Date: Sun, 26 Feb 1995 06:05:07 -1000 From: bwg001@carina.unm.edu (Brian W. Gordon) Message-Id: <3iq8rj$2og@lynx.unm.edu> Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Subject: Double Axel? For those of you that are just sick and tired of the axel please move on, I'm still addicted. When performing a double axel, does the first axel look nice and tight and the second axel very loose and open sorta like nomal spin? I was able to do this very thing the other day. But my friends say it itn't a double axel. Is it possible to pop a double axel so that both rotations look like honest axels? Just wondering Keith Kidder = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Sun, 26 Feb 1995 16:49:34 -1000 From: steveth@netcom.com (Steve Thomas) Message-Id: Organization: VisionAire; Palo Alto, California Subject: Re: Double Axel? Brian W. Gordon (bwg001@carina.unm.edu) wrote: : For those of you that are just sick and tired of the axel please move on, : I'm still addicted. : When performing a double axel, does the first axel look nice and tight : and the second axel very loose and open sorta like nomal spin? I was : able to do this very thing the other day. But my friends say it itn't a : double axel. Is it possible to pop a double axel so that both rotations : look like honest axels? Absolutely. First questions: what are you flying? Most kites simply don't have the aerodynamics to spin around the second time. Particuarly, any kite with "winglets" tends not to like to do that at all--the winglets tend to flip the kite back vertical immediately. *** If you're flying one that is (viz. XTC, vented Prism Elipse, few others), then the "double" can be accomplished by essentially doing an axel, but doing it "right on the edge" of flipping out of the air. The move takes *wind*--the sail must be partially full of air (as opposed to what you were taught when you learned to do a Single). The move consists of a "squeezing a watermellon seed between your fingers" kind of motion in which you axel the kite while it pulls against you. Whew. This is tough. Describing this in words is, as you might imagine, even harder than describing it in real life. This is a difficult move, too. Last year, the move was "scheduled" to be in my routine. It only showed up about three times the whole season (this year's XTC makes it a lot easier, though). It's real easy to mess up, and real hard to do it in a "scheduled" (i.e. to the music) manner. As much as I pride myself on my own teaching abilities, teaching this move has mostly elluded me. I've shown many people how to do it, and I haven't ever seen *anyone* get it consistently. Akira Suzuki (Japanese Master's flyer, now Bay Area resident) seems to be getting close. Peter Werba (another Master's flyer here on the Left Coast) seems to be able to be *somewhat* consistent with the move also... So... **Good luck**... (it's getting awful lonely being the only person that does a double-pop-axel in competition)... = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Mon, 31 Jul 1995 04:16:38 -1000 From: JBENEDICT@lex.lawnet.fordham.edu (Jason Benedict) Message-Id: <950731101638.21005ccc@law.fordham.edu> Organization: Harvard University Office of Information Technology Subject: Double Axel >Well, actually, there's a short list of kites that will really do a >real double-pop-axel. [...] >Unfortunately, lower aspect kites, such as the "Tracer-like" kites, >won't double-pop-axel. I think I may have pulled it off with Dean's Millenium, and I am currently working on getting the new Air Master Bad Boy to come around for the second time.. gonna do it.. just need more air time.... >Ah, but they probably ought to contain some flashes. Talk to Tim...um >...can't think of his last name, but he works for Dean Jordan. I gather >he's at Berekely this weekend. Isn't that the thingy that Tim does off the edge with the Milleniums ? BTW: His last name is Elversten >After you master the double-axel, try the double-ally. An "ally" >(pronounced "all-ee") is essentially a reverse axel from the ground on >the opposite wing-tip >So _that_'s what you call the tip-to-tip axel. I don't think it ever >occurred to me to try to get a double axel into that one. Neat idea. Note: For those of you who have never met Jeff, there was just a spark in his eye as he realized that there was a new trick he could try with his Hawaian Team Kite... JJ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =