Greetings from sunny (?!) Barcelona!

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[Ara Ararauna]

Hi,

Today we woke up and our Mediterranean land was covered with snow! 



The flying field two blocks from home was transformed: 



But then the sun came out and a nice low wind from WNW started to blow.
So I had to take my Talon UL out... 





... and I started to clumsily practice a couple of tricks (fades, 540's... and I even got a pseudo Taz almost at the end):

Nevada23F TalonUL

Remember to select HD and full screen...

Feedback welcome!

[Tmadz]

Well done Ara. Looks like you're making progress. Do you find your Talon is making things easier?

[RobB]

Yup, I see a lot of new tricks added to your bag. Coin toss, flapjack, 540s for the left & right, and I think that was a better Taz than I can pull off. I bet some of that you can attribute to flying good kites, but the rest is from practice & hard work. Good stuff... 

[JayDee]

Those colors work great on the Talon, particularly with a snow backdrop.  Nice picture!

What lines were you flying in the video?  I find my Talon Std quite flyable in UL-territory winds with 50x50 lines.  But since I like my Talons so much (see http://www.gwtwforum.com/index.php?topic=9271.0), I am currently saving on a UL.   

[Kabel]

Hi,
what camera do you used? what framerate?

nice video!

kind regards
gerald

[ghfisanotti]

Hombre, qué buen video! I like the Talon very much, and that color combination in yours is just gorgeous!

[Ara Ararauna]

Thanks so much to everyone. These comments are really encouraging.
After 16 months since I started flying, 14 since I got my Soul and 8 since I got my Talon UL I sometimes feel I don't move forward fast enough.
But I guess I am an impatient person.

Do you find your Talon is making things easier?

Yes definitely. Since I got my Talon UL I have noticed a much faster progress. I was feeling a bit frustrated with the Soul. I couldn't control its pull and was always getting tip wraps. The advances with the TUL have made me also much better with the Soul. I now also love my Soul since I'm getting nice results with it.

You can use some more fade management and line control, but all in all I seen lots of improvement. I certainly hope you will join in the next "trick challenge" as it will be well suited for you. 

Thanks Norm. But despite the fact that the fades look not so bad in the video, my feeling is not good about them.
I can get the kite to enter the fade from a pancake 95% of my attempts and from an axel only 10%. Now getting it to stay in the fade is for me still a mystery... 
I can sometimes get it in and hold it a bit, but I can't see what I'm doing right in those cases. Most of the times the nose of the kite starts bouncing up and down and then it enters a hard drop down. If I'm too close to the floor I then dart the kite onto the floor. Not a nice feeling...
About the challenge. As you can imagine I was really motivated and excited about making it when you first posed it...
But as you can see I am miles away from being able to do it. This is why I even stopped reading the post on the challenge. 
I am currently not very motivated to enter a new challenge.

What lines were you flying in the video?  I find my Talon Std quite flyable in UL-territory winds with 50x50 lines.

I am flying with the same set of lines whether UL or STD 
I use 25meters x 45Kg (i.e. 83 x 90) I have been waiting for lighter lines to arrive to my local shop, but they just don't appear...
BTW JayDee, very nice kites you have.

what camera do you used? what framerate?

I'm using my Android Smartphone Samsung Galaxy S3 recording in full 1080HD at 25fps and using a small tripod that is special for mobile phones similar to this one:
http://www.fotoprix.com/tienda/joby_microtripode_soporte_grip_tight/accesorios_camaras/tripodes/3_20_52273

Hombre, qué buen video! I like the Talon very much, and that color combination in yours is just gorgeous!

Gracias por el cumplido che, pero tu vídeos sí que son buenos!

So again thanks all for your comments.
I will try to keep improving and reporting on my progress.
Cheers!

[Ara Ararauna]

  Thanks Norm!

[vertigo2u]

Ara,  practice,practice,practice.... That is why your flying is getting better.  What is obvious to me is that you are working.  Those tricks did not come by themselves on this video.  
Each one you had to practice and practice and practice.  Good for you.
 I look at old videos and see myself a couple years ago and now.

I remember you trying to do a 540.  Now you got it.  Look in 5 months how much better you'll be.
 You did a lot of nice moves in the video.  Easy for all of us to see.  The nice thing about this site is people do learn from each other.

p.s.  It's a bit tougher when you video.  You want some good shots. and it has to be in the viewer. The goodone's don't always get recorded.  I've learned that.  Keep up the good work.

[Wayner]

Ara,

your making amazing progress.

What is a challange today will be easy next month when you are on to another tricks.