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soul 12m bridles, first foil kite, please help!

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neilhapgood
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soul 12m bridles, first foil kite, please help!

Postby neilhapgood » Mon Sep 10, 2018 2:06 pm

Hi all,

I have just taken delivery of a soul 12m and laid it out indoors and am completely terrified by the bridles! (first foil kite)

i spent a long time trying to get my head around them and after some faffing I have got them sorted as so:

the A lines are closest to the middle and when you lift them up they are on top of the the other bridles.
next comes B which is under A and over C
then comes C under A and B
finally Z runs free up the outside and is then under all the others.

First question is that right?

It took quite a long time to get them like that, I then packed it up and when I unpacked it it again took a while to get them as above. However when I looked on the flysurfer manual and youtube they just said check there are no tangles and launch away.

Therefore second question is that as long as there are no obvious tangles will the bridles just sort themselves out once flying OR do you need to go through the process I have each time?

thanks all

nervous about this!

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Re: soul 12m bridles, first foil kite, please help!

Postby Johhnn » Mon Sep 10, 2018 2:30 pm

The A lines go to the leading edge, B next, then C and Z goes to the trailing edge.

I'm assuming the lines are attached to the kite. As long as they are not tangled, they sort themselves out once you prefill the kite and launch it. You might want to try in light wind the first time, just to reassure yourself.

Be very careful about debris on the beach or field where you launch. Even small bits of seaweed can tangle the bridle and make the kite fly strangely. Since there are so many of them, each bridle line has very little pressure on it. Even very weak strands of seaweed can hold bridle lines together so that the kite doesn't take the perfect shape.

When you lay out the kite, go back to the bar, walk down the lines from the bar and separate them. Just before you get to the mixer, hold up the center lines (the gray ones, not colored) and make sure the mixer is free. The steering lines should hang down below and outside the main lines.

I hope this helps. From what I've heard, I think you will really like this kite.

neilhapgood
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Re: soul 12m bridles, first foil kite, please help!

Postby neilhapgood » Mon Sep 10, 2018 2:51 pm

amazing thanks John, when you say hold up the centre lines (the gray ones) are they the A lines?

Also what is the mixer, it seems to pop up in all foil kite chat but I don't know what it is!

thanks

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Re: soul 12m bridles, first foil kite, please help!

Postby Johhnn » Mon Sep 10, 2018 3:11 pm

They are attached to the A lines. I mean the power lines that run from the center of the bar up to the kite.

Did you get a manual with the kite? The mixer is the pulley system that adjusts the lengths of A, B, C and Z when you pull on the bar or pull on one side of the bar to give steering input to the kite. I recommend you look up Armin's explanation of how the mixer works on YouTube. The mixer keeps the canopy profile (or slope) constant from leading edge to trailing edge.

Johhnn
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Re: soul 12m bridles, first foil kite, please help!

Postby Johhnn » Mon Sep 10, 2018 3:20 pm

Looks like Armin took that video down. Don't worry too much about the mixer right now. Just know what and where it is on the kite lines/bridle.

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Re: soul 12m bridles, first foil kite, please help!

Postby Flyfish » Mon Sep 10, 2018 3:36 pm

The key to foil kites is the pack down the day before. Watch the Flysurfer videos on how to pack down (I think ozone made some as well). Be very methodical about your pack down. Bit of a learning curve especially in high winds. But the pack down is how to prevent twists. Twists in the bridal are different... in high winds, try to prevent the mixer from flapping in the wind. The flapping of the mixer will cause twists in the bridal that will mimic bridal tangles.
Be patient. Your in the foil learning stage. As you progress, you will see the difference between twists and actual tangles.

Hope it helps.

Ps, the mixer is the pulleys part of the bridal.

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Re: soul 12m bridles, first foil kite, please help!

Postby TomW » Mon Sep 10, 2018 4:13 pm

Understand your feelings- i´m new to foils- first year.

always leave your bar attached.

roll out your kite and secure it. Rollout your lines from your bar first, walk em out. Then go back to kite and separate left and right pairs of lines about 3-5 m up from bridles.
go back to kite and take one pair- make sure Z is not wrapped around - and at bottom, and A is at top. untwist lines back up to 3-5 m sport from above. back to bridles. Hold Z and A. Walk towards the tip to put some even tension on the bridles and shake them. Lift A-B-C in order to see they are not tangled- lay down Z furthest out and A inside. repeat on other pair.

Make sure main lines are not looped or tangled in anything further up. dont worry about twists. ( hard to not do if you have used LEI for many years- you are programmed to do it)
During pre-inflation you can untwist lines by rotating bar.

On landing. secure kite. roll up lines to 3-5 m from kite. place bar at trailing edge in middle, keeping 3-5 m line staight more or less, a bit of slack to allow to put bridles into kite. Fold kite in half, roll up from tips.
Roll up rest of line towards rolled kite, secure on bar, bar on top of kite folded 2-3 times- strap it- into bag- ready to go for next time !
If your bar is wet, you can put kite in bag first, bar on outside- lines attached !


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