Self Drift Launch

[nothing2seehere]

Yeah. Not tried it myself. I'd be tempted to sink the leading edge before letting it drift so there was a some water on top to stop it rolling before letting the kite go. That might stop it drifting towards one side of the window though.

[joriws]

Looking dangerous - a lot of loose line at the feet. Also boat seems to be special without any rails or attachment points. But still interesting that she towed kite back via front lines only.

[ronnie]

Launching


Landing


I'd want to make sure I had rigged up before. Attaching lines on the boat seems like the bit it could go wrong.

Using a 2013 IDS Vector? - good choice, if it works the same as this 2012 Switchblade IDS.

This is an alternative method of self landing an IDS kite (provided it behaves like this 2012 IDS Switchblade).

Instead of activating the quick release, he could have quickly pulled 3m of the front lines down until he got to the Y. That operates the IDS just the same.

Then let the kite flip over into the parked position.
Then fold the right rear line over to the centre of the bar and wind the 1.5m of doubled up centrelines around that side of the bar.
Then wind all 4 lines onto the bar ends in the normal figure 8 way.
You need to keep the bar low to the water when the kite is getting close, to avoid the nose lifting off the water.

Launching would be the reverse of the above. The only key extra point is when turning the kite after letting the lines out until you get to the Y, is to make sure the furthest away rear line goes under the kite as you turn the kite.

[jeromeL]

+1 what EDT said. Key is to submerge leading edge under water to get water on top of canopy on either side of main strut.
You can let go of kite as it will drift very slowly and most likely won't rotate as you let the line out drifing downwind with current (Assuming you don't have huge current upwind...)

Another way version is to clip with leash to the kite pump pigtail so kite stays next to you while you unwind all lines making sure they are drifting downwind under the kite. the current will take care of avoiding any knots and such.
Once lines are out you can let go of kite (with water on top of canopy) and let the tension built up naturally else you can make knots if you start pulling on some lines.
Occasionally you might need to rotate kite if wind is very light, you can do that by pulling one steering line and walking/swimming sideways.

I have done it only where I could stand though. If you are drifting downwind at the same speed as your line it won't work.

[edt]

it's not a problem in deep water the kite always goes downwind faster than you do even backwards it catches more wind

[knotwindy]

Yea, light wind, flat water is relatively easy to drift launch. Higher wind and chop makes it much more interesting and separates the good from the bad techniques.

[chapinkite]

everyone has a different technique in drift launching so keep trying them out until you find one that suits you. my technique is this, jump into the water with my kite bar & board. Then get on top of the leading edge so that water sloshes on top of the canopy. Get a few gallons on it. This water will be between the middle strut and the leading edge and force that part of the canopy down. This water will act like an anchor and slow the kite down. Now unwind your lines and let the kite drift downstream. Sometimes the kite will turn around that's ok, swim downwind and go with the kite to release tension that will prevent the kite from relaunching and prevent it from powering up. I never hook into the chicken loop until the kite is completely ready. Also I never let tension get into the lines as I drift launch. Not necessarily better or worse just the way I do it. If it's not under tension then if something goes wrong I grab a line on the kite and haul it in without me being connected to it. if you have flotation it makes it a lot easier to do a drift launch because swimming is just one more thing you are having to take care of. One more thing, with a smaller boat you might be able to dump water on top of the kite without having to jump off it. Your results may vary. Everyone else has a different way to do it and your technique will depend on what your boat is like. When I have a boat and two or three people it's easier. Someone can swim out into the water with the kite and hold it in a U position as you unwind the lines.

Hi guys thanks a lot for you help!!!. I will be exploring each. First with edt, wich line would you pull if the kite wants to launch?. The flag line on the leash?... thanks again!!

[edt]

Hi guys thanks a lot for you help!!!. I will be exploring each. First with edt, wich line would you pull if the kite wants to launch?. The flag line on the leash?... thanks again!!

I try never to pull lines to stop a kite from launching. If the kite rotates first of all I drift downwind with the kite spilling as much power and continue to unwind the lines. If this works right then I just launch as normal. If the kite rotates and pulls hard I give up. I pull a single center line, go the kite swim back and try again. I don't like pulling lines to control the kite while I am unwrapping lines. I mean I only have two hands right? How can you unwrap if you are controlling the kite and also swimming I don't know how you can do that. We have a lot of seaweed trees underwater all kinds of stuff here so the chances that a center line gets wrapped around a rear line from seaweed because I'm dicking around try to save a bad launch is extremely high, then you get a powered kiteloop have to release the kite entirely and go chase it down. So basically, dump water on the canopy, let the kite drift downwind, if it rotates let it rotate, continue to unwind and swim towards the kite. If it all goes perfectly fine. If at any point something goes wrong grab a single center line and start over from the beginning. And of course never hook in until the very end when you are sure it's all good! If you hook in while unwrapping lines then I don't know what you can do if the launch goes bad.

If you are launching in a place where there isn't any seaweed then you might have the luxury of saving a launch if the kite powers up. I don't use those techniques. You can see me do a drift launch in my "downwind" video I just show a few seconds of it at 1:40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yox7ZzW8ko

[KYLakeKiter]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq3PB2G7b88

I am a fan of having my lines off the bar before I drift the kite. The guy in the video above is obviously in shallow water, but you could do this same thing from a boat anchored into the wind with your CL attached to the back of the boat. Just keep the kite on the boat until your lines have drifted downwind, then drift the kite.

Any method you can repeat success with is a good one. I just found that trying to unwind the bar while the kite was drifting gave me more chances for simple mistakes that resulted in crossed lines. Sure, you can fix them sometimes by putting the bar through the centerlines, but by that time the kite has turned around and is full of wind, so disconnecting your CL and leash to fix your crossed lines can get sketchy.

[stevez]

I also prefer to let the lines out before I let go of the kite. Where I launch from I don't need to wind the lines up, I can walk backwards, holding onto the kite with the lines dragging downwind. I prefer to walk backwards at a slight angle rather than directly upwind, so that the lines are drifting slightly to the side where I can see them, rather than directly under the kite. When I'm doing this, I tuck the bar into my harness to free up both hands for as long as possible, and only grab it shortly before launching. When the lines have extended fully behind me, I release the kite, holding onto a single front line and slowly let the kite out. I continue walking backwards as I do this to keep the lines from bunching. When the kite is most of the way out I grab the bar. By the time I get to the point where I need to let go of this single front line, I will already be able to see that all the lines are free. At any point before this it is easy to recover from a tangle as the kite cannot power up under the tension of a single line, even in strong winds.

If there were obstacles and it were not possible to walk backwards with the lines laid out, I would then just unwind the lines as I walk backwards, keeping the kite tethered to me via the leash.

Weighting down the leading edge works ok in light winds, but you can't be sure that it will work in strong winds and prevent the kite from turning around and hot launching or doing something else unpredictable. Holding on to a single front line is the best way to prevent this from happening.