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Hi everyone, I am brand new to kiteboarding and I bought a used Best Kahoona v5 2013 11.5m kite and bar. I haven't taken lessons because there's only one place that offers them and it is ultra expensive. I haven't met any other kitesurfers yet to show me the ropes so to speak so I thought I'd ask here at the risk of sounding like an idiot. I've gotten good with the trainer kite but when I went to set up my Kahoona, I found that there was a tremendous amount of slack in the back lines. I definitely had it rigged correctly. Even when I put the kite leading edge down to launch it and intentionally crossed the lines, there was so much slack that I could swivel the bar 180 degrees back and forth and not feel any taughtness in the lines at all. I'm trying to figure out if I'm doing something wrong here. When I detached the lines from the kite and stretched them out straight, the back lines were only an inch or two longer than the center lines. Because of this I cannot get the kite off the ground and it's extremely frustrating and confusing. Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Check to see if your lines are all equal.

Find yourself a bit of space. Run your lines out and attach them to a fixed point. A leash wrapped round a post works well then fix the end of the lines to the clip.

Set the depower strap to full power. Pick the bar up and sheet in(pull it to the chicken loop). The lines should all be of equal length with the bar fully powered.

If the back lines are still slack then you will need to move them down a knot or two on the leader lines until they are equal to the front lines.

Those lines have a tendency to strech over time so it's a good thing to check them, let say each year, and adjust them accordingly (all 4 should be of equal lenght)...

Take a lesson dude, even if its just one

Thanks creed, I will do that. I have three knots on my back line attachment kite lines. I will attach the lines to the furthest knot up the line. If they are still too slack, should I manually create another knot or two? I know that they have to be exactly even on both sides or the kite won't fly correctly.

Danydan, by "adjust them accordingly" do you mean attach them to the correct knot? Or is there another way to modify them?

jespin, I think a lesson would be great but the place wants to sell me on an $1100 lesson package, and I just can't do that right now. Even a single lesson is $500. I just wish I knew another kiter that could help get me going.

Painkiller86 wrote:I think a lesson would be great but the place wants to sell me on an $1100 lesson package, and I just can't do that right now. Even a single lesson is $500. I just wish I knew another kiter that could help get me going.

What? Which place on earth charges that for one single lesson?!!

You're doing something completely wrong,( it has nothing to do with fine adjustments of your lines) which means you should get some help in real life before you or someone else needs painkillers.

http://vimeo.com/46833653

Here is a video from Best on this exact topic!

Hope it helps,
D

$500 is cheaper than the hospital fees when you die because you didn't take a lesson

If he were to die, he would be the last person worried about his hospital fees.