Drift launch - running out lines

[Jyoder]

Ever pump your kite in the water?

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[Herman]

Now that’s an extreme thought! Perhaps good for the pecs but where would you put the pump when you’ve finished - no need to answer that!

That venue looks like you need to enter the weird world of drift launching a foil - never tried that, not even in my dreams!

[ronnie]

There used to be a system with the Cabrinha IDS kites. The original IDS system had some advantages for drift launching. Unfortunately Cabrinha messed with the IDS system and on some later IDS kites, it didn't work well.

I could set the kite off to one side and pull down the centre line until I got to the Y at the 2 centre lines. The kite would land at the side of the window and drift downwind a bit before parking itself nose toward me, on the surface, with tension on the 2 front lines.

Pulling the bottom of the Y quickly down to the centre of the bar does the same as popping the quick release in this video.


Then I would fold the right rear line in to the centre of the bar and wind the doubled over centreline onto the right half of the bar.
Then wind all 4 lines onto the bar figure 8 style.

Launch was the reverse, then (while holding the bottom of the Y front lines at the centre of the bar) spin the kite on the surface by pulling in one rear line while making sure the other rear line goes under the kite as it turns on the water.
I had to lay the lines out and wrap them on the bar on the beach, then carefully carry the kite to the water and place it on the water.

The IDS had the front lines on pulleys, so they would depower the kite a bit like a fifth line.

Not applicable to non-IDS kites, but I'm just pointing out that there used to be a system that had drift launch advantages.

[tmcfarla]

I drift launch most times I go kiting. Hundred of launches without issue. I never unwind lines in the water. What I do is set up the kite as if I were doing an assisted launch, then grab bar and walk to kite, clearing any debris from lines. Once you have the kite and the bar, and the lines look good, walk directly upwind (preferably) or at least cross to wind to get into the water. Once in the water, keep walking in that direction (upwind or crosswind) until you have more than a full line length to shore. The lines will just drag down wind from you. Put some water on the canopy, release kite, and move upwind as fast as possible to get tension in lines as soon as possible.

This works really well in anything but very heavy shore break. It requires almost no beach, I have used this method with just a couple feet of rocky beach. It is much easier in shallow water, but does work in deep water. The main thing to look out for is that you don’t pick up any branches in your lines, if you do, go back to shore to sort it out. Don’t let go of kite and hope the branch will come off in flight, it sometimes doesn’t, which makes for an interesting situation.

[PaulB2]

On A. If the lines have been wound on the bar with the safety "pulled", ie shorter than the rest, then at any point during deployment the kite won't properly power up. Only when you release the last bit of line can it pull properly.
On B. hmmm, be really careful you dont get tangled with the lines, I'll never forget the the feeling of a line tightening around my ankle, then to find 17m of kite is dragging me

[FLandOBX]

The only objection I have to the methods demonstrated in the Kitesurf Drift Launch video (above) is the dangling of the bar by the chickenloop as the kiter enters the water with the kite. Letting the bar dangle from the chicken loop (whether the chickenloop is in hand or hooked in) causes the bar to spin and bounce around, and this approach can easily result in more twists in the lines, possible line loops around the ends of the bar, and possible inverted lines (if the bar is knocked or kicked through the lines).

It's far safer and simpler to hold the bar horizontally in the free hand and let the chicken loop (not the bar) dangle to avoid these problems. If the bar is kept in the horizontal position as the kiter enters the water and the kite drifts downwind, the lines will remain oriented exactly the same as they were on the beach, without twists, tangles, loops or inversions. Once the lines are nearing full extension, the kiter can release the bar into the water (still maintaining its horizontal position) in favor of the chicken loop.

[Herman]

^^ Good idea to stop the bar bouncing around, hold rather than dangle, but stay hooked in imho. Hooked in, if a line comes off the wrong side of the bar it hits the centre lines and is easily seen and corrected. Arguably this is also catered for if you don’t ever let go of the bar, the errant line would hit your arm but I prefer the hooking in. Personally, I also prefer to leash the kite to me by pump connection so that I have both hands free for line management. As soon as I release the kite to dunk and drift I transfer the leash to the flag line and unhook and start walking slowly. Or rather those are my intentions for when I get back into drift launches.



Thanks everybody for sharing their experiences and opinions. Hope everybody stays weed free and out of the backwash…..

[nothing2seehere]

Ever pump your kite in the water?


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Not personally. But I've seen someone do it




Edit: There is also the longer edit (like 20 minutes long) with the bits that didn't go so well but this edit gives you the gist of the idea. Its a fun channel with plenty of experimentation going on and quite a bit of useful kite survival stuff going on (dealing with snapped lines and that type of thing)

[PaulB2]

Also, in my humble experience, smaller kites are better behaved than larger kites, in respect of sitting nicely on the water and trundling downwind, with some dollops of water holding them down. For me, that all worked fine with a 7m, and ok with a 11m, but difficult with a 14m, and impossible with a 17m. We see these videos as above, with a 10m in not-much-wind, and it all looks well controlled. I'm not sure that is representative for all situations.

[JakeFarley]

Saw a kiter last Saturday attempt to do a drift launch even though there were several kiters (including me) to perform an assisted launch. He was in a wind shadow and waded out to where the wind was. When his lines tightened, he had either some lines crossed or tangled in the bridle and had to release to safety. It could have gone far worse if he had powered up the kite.

By the way, I think he had his lines wrapped on the bar and was unwrapping them as the kite drifted down wind.