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how do you sort out a bridal tangle on the water ??

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BillyGoatGruff
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how do you sort out a bridal tangle on the water ??

Postby BillyGoatGruff » Sun Aug 18, 2013 9:10 pm

I was riding a 10.5m RRD obsession today, unhooked and went for a dangle pass, missed the bar and the kite hit the water with really slack lines. I could not recover in time and the kite was rolled through the lines by the wind. Next thing the bridal in part wrapped around the back of the kite and part front (bow tied) and kept trying to take off. Trided pulling lots of different lines to sort it out with no success.... (it flags out on the 2 front lines so you can not pull a single front line in)... I am guessing you really want to pull a side line in loads and get the kite in the position you put it in on the beach after pumping it up (facing straight into the wind), then relaunch check its sorted, drop to the water and pass the bar through the centre lines.

I have had this happen very occasionally and never really found a good method... any sugegstions as there is a realrisk of shredding the kite if you don't act quite quickly... suprised it did not pop. It was pumped up very hard.

thanks

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tautologies
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Re: how do you sort out a bridal tangle on the water ??

Postby tautologies » Sun Aug 18, 2013 10:25 pm

it is a little hard to fully comprehend what happened here, but if a bridle is caught on the kite, I think I would try to pull that line.

..and yes there is a significant chance it can tear the kite...I've never had it happen though.

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Re: how do you sort out a bridal tangle on the water ??

Postby kiteontario » Sun Aug 18, 2013 10:28 pm

I fly Cabrinhas and what I would do is activate my "absolute depower", do a "self rescue" and then when I get to the kite try and sort out the tangle. If in deep water, this isn't easy to do. But if I could drift in to where I could stand, I could try and sort out the bridle and then let the kite drift away again (or go to the beach) and unwind my lines. Since the "absolute depower" is engaged, the kite shouldn't "power up" as you still have the power killed. The challenge that many will "challenge" me on is the lines might be in a bit of a rats nest at this point so probably best to just end your session and sort out your lines and mess on the beach.

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Re: how do you sort out a bridal tangle on the water ??

Postby plummet » Sun Aug 18, 2013 10:50 pm

sounds like you did everything. If you cant recover it by yanking lines etc. Punch out. self rescue if possible or swim in and reset on the beach.

You can't recover every situation.

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Re: how do you sort out a bridal tangle on the water ??

Postby BillyGoatGruff » Sun Aug 18, 2013 10:55 pm

thanks for the replies.

I the end I was close to shore so drifted in and sorted it out on the beach. I think there is a way of getting the bridal wrapped around the back of the kite around to the front again... to be fair it was pretty windy (25-30mph gusting higher) and very hard to keep the kite on the water and pull any lines in..

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Re: how do you sort out a bridal tangle on the water ??

Postby TheJoe » Mon Aug 19, 2013 12:17 am

Don't take a chance at making a bad situation worse. Flag the kite and fix it on land like you did. Especially if there are people downwind of you. Not only does it put you in greater risk but them as well.

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Re: how do you sort out a bridal tangle on the water ??

Postby knotwindy » Mon Aug 19, 2013 12:26 am

with a kite that punches out to both front lines, do not assume that when you punch out with a bridle wrap the kite is just going to lay down. could get ugly even after the release so be VERY aware as you release to the safety that the kite was not necessarily designed for this moment.

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Re: how do you sort out a bridal tangle on the water ??

Postby edt » Mon Aug 19, 2013 12:29 am

Yes there is a way, use your safety system or oh shit release to flag the kite, wrap up your lines be careful you don't get knots and wrap it clean, and when you are near the kite, grab it fix the tangle, and then reverse the process and unwrap your lines. when u finish unwrapping the last of the lines from your bar and hook back in, let the safety line go under tension. It will snap into tension in a less than a second, and the full weight of the kite will go on the lines. If you screwed up and let a loop of that safety line wrap around your leg, you will go for a little ride. so make sure that before you let the tension go back into the kite that the lines aren't wrapped around any body parts. If you have a kite that has a mini-5th good chance it will death loop without warning once it has a bridle wrap so I would probably unleash too so if something goes wrong the kite flies away.

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Re: how do you sort out a bridal tangle on the water ??

Postby tautologies » Mon Aug 19, 2013 2:47 am

BillyGoatGruff wrote:thanks for the replies.

I the end I was close to shore so drifted in and sorted it out on the beach. I think there is a way of getting the bridal wrapped around the back of the kite around to the front again... to be fair it was pretty windy (25-30mph gusting higher) and very hard to keep the kite on the water and pull any lines in..
In winds like that you have to be extra careful...if you get caught it will snap your limbs clean off.

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Re: how do you sort out a bridal tangle on the water ??

Postby PVITfrumBYRAM » Mon Aug 19, 2013 10:05 pm

I totally agree with everyone who advises not taking extra risk. Inversions of the canopy and lines is not a problem to sort out thanks to students putting me in those situations to figure out but most of the time I don't mess with a bridal tangle. I have the same kite and somehow got a bridal tangle. I don't know if my QR would have disabled the kite because I was riding suicide so when I did activate my QR it didn't do anything. In between kite loops I reeled my leash back in and pull the Oh Shit handle and everything was settled. Although in my case I think that disabled the kite enough to get to the kite quickly. I was not comfortable wrapping the OS line and then the rest of the bar all the way to the kite, so a rat's nest was had!


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