Postby Starsky » Thu May 25, 2017 1:40 pm
People should maybe try some of these ideas out before they comment. Unhooked must have too many people thinking they have both hands on the bar, sacrificing control of the kites angle of attack. Nothing is further from the truth. If a gust hits, you let go or the bar but keep the chicken loop in hand. 9.9/10 it all works out and you simply hook in and go ride. For that rare 0.1 you simply let go of the chicken loop or it gets yanked forcefully from your hand. Either way, its a simple reset and go again. Not an injury.
Pullstrings last post about both hands on the bar, unhooked, leashed and trimmed all the way in is a disaster. No control of angle of attack at launch is the best way to get yanked.
Look, there are a lot of different ways to launch a kite, and they suit different conditions and locations. That being said, launching any standard LEI unhooked is not rocket science, any more than flying a kite one handed is rocket science.
You must be able to fly a kite well with only one hand on the bar near the middle. Holding near the middle keeps input mellow as all you are doing is raising the kite off the ground and holding it there.
You must be able to position yourself to the kite well enough to avoid sudden power spike. Avoiding stall and yank is the whole point, but if it happens due to poor positioning your going to learn the easy way, not the hard way.
You must be able to control the angle of attack with the chicken loop hand You are flying the kite actively at all times with both hands to avoid stalling and keep the kite flying smoothly as wind gusts, lulls or shifts. Even in powered conditions if your positioning to the kite is decent, there should not be more pull from the chicken loop than you can hold in one hand with the other on the bar sheeted nearly all the way out.
You must be able to hook your chicken loop in without looking at it. Competent riders hook in and out by feel due to repetition. They don't look down to see if their hooked back in, they can feel it. Same goes when hooking in while holding the chicken loop instead of the bar.
If any one of these seems difficult or does not make perfect intuitive sense, you are probably not yet a candidate for the safest possible option and will be better served going with what you know until such time as your skills allow you to comprehend how this all might be safer.
Once proficient, there are many who are quite capable of solo launching this way.