The best way to self land 4 line kite with low V

[Bill]

Sure this must have been done before, but this is the best way I have worked out to self land in a controlled manner reasonable safely.

Firstly as always, make sure there is plenty of space with no obstructions or people around, then:

1. Bring your kite down resting on the beach as if you were going to tether land

2. grab your centre line ie depower line and pull it in (letting go of the bar) until you have reached the V and then walk slightly upwind

3. Its VERY VERY important at this stage to make sure your all your lines stay kite side of the bar and don't get caught on anything - especially for the next stage

4. grab the top line of the two centre lines and keeping it low walk upwind. Keeping it low will help the leading edge of the kite down onto the beach

5. Once the kite is down, pull again on the line to pull the front of the kite into the wind walking a bit down wind. If it looks settled, run to the kite to pull it properly into the wind.

As long as your lines don't get caught up, if it all goes wrong , the kite will roll back, power up and you will just have to control it with the bar.

Hope that's helpful - Works really well for me

[Frankieboy]

As long as your lines don't get caught up, if it all goes wrong , the kite will roll back, power up and you will just have to control it with the bar.

If you want to play it safe, unhook and let go the bar, just keep you leash on the safety line.
If it all goes wrong the kite will flag and not power up in the middle of the wind window...

[Toby]

Please make a video, that would be great!

[mr-markus]

from step 2 on, try to grab the LOWER centerline only and pull it in until the kite turns in U shape. walk towards the kite while holding/haulin the line until you reach the bridle. With this method you can selfland in all possible conditions because the kite is powerless and never will fly up. Try for yourself and you will be surprised how easy it is

[purdyd]

Depending on the beach, kite and wind, it maybe better to walk up the lines all the way to the kite.

[faklord]

from step 2 on, try to grab the LOWER centerline only and pull it in until the kite turns in U shape. walk towards the kite while holding/haulin the line until you reach the bridle. With this method you can selfland in all possible conditions because the kite is powerless and never will fly up. Try for yourself and you will be surprised how easy it is

This can also work with Strutless kites:


If I remember correctly, this video was shot with a 12m kite in a 20 knot wind, just to demonstrate it’s not just a light wind option.

[mr-markus]

@faklord, nice video! exactly what i ment. Used it in 40knots, works like a charm.

[faklord]

@faklord, nice video! exactly what i ment. Used it in 40knots, works like a charm.

Just to be clear, I didn’t make this video!
It was just something I stumbled on when looking for ways to self land a strutless

[purdyd]

@faklord, nice video! exactly what i ment. Used it in 40knots, works like a charm.

Just to be clear, I didn’t make this video!
It was just something I stumbled on when looking for ways to self land a strutless

Thanks for pointing out the strutless aspect. This is a good video because it shows a hard smooth beach and you can see the kite starts to slide.

These surfaces present problems with using a front line to land and if you get the kite leading edge down it can still slide.

Some kites don’t rest very flat either,

I have also seen on sloped beaches with side on wind that the kites can be really hard to keep down

so in both cases I prefer to walk all the way up to the kite.

I’ll have to consider the drop the kite on its back. Might give that a try to see how my kites behave.

[edt]

I use lower line technique it's better when the wind is above 35 knots because with both center line there's too much pressure. I made a few videos about how to use the single lower line technique