I'm not going to say that I am an expert on this trick, but I will tell you that it is a really fun trick to perform. It is also very difficult to learn.

   The backspin is a rotating fade. It is an advanced maneuever for those pilots who already know how to get their kite into this position. Fading the kite involves flying the kite on its back with the nose of the kite facing you. In other words, the kite is flying upside down, and backwards. With the kite in this position, the flier induces a spin on the kite by pulling one line while giving slack with the other hand. It is basically an axel motion.

      There are several ways to set up for this trick. You can try an axel to fade, or pancake to fade. Each method works equally well.  IN this case you want to achieve a fade that is slightly off balance. YOu want to look for two different things about the attitude of the kite:

1> The nose must be slightly low. YOu have to start the spin just before the nose rises enough to stabilize the fade.

2> One wing must be lower than the other.

     When you see that the kite is in a position where the nose points slightly down, and one wing is low, pull on the line that is on the side of the kite with the low wing. That will start the spin.  Sometimes the kite will pop out of the fade and resume regular flight. Sometimes it will spin like a champ. YOur kite has to have enough mass to do this trick also.

There are a few kites that are really great for this trick. The SL7, Gemini, Fanatic and Elixir all backspin very easily. My personal favorite is the Elixir becuase the trick looks so flat and smooth with this kite. The Fanatic and Gemini both perfrom the trick the easiest. The Gem looks best of these two in my opinion. The Fanatic will spin very easily, but looses its grace in this trick.

    This is very difficult to learn. Another key is maintaining the right amount of tension on the lines as you backspin. YOu will find that the trick is easiest when the winds are light.  I bet that when you perform your first backspin, you will do more than one rotation. It is very easy to get 10 or 20 spins in a row if you keep pulling that same line that started the spins, and giving slack with the other hand. Some people say that you should think of the pull that starts the spin as starting a lawnmower. I think that is a good rule to start out with. Later on, you can lessen the pull and notice different results. Good Luck. I know that I am still working on this trick. I hope you will give it a try. It is really very easy once you get the hang of it.