a lot of practice. In the next issue, Wing Tips
will explore the axel - the one trick that every dual-line flyer wants to
learn!
