Power Kite Forum

~~The Sine Wave~~

Drewculous - 25-6-2009 at 03:14 PM

Not sure where to throw this up, but this looks like a good spot lol...

So in my attempt to go from static flying to dynamic flying, i hit a bump...

Where in the window do you execute the sine?
(assume we are going to the left)



(thanks to angus for the image)

im trying like 6 to K and back, and not making any head way, i end up way downwind. As best as i can tell the progression landboarding dvd ive been watching says thats the number set, and to fly a tight, long/tall figure 8...

now that i look at it im thinking about it C to R may be the better path...

Anyway let me know! Thanks in advance! :bow to the greats:

kitejumper - 25-6-2009 at 03:26 PM

ive been messing with my synthesizers all day as its been raining--i'm having issues with a different kind of sine wave.......

Bladerunner - 25-6-2009 at 03:28 PM

It's kind of tough using the graph because you are moving.

I sort of found myself saying to myself , up on your toues and down on your butt.
That is to say when diving the kite ( down ) hard in to the power zone that you want to lean back against the power on your butt . Gain all the upwind you can. Even loop the kite in the power zone if you need to. Then relax and move up on your toes as you take the kite back up . You may go down wind a bit. Sort of pump and glide ?

In low wind your kite will fly in a sine and your tracks will make a bit of a sine .

Scudley - 25-6-2009 at 04:23 PM

If your reference frame moves with you, the sine wave should be up and down motion between G and S. The sideways motion that turns it from straight up and down into a sine wave is provided by the motion of the buggy. Does this make sense?
S

acampbell - 25-6-2009 at 04:46 PM

Looks like you are playing battleship.:singing: In any event I think you are over complicating things.

When in motion, the kite will find the edge of the window and reach a stasis. Then just move the kite up and down.

Kamikuza - 25-6-2009 at 06:24 PM

IMHO ... go out in over-powered conditions and just park the kite :lol:
Wednesday night I went out and with the 6.6 was having a hard time trying to get and keep moving ... I tried the sine wave but the kite would just stall on the way up, after I got moving. This is a common problem for me :D

What I ended up doing was diving to get moving, then back-looping into the power zone slightly behind me and 'slingshotting' around it downwind, picking up speed and apparent wind on the kite then sine-ing very gently ... if the kite was going to stall, I'd back-loop it again ... I don't like doing that though cos it crosses the lines and makes them look untidy :D

... I'm a noob too though - I can fly a kite well enough but putting things togeth and getting moving ain't so easy :(

Oops meant to add - I think the key things that is missing in all the advice about sine-ing, looping and #@%$#! is - make sure you got enough wind ... a little too much is better ;)

Drewculous - 25-6-2009 at 07:07 PM

it just seems like my kite wants to race out of the window and fold up... just havent hit that sweet spot i guess... hmm

id like to blame it on the sketchy and slow winds.... but there is a fair amount of user error too

practice practice practice.....

Kamikuza - 25-6-2009 at 07:48 PM

Try a figure 8, in the opposite direction you'd write it, back into the eye of the wind ... that should keep the kite from slowing down and collapsing ...

You got the DVD yet?

Drewculous - 25-6-2009 at 08:47 PM

i got the dvd, but it looked like he was swinging it from the very top of the window, to the very far/outside edge

i think instead of swinging it out to the edge im going to go straight down, straight up right in the powerzone (G and S (thanks scudley)))[sorry more numbers--- im a visual learner]... it kinda just clicked in my head... i dont know if i can put it to the graph... but a combo of everyone's advice, and angus telling me im over thinking it:puzzled: i pretty sure i got the theory of it in my head... pray for wind tomorrow in scottsbluff!! Hopefully i got the right idea... and i can hit the sweet spot (oh yeah)

Usually when i get scatter brained like this^^, i end up solving my problems.. the lightbulb over the head syndrom:P

Kamikuza - 25-6-2009 at 11:17 PM

I'm a visual guy too - learn more by watching than being told ... but there nobody to watch around here :(

awindofchange - 25-6-2009 at 11:39 PM

You need to sine the kite from either 3 to R or 4 to S depending on what type of kite you have. As you sine back upwards with the kite, you will move towards it so your upwards sine will have to be towards the edge of the window but at the same angle as either number 3 or 4 will be as you move towards your destination. The figure 8 sine will be for the least amount of winds.

An easier way to visualize it is to keep the kite at an appx. 45 degree angle up and in front of your destination. Sine it up and down as you need power but keep it out in front at that same 45 degrees. As the kite is out in front of you it will pull you along. Sounds simple... and it is just that simple. If you bring the kite back towards the center of the window you will lose all of your forward pull and get side drag or down wind pull.

I am assuming that you are riding a land board so....the first thing to do is to set the board up at appx. 45 degrees down wind in the direction you want to travel. Launch the kite, get the kite up at the zenith and climb onto your board. Drop the kite down right in front of you so you are looking right at the kite in front of your board. As soon as the kite starts to pull you along, edge the board away from the kite as you bring the kite back up so you are heading across the wind. Sine the kite out in front of you up and down, not back and forth across the window. As you sine, the kite will pull you on your board. To change direction, take the kite back up over your head and edge the board upwind so you are pointing upwind at a 45 degree angle again. Once you stop, rotate your torso back around to the opposite direction and do it all again to head back to where you started.

The pattern you will make on the ground would be like a giant "\____/" shape with the wind heading downwards as viewed on this post.

Keep trying and it will all of a sudden mesh together and you will be cruising.

Hope that helps.

Kamikuza - 25-6-2009 at 11:53 PM

That's what I'm trying to do Kent but there just wasn't enough wind :lol:
When there is though, I seem to be making that shape on the ground ... woohoo!

heliboy50 - 26-6-2009 at 12:22 AM

Hey Kamikuza the figure 8 you are talking about works well too. I am still pretty new at the whole buggy thing but a couple of times I have found my self losing track of my apparent wind and doing the 8 to get the kite (and myself) moving faster again. When I do the sine, as others have stated, I get moving and when the kite parks off of my shoulder, I then start the sine to build more speed. Practice practice practice.

Kamikuza - 26-6-2009 at 12:32 AM

The trick I use on skates is to do an infinity back to the eye of the wind, it whips me around real quick and keeps tension on the lines and the kite moving ... looks kinda like this.



I'm too scared to try it on a board though :lol:

acampbell - 26-6-2009 at 05:06 AM

Yeah, OK, if your are talking light wind then it is a bit more complicated. I'll amplify on Kent's advice about edging away from the kite (to keep the lines tight).

If the kite is racing to the edge of the window before you get moving, then change your heading to put the kite back in the window. Or put another way, move the window (by changing heading) to suite the position of the kite. Doing this, you will at times be flying the kite backwards in the opposite direction of your travel fora moment, but then you turn downwind towards it so that it is to your side and not behind you. Then as it races forward on the power stroke, you harden up again, turning upwind away from the kite. This will result in a serpentine track on the ground until you build up speed to match the kite.

To you point of view your kite will be doing figure eights, but to an observer standing on the ground it would look like a saw-tooth sine wave.

I confuse pedestrians on the beach all the time this way. They don't know what direction to move to get out of my way, so I have call out "You're OK" , and eventually pass by downwind of them.

Kamikuza - 26-6-2009 at 07:16 AM

Yep got it ... bah that'll require some hardening up on the cheese grater baseball fields :embarrased:

Drewculous - 26-6-2009 at 08:48 AM

Thanks for the input... i think i got it... just gotta get out and do it now
i just had kind of an epiphany last nite, and i get, in my head anyways, what the kite needs to do and where it needs to be.

I found a video of popeye's on youtube and he had about 5 seconds of a good sine wave on it, and it all seemed to click... now if the wind will come up ill be a happy camper!

awindofchange - 26-6-2009 at 12:29 PM

Wind conditions and kite size makes all the difference when you are first starting out. As your skills build then kite size can be compensated a little bit with skill. Keep going at it and one day you will have that perfect dream session that kite size and wind speed match perfectly. This will allow you to start to figure everything out and really get the feel of a good solid run.

Once you get the feel of how it all works then you will know what to try and get when the conditions are not as good.

Keep at it and it will all click together.

Drewculous - 26-6-2009 at 01:04 PM

ugh absolutely no wind today... storms rolling in tonite, maybe i can snag some good winds...:sniff:

mougl - 26-6-2009 at 01:13 PM

Drew, I've been having the same sort of trouble with my Twister as well. Get a Viper 2.6, problem solved! :lol:

mougl - 26-6-2009 at 01:14 PM

Drew, I've been having the same sort of trouble with my Twister as well. Get a Viper 2.6, problem solved! :lol:

Kamikuza - 26-6-2009 at 05:40 PM

Drew, where's that video link?

When I bought my Rebble, I went to the beach 3 days in a row - I spent maybe 4 hours trying to get moving with no joy. I had zero instruction so was making it up as I went along. It was also my first time on a landboard ... The third day, there was kicking wind and I just parked the kite and zoomed down the beach for miles ... I've been searching for that sensation ever since :lol:

Drewculous - 26-6-2009 at 07:59 PM



:50 to :58 is the sine

Kamikuza - 26-6-2009 at 08:22 PM

Ta!
Still say if you got not enough wind, you need to be doing some clever tricks :)

Drewculous - 27-6-2009 at 01:12 PM

:singing::singing::singing:

I GOT IT!!!!
HELL YEAH!!!!
WOOOO HOOOO!!!!

WHAT A FREAKING RUSH!!!

Sorry for the cap lock, but it was insane! just got back like 5 mins ago, so i apologize if this sounds goofy, but i am way stoked right now!! Took me a min, but after i hit it, i knew the spot and man, i prolly wasnt going that fast but it felt like i was screaming across the fields... Woohoo, i can offically lose the 'i sucS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K- badge and put on the 'im oS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K- badge!

thanks for the info guys!

:singing::wee::singing::wee::singing:

kitejumper - 27-6-2009 at 01:41 PM

WOW!! i can relate to your excitement--i do the exact same thing after i hit some monster jumps in the field!! call the relatives or anybody that'll listen--get on here-etc etc hahaha

acampbell - 27-6-2009 at 02:04 PM

Bravo. I know that feeling when you get a ripstop epiphany. Rock on.

Drewculous - 27-6-2009 at 03:06 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by kitejumper
WOW!! i can relate to your excitement--i do the exact same thing after i hit some monster jumps in the field!! call the relatives or anybody that'll listen--get on here-etc etc hahaha


yep, i called everyone that didnt care lol
just like when i jump, had to tell people when i break a barrier... It was sweet, the wind was just so, that i could cut diagonally across the whole soccer complex... so it was about the most distance i could possible get out there.. woohoo! however once the rush wore off, i realized i forgot the sunscreen... im all raccoon-ed out lol

Kamikuza - 27-6-2009 at 06:12 PM

Where's Ne - Nebraska?
The sun in Japan is different to other places I've been in the world - much brighter (can't go out without sunglasses) but doesn't burn me, just makes me go brown. If I did the same in NZ I'd be :mad: lobstered ...!
I can get moving on the board sometimes and get a putter across the field, but I really want to figure out how I'm doing it so I can repeat the experience ad infinitum :lol:
I miss that easy, hooked up and railed feeling I had on the beach eh :(

arkay - 28-6-2009 at 09:11 AM

Rock on! Next up the down loop :D This is fun... at least when not overpowered! Thanks to sunset-jim for turning me onto this. Rather than redirecting the kite up on and across on your turn you redirect it down towards the ground and then loop it back the other way. Before you do the down redirect I've found it very helpful to make sure the kite is way at the edge of the window and then just redirect it up a little first so that you have enough room to turn. It has a very different feeling then just spinning the kite 180 and taking it across the power zone. The likes will be twisted so if you are on a bar you can either spin the bar or do a downloop on the other side to unwind. Your kite will be in and then fly right across the power zone. It's kinda like a slingshot :bouncing:

Kamikuza - 28-6-2009 at 09:27 PM

Spent a long time waiting in the car for the wife yesterday, so I watched the Progression Landboarding DVD on the car navi ...

Noticed that in the 'getting under way' section the rider did a little trick as he got moving, utilizing a slingshot once he headed downwind ... this is the pattern the kite made.
[img]http://www.post#@%$#!.biz/albums/userpics/11553/pattern-prog.gif[/img]

Compare it with the back-loop I use to achieve the same effect. If I'm having problems keeping the power on, I'll throw in a back-loop and slingshot around that ...
[img]http://www.post#@%$#!.biz/albums/userpics/11553/pattern-kuza.gif[/img]

Sorry for the crap graphics, I'm using a laptop with a touch pad :lol:

Drewculous - 29-6-2009 at 09:29 AM

not bad given the pad!

Hafta remember that for the low wind days!

Kamikuza - 4-7-2009 at 09:12 PM

Here's it in progress at the end of the vid, last 20 seconds or so you can see ...





Dammit how do you guys embed them?

Drewculous - 6-7-2009 at 08:02 AM

hit the little tv icon just above the msg box, on the far right... then just use the video code from youtube, not the whole addy

instedad of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXXXXXXXXXX

just use XXXXXXXXXXX in the dialogue box that pops up

Kamikuza - 6-7-2009 at 06:28 PM

That would have taken less time to figure out and understand if you'd just told me about the [yuotbue] geek-code :lol: