Kite Surfing

Here's a pic of one of our local launching spots,its a roughie.
Hopefully i did it right and it uploaded.

What are ya sooking about, that beach looks beautiful ...... if you were into collecting trees and driftwood.


Fair call on your choice of self launch mate

I figured there would be a 'common sense' solution to the kite rolling back.

Would I be right in assuming the closer you get to the bar the less effect holding the line will have

Dunno, I've never had to do it if the kites stable, it really moves by the time I've made it either to bar or kite ... gusty winds though may be different story ... just haul ass and you'll be right

well the tie off method doesn't work with high aspect kites i can tell you that. my edge is real high aspect will not sit docilly at the edge of the window in the ground while you run back to the bar. in bounces up and down and can role back in the window and self launch. my light which is lower aspect will set there even in 40knot winds,.....

try pulling more depower on usually you get the bounce because theres not enough depower so the rear lines arn't slack enough and the bar is loading up ,ozones dont have much bar throw like cabs so tend to bounce if you dont depower them off first.

Is the Crossbow not a high AR kite then?

Had my first go at a self launch tonight, and it was a piece of cake

I used the scuff method, so thanks to Marty and steve for the tips and vid. It was really easy, I don't know why I was so worried about giving it a go. I'm still interested in the tether launch method too as I can imagine it will be good for some of our sites so I'd be interested to see how you go with the wombat when you get it xtreme.

thanks Ben P too for getting ready to save me if I stuffed the launch, and for letting me have a go of your spanking new C4
pity the wind dropped to bugger all about ten minutes after we got our kites in the air but you can't expect too much this early in the season

Ant

Good onya Antz

i'll try more trim strap pulled then. see what happens. my theory was that it is physically tall and bends and flexes sitting on the ground.

crossbow isn't as high aspect as the edge as far as i can see from dudes using them on the beach. the edge is a stupidly skinny 7 strutter.

Oh the other thing I did was, when launching, plant the kite and stand and wait, ready to grab it, for the time I guessed it'd take to run back to the bar ... my theory being if it stayed put for that long, it'll stay put for twice that long

Looks to me to be much of a muchness ... the 'bow will bounce on the tip though when landing, and it took me a bit to get that sussed.

Same thing when landing remember to trim the kite in and then drop it on its tip,should stop it from bouncing,with higher aspect kites i used to trim in and walk them back further in the window so they lean slightly more forward but you have to trim the depower right in .

Same thing when landing remember to trim the kite in and then drop it on its tip,should stop it from bouncing,with higher aspect kites i used to trim in and walk them back further in the window so they lean slightly more forward but you have to trim the depower right in .

You should not need to do that trim thing with most kites unless your front lines have stretched.
Front line stretch is something most kiters ignore.

Hey steve sorry youve lost me on that last comment mate,by trimming in the depower i mean to pull the depower half to full on ,mainly you need to do this on kites with less bar throw due to them powering up while sitting on the tip as the amount of throw dosent allow the kite to fully depower when sheeted out, so the kite tends to bounce on the spot.

I have a wombat. Chances of it coming out of the ground are pretty much zero. Its designed to hold 500KG's and can also be used for recovery of vehicles. If there is 500KG's of pull, I'm willing to bet one of the 300KG lines would snap or the chickenloop would break first, and I wouldn't want to be attached to the kite or launching.

How's the self launching / landing going Ant ?

I have a wombat. Chances of it coming out of the ground are pretty much zero. Its designed to hold 500KG's and can also be used for recovery of vehicles. If there is 500KG's of pull, I'm willing to bet one of the 300KG lines would snap or the chickenloop would break first, and I wouldn't want to be attached to the kite or launching.

Wombat! great Australian animal. Eats, roots, and leaves.

Please throw feedback at me with this one

Hope it helps.
Dave

How's the self launching / landing going Ant ?

Hey mate,

Going well, still learning but no kitemares yet
My self landing is going without a hitch, even in fairly strong winds. I was out kiting at Marion's for a couple of hours last week and near the end of the session the wind picked up to the point where I was starting to feel too powered for comfort on the 11m and managed to land it without a problem

With self launching I'm still working out through experience how far around I need to get the kite before it's in a good postion to launch. I tend to be overcautious which means I have to go back and forth a bit to shuffle it around until it's got enough wind in the tip to self launch but I'm getting there

Please throw feedback at me with this one

Hope it helps.
Dave

Looks good mate ,in the past when scuff launching i set up in position 2 ,usually cos space it at a premium.

Number the sequence Dave ..... makes it easier for us dyslexic folk to work out the order