How to Half-Axel Tutorial - Styles and Mistakes

The Half-Axel is one of the basic freestyle tricks (stunt kiting trick). It's relatively easy to perform and it's used usually to change direction when flying on horizontal line.
A friend of mine ask me about this tutorial. It was an opportunity for me to see my movements and improve my style. As I always say, it's very important to film your movements and observe what are you do with the kite in order to improve your technique. Specially, if you fly alone you can learn a lot from your own movements recorded on video.
For this tutorial I prepared a few exercises and show some mistakes.
Note: Some of these tips and exercises are useful only at the begging and can help you to make your first half-axels. Afterwards you should refer to Trickparty's website and the check how the trick should be performed on competition (link below). In this video I'm showing some "warm-up movements" which probably can help some pilots. Please, give me feedback, if these tips work for you!
0:09 - Let's start firstly with the horizontal lines. You should be able to fly in a straight horizontal line with constant, controlled speed (hands together, in front of you). Try at around 30-40% of the wind window where the wind is stable enough. In the 1st exercise your goal is to feel comfortable when accelerating the kite in down-turn by pulling with both hands. This pull will help you later for the descending Half-Axel Cascades. Also, probably you will be less afraid to pull for down-turn at one spot (half-axel). Remember, practicing straight lines, turns and stops (snap-stalls) will improve many aspects of your Freestyle.
0:30 - Same thing but on diagonal path.
0:43 - Descending on diagonal path with "kick". Well, the idea of this exercise is to disturb the comfort of the regular turn from the previous exercise. Imagine that you are turning again the kite towards the center of the wind window but the outer part of the kite (the top halve) has to be "kicked" (snap pull with one hand). After the "shake" make controlled exit of the situation.
0:50 - If you feel more pressure in the sail you can step forward to slow down the kite and give more slack easily.
1:11 - In general, leaning forwards should be avoided, keep your body upright as much as you can. I had my hands in front of me, so I leaned forward to give slack. There is a better way to give enough slack....
1:50 - Half-Axels. The rapid change of the direction must be performed on one spot (without loosing high during the rotation). To make it more perfectly, don't cut the speed before enter the trick and exit on the same horizontal line.
2:36 - This happens when you give too much slack on the top halve before the pull. The kite turns too much on it's roll axis and stalls irrecoverably. It's common mistake at the begging.
2:40 - Here, I'm showing more exaggerated arm movements and kill the speed just before enter the trick. For the exercise It's good to be able to stop the kite for a split second in this position but it's exactly what judges don't want to see on a competition. The kite rotates on it's Roll and Yaw Axis and can stay in this position for very short time before fall down or pick-up air again (in high wind).
3:08 - Half-Axels on diagonals
3:28 - In very high wind the trick is easier at the edge of the wind window with 1-2 steps, leaning forward and again this killing speed motion. Note: Here, this is done only for the video, the actual wind speed was about the same.
3:50 - In low wind you can do the trick with the hands in front of you but here I have them too far away from the body and I was not able to give enough slack, so the kite can't rotate correctly.
4:00 - Steps forward, leaning,....
4:05 - Now, the things are getting more funny: switching from 27m/40kp LPG to 6,25m/100kp lines. Shorter lines need much more slack and faster movements. Note that at certain point I hold my hands behind me just before start the trick. It's the only way to give fast enough slack and it's key element to perform the trick correctly.
4:20 - On 14m lines the kite is not too far away from the camera and not flying extremely fast.
4:30 - For me this is the correct "Freestyle way" of hand's movement. By holding them down-behind you have "pre-loaded slack" for any trick, not only Half-Axel. On these short lines I can't do the horizontal lines nicely but the idea is to see how the kite reacts. This is another view of good body posture: • Street Kiting in Paris...
4:50 - Enjoy the slo-mo... 12% of the real speed :)
6:11 - Like in Martial arts I twist my torso to transfer energy to the hands.
6:44 - Going backwards to build more pressure in the sail for sharper precision in the sky.
6:51 - Half-Axel Cascade. The correct way is to descent but maybe this is for another video....
To improve your Half-Axels: tricksparty.info/en/tricks-in...
Measured Wind speed: 10-13km/h with few stronger gusts
Kite: Energy STD by FlyKites
GoKiting!

[@lancetanner81]

Man, your skills are dope. I've been watching your videos for years. Even though I live in California, there are not many people that fly stunt kites in my area. Your tutorials have helped me progress quite a bit over the last 5 yrs. Thank you 💯 👍

[@gokitinggr]

Thank you for the comment, I really appreciate that and make me wanna upload more videos like this one!

[@fairladyzee2152]

Great, helpful videos.
Thank you

[@PEACEFUL6034]

Εισαι αψογος !!!!

[@elektrokartingshighvoltage7080]

Amazing Skills!

[@jcgreenlife-9130]

Nice

[@apoknino98]

δεν ξερω πολλα απο αυτα τα τρικς και χαλφ - αξελ αλλα το μουσικο κομματι τα σπαει συνεχισε κοσταα...