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Failed trick - kite flips over and lines now crossed....

Forum with lots of safety info - a must for newbees
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skullcandy
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Failed trick - kite flips over and lines now crossed....

Postby skullcandy » Mon May 11, 2015 1:11 pm

Im wondering if there are any safety tips when the following scenario happens. As Im progressing, so is the degree of difficulty of my tricks (e.g. Loops, backroll, loops, mega boosts, unhooked passes). As a result, when I fail the trick attempt, the lines will go slack as I shoot downwind, kite will crash and roll over on itself (sometimes a few roll overs). When it flips back into relaunch position, about 1/2 the time the front and rear lines get crossed. In some cases, I can relaunch and fly myself back to base safely to land/reset the lines. In some cases, its totally jacked up and need to hit the first quick release and self rescue.

Im wondering are there any tips or techniques to uncross the lines with the quick release engaged and kite flagged when in the water? Like - twisting the bar someway, passing it through the center line V, etc Looking for a safe way to perhaps fix this when in deep water. I have noticed that when I know im going to fail the trick attempt if I hit the QR1 immediately it more times than not prevents the line cross. But sometimes the crash is violent and fast and don't have time to react until I get my breath and by that time the kite flipped to relaunch position with the lines crossed.

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Re: Failed trick - kite flips over and lines now crossed....

Postby baobob » Mon May 11, 2015 1:36 pm

If you are not on the top of the wind range you can try to untwist. I found it easier with a low V bar but I could perform on a Y bar in shallow water.
Steps:
Full depower the kite and try to understand in which directions the lines are twisted.
Grab the V, take off the leash, pass all the bar trought the V and attach the leash again.
Grabbing from the V depower a lot the kite. It's the 90% safety some kite have so it's not too bad.

I suggest to do it when the wind is not too strong and not gusty and it's free downwind (no people no streets). If something goes wrong while you pass the bar you can cut your hands or have the kite flying away.

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Re: Failed trick - kite flips over and lines now crossed....

Postby matthepp » Mon May 11, 2015 2:13 pm

I do the same as baobob. If it's not blowing rowdy, grab the V and flip the bar through. It's a logic problem. Just be careful to not get loose lines snagged on anything and don't allow a bar wrap to start a death loop. More of a mess with a Y setup. It's a good skill to have bet be careful!

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Re: Failed trick - kite flips over and lines now crossed....

Postby jakemoore » Mon May 11, 2015 2:33 pm

I have done with a foil kite with kite flying in very light winds, but why risk it? You have to remove the leash so if you drop the kite you have a long swim/walk plus the risk to those downwind. Some lines will be slack, and if you are messing around with slack lines next to you in the water lines could become tangled or the kite could power, causing bigger problems.

You can just fly lines crossed until you have a chance to reset. I have flown lines crossed on long downwinders with no adverse wear to lines. So easy to self land on the beach, reset, and self launch and much less risk with that approach.

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Re: Failed trick - kite flips over and lines now crossed....

Postby edt » Mon May 11, 2015 3:22 pm

skullcandy wrote: Im wondering are there any tips or techniques to uncross the lines with the quick release engaged and kite flagged when in the water?
that's impossible the reason is that you can't tell which way to pass the bar, you can't tell if your lines cross or uncross because the lines are down in the water. You must reset your quick release and then put the kite in the water relaunch position.

At that point you can tell which way the lines are crossed. If you want you can then put the kite to the side so the pull is less, unhook the safety leash, grab the two center lines, quickly pass the bar through and then spin the bar around. It's not much fun doing this because so much can go wrong, the kite can launch unexpectedly and you have to let it go, maybe damage the kite, you might get a line crossed around the bar and have to let go.

When I get my lines crossed I usually just don't care, you can ride with them crossed for several hours without any harm to the kite or lines. You don't want to ride his way all the time of course because you will wear our your lines, but it's fine for finishing your sesh, just come in when you usually do for a cold one and fix the lines then.

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skullcandy
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Re: Failed trick - kite flips over and lines now crossed....

Postby skullcandy » Mon May 11, 2015 5:16 pm

edt wrote:
that's impossible the reason is that you can't tell which way to pass the bar, you can't tell if your lines cross or uncross because the lines are down in the water. You must reset your quick release and then put the kite in the water relaunch position.
Yes you are correct, sorry I didn't write that correctly at the start. I do reset the QR then identify that lines are cross and, as you highlight, can usually relaunch just fine and then return and reset.

Looks like the only way to uncross them while on water (once QR is reset) is to pass bar through the V but I would prefer to keep my fingers, although I can see how this is the only feasible answer to my original question so def appreciate the input. Seems like if you fail at any step in that process then you introduce a whole new layer of risks and consequences. Seems the only way to avoid this is through preventive measures - 1. Don't drop & flop the kite OR 2. the moment you know its not going to be a successful trick, pull the first QR and let the kite properly flag. This second option is making more sense to me as I saw a guy last week trying handle pass tricks and 1/2 through he would release - I assumed he was hitting the QR by mistake but now it seems he was doing it on purpose to avoid the situation I described. I prob should of asked him but didn't realize it until I encountered a lot of this flopped kite line crossers yesterday trying bigger tricks.


Thanks guys!

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Re: Failed trick - kite flips over and lines now crossed....

Postby BWD » Mon May 11, 2015 5:43 pm

I only try to fix this kind of inverted lines problem if conditions are mild (low end of kite range, i.e. 12-15 knots for a 12m kite) and I have room to be dragged a little ways (50m or so).
I usually keep the leash attached to the flag out line on the CL assembly as I pass the bar through the lines. Then sort out the leash once the lines are straight and the CL hooked back up.
This does cause the risk of dragging. Often it guarantees a little dragging!
I usually get to shallow water to try it, or upwind of shallow water so I will be pulled toward shallow water if/when dragged. Typically I am in shallow water with sand bottom and no downwind obstruction for 100m, no crowds downwind.
Again, I only do it this way if it's mild conditions, not powered up, and kites that are not too prone to deathlooping.
If it's blowing a little harder, I sometimes try it with the leash unhooked, but usually self rescue and reset on shore. Not worth taking any bigger risks.

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Re: Failed trick - kite flips over and lines now crossed....

Postby tomatkins » Mon May 11, 2015 6:32 pm

Time for a trip down “memory lane”... long live the “puppet kite”!

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2321370

Practice the procedure... and don’t forget the last step in the process, which is to rotate the bar (along its long axis) to get the chickken loop back on the side of the kiter... using the puppet kite, you will find that the procedure is tricky, tricky, tricky.


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