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Unhooked - Bar Pressure

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the_dec1der
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Unhooked - Bar Pressure

Postby the_dec1der » Mon Aug 21, 2017 1:51 pm

Hey guys,
I try learning unhooked, starting with Raleys and Sbend.
I ride Cab Switchblades and feel like the bar pressure is quite strong. I am not buff, but not weak either. Still, I feel its quite difficult for me to hold on to the bar and edge as well. Is a different kite like the FX better suited for that or should I just keep going to get the hang of it? Anyone else got that problem as well or can give advise?
Thanks

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Re: Unhooked - Bar Pressure

Postby socommk23 » Mon Aug 21, 2017 1:58 pm

Un hooked I'm pretty sure the bar pressure is equal to the power you are holding down. Not sure you can even call it bar pressure at this point.
Less wind less force. More wind more force.
Last edited by socommk23 on Mon Aug 21, 2017 2:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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dirtybeach
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Re: Unhooked - Bar Pressure

Postby dirtybeach » Mon Aug 21, 2017 2:17 pm

The sb pulls hard unhooked. imo the best unhooked kites are fuels and torches. I'm flying Parks and pivots these days, and while the park is a reasonably good unhooked kite, the pivot is not. I find any swept back wing tip, flat kite, is not the best for unhooking. But I'm sure there are exceptions.

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Re: Unhooked - Bar Pressure

Postby edt » Mon Aug 21, 2017 2:39 pm

All kites will put the full weight of the kite onto your arms when you unhooked. That's why you don't just you know, grab the chicken loop and tug it off! That's too hard.

So to unhook here's what you do:

bear off downwind so that you are going mostly downwind. the kite will release pressure because you are following it downwind. Now you take the chicken loop off the spreader bar. After you have the bar, bear back upwind. The full weight of the kite will now be on your arms and you want to throw your trick within a second or two because you can't hold the full weight of the kite for too long without getting your arms tired. After your throw the trick again you want to bear off downwind to release the pressure of the kite so you can hook back in. After a trick like a railey the kite will have plenty of slack so you can hook back in right after a tricky pretty easy.

Now, now we get into the differences in kites. A C kite generates a lot of slack what this means is that after your pop you will find it easy to do handle passes as there is no pressure from the kite and you will be in the air. After you land the kite will also have low slack and allow you to hook in easily. But both C kites and poor wakestyle kites require you to bear off downwind first before you do your trick. There are kites which never generate slack. Yes you can do a railey and a blind judge on these kites, but what happens on for instance a Rebel (and maybe your kite I haven't ridden it) is you bear off downwind you unhook ok, you do your pop but there's no slack! It's nearly impossible to do a handle pass. Then after the trick there's no slack again the kite just keep pulling and pulling. After the pop, there's no slack, so the only way to have a kite like a rebel put less pressure on you is to bear off downwind. These kind of kites make poor kites to learn wakestyle tricks like a slim chance because the kite will pull you the entire time you are in the air there's no place to do the handle pass.

For an S bend and a raily doesn't matter which kite you use because it's ok if you don't generate slack. But as it is clear that you are going to get into the entire wakestyle thing yes you need a new kite! For now though don't forget to bear off before you unhook, and don't ride around unhooked all day nobody is that buff to hold a kite down forever. You just want to be unhooked for long enough to throw your trick.

An rpm, naish torch, north vegas, ozone c4 are all great next level kites for you. Try to demo a lot of C shaped kites as you'll need to figure out what suits you best. I'm not sure which kite you want in the cabrinha line.

the_dec1der
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Re: Unhooked - Bar Pressure

Postby the_dec1der » Mon Aug 21, 2017 2:49 pm

Thanks for the quick response!
edt wrote:
Mon Aug 21, 2017 2:39 pm
and don't ride around unhooked all day nobody is that buff to hold a kite down forever. You just want to be unhooked for long enough to throw your trick.
Haha, no I didn't plan to ride unhooked all day :D

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Re: Unhooked - Bar Pressure

Postby jeromeL » Mon Aug 21, 2017 5:10 pm

the_dec1der wrote:
Mon Aug 21, 2017 1:51 pm
Hey guys,
I try learning unhooked, starting with Raleys and Sbend.
I ride Cab Switchblades and feel like the bar pressure is quite strong. I am not buff, but not weak either. Still, I feel its quite difficult for me to hold on to the bar and edge as well. Is a different kite like the FX better suited for that or should I just keep going to get the hang of it? Anyone else got that problem as well or can give advise?
Thanks
You need to describe your problem a bit better ;)
Do you have a hard time unhooking or can't edge and pop after unhooking because of pressure?
EDT put it well, any kite can do Raley and such. Maybe depower kite a bit so it flies forward a bit more when you unhook. make sure you head a bit downwind to unhook and keep elbows in then go for load and pop trying different technique (progressive/aggresive edge).
Honestly you are better off getting a different kite though. Even on simple Raley and rotation I find that the slack and pop you get is nice. It's also easier to re hook as well, even when you stall a bit after landing.
edt wrote:hen after the trick there's no slack again the kite just keep pulling and pulling
I felt that a lot when learning on 12 and 14m Bandit, couldn't rehook, it's ok if I land with speed and can bear downwind but when learning it's easy to stall...

I have tried unhooking on FX in medium power and it felt pretty nice for Raley and front and back rotation. (I say rotation because I don't really do S bend yet, I initiate rotation pretty early after pop ..)

But yes the biceps will wear down if you didnt build your stamina ;) Also when learning landing aren't exactly that smooth and don't really know how to unhook and rehook so you will burn through your biceps fast fighting the power of the kite...

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Re: Unhooked - Bar Pressure

Postby the_dec1der » Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:40 am

jeromeL wrote:
Mon Aug 21, 2017 5:10 pm
or can't edge and pop after unhooking because of pressure?
Basically this. But all your answers helped. I wait for wind and keep on trying! Thanks again :)

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jeromeL
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Re: Unhooked - Bar Pressure

Postby jeromeL » Tue Aug 22, 2017 7:06 pm

the_dec1der wrote:
Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:40 am
jeromeL wrote:
Mon Aug 21, 2017 5:10 pm
or can't edge and pop after unhooking because of pressure?
Basically this. But all your answers helped. I wait for wind and keep on trying! Thanks again :)
try to keep elbow in, and at first less power... If you keep elbow in, it won't screw up your stance too much and should be able to hold the power.. edge fast you should be able to hold it until kite rip you off water ;)
and more practice...
It might be helpful to actually ride unhook for 10 seconds at a time trying to go upwind. depower kite so it doesn't backstall. If you can ride for a while elbow in, it should help you get a feel for the right stance. It's also useful as it make you practice unhooking and re hooking.

I made a video of my first unhook session last summer, not really a tutorial, more an account of newbee mistake and what to expect for first session unhook haha...



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Re: Unhooked - Bar Pressure

Postby Starsky » Tue Aug 22, 2017 7:45 pm

Its mostly been said, but the biggest factor in how much power there is at the bar when unhooking is your direction of travel. The more you head downwind, the less pull. So much so that you can ride along unhooked with the bar held rather lightly in one hand. Doing downwinders in flat water spots are amazingly educational on that point. These are much harder things to experiment with when your forced to hold your ground all the time.

I routinely cruise around for extended periods of time on snow unhooked, bar light in my hands, headed way downwind. Its so easy to make up all that ground on snow.


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