launch/landing foil kites on rough beaches ?

[BillyGoatGruff]

I'm interested to know (as a non-foil owner), how do Flysurfer's hold up to being launched and landed on pebbly, muddy and shingle beaches with broken shell fragements etc ? In all the Flysurfer promo videos they are always on a big clean sandy beach, many beaches are not like these. Kiting in the UK we have a fair few which are shingle, do the kites get torn and damaged easily when flapping around in the wind while packing up ?

[hayes]

I’ve launched and landed on stones for years and never damaged my Flysurfers. I do check to make sure there’s no obvious broken shells or anything really sharp

On the flip side bought two inflatables and have worn through the canopy where it touches the bladder simply from rolling the kite over on the beach to be launched, it must be due to having a solid bladder behind the section of the canopy that’s rubbing

[Adventure Logs]

I'm interested to know (as a non-foil owner), how do Flysurfer's hold up to being launched and landed on pebbly, muddy and shingle beaches with broken shell fragements etc ? In all the Flysurfer promo videos they are always on a big clean sandy beach, many beaches are not like these. Kiting in the UK we have a fair few which are shingle, do the kites get torn and damaged easily when flapping around in the wind while packing up ?

They don’t really get damaged from flapping around. Where you may see wear though is if you are sliding the kite across a surface like that and that’s usually on the leading edge where the plastic wires are. The Soul was designed specially to help reduce this wear(the plastic lines aren’t right on the leading edge).

[slide]

razor shells are the danger at most uk beaches and they are mostly broken and if ya kite swipes across them , holes or cuts or a lucky kiter

[SolarSet]

With assist lunching & landing you reduce risk of wear greatly. If lunching solo I would place some mat underneath tip facing wind which you place some weight for lunching.
I think most risk is from kite sliding accord beach in side lunch and weight on on tip.

[BillyGoatGruff]

They don’t really get damaged from flapping around. Where you may see wear though is if you are sliding the kite across a surface like that and that’s usually on the leading edge where the plastic wires are. The Soul was designed specially to help reduce this wear(the plastic lines aren’t right on the leading edge).

Interesting, I guess they don't have much internal pressure when landed on the ground and therefore are not flapping with any real force. So is it pretty rare to have to sail patch a foil then ?

[jakemoore]

Tangling the bridle is a bigger issue for example if you have roots or rocks embedded in the ground. The canopy will tend to drape around debris on the beach.

[B-Roc]

Foil flyer since 2005 and I've only ever had one problem where a fly line was damaged as the kite slid around on a turbulent day and crossed some rough shells. Launching is not a problem and controlled landings usually aren't either. The problems occur when the kites are staked out or unattended for a period of time or as others stated, if the bridle snags seaweed or grass or sticks that cause it to pinwheel, etc. If you fly in control, you don't really have a a problem.

[Foil]

My beach has many patches of shells all very much broken into fragments and sharp.

If I have to land on to- or too near to a patch then my helper- super wife- will not place the kite down, she just clasps the folded end with both hands and kneels on the sand holding the folded end against her legs, I run to the other end after unzipping or opening the velcro vents and then we either roll in from both ends or I fold over my end to her and then both rollup together on our legs, good way to do it as it keeps the kite clean and dry and away from sharp shells.

if super wife is not around then after recruiting someone to land me, I ask them to hold the kite low until I grab it from them, I immediately then start to roll one half of the kite to the middle on my legs whilst kneeling, then open the air valves or zip, rest my board on the rolled section and roll in the other end against my legs'

then there is the very odd occasion when the weather is so bad and the sand soaking wet and shelly then super wife knows to catch the end fold in a large section of kite and get low and grab in more kite keeping it clear from the sand, I run to open the deflate bits and fold in the other end and pass the kite bundle to pauline, then I remove the lines and pauline then bundles the kite into the rear of my people carrier, this is then dealt with back at home.

as with a lei kite, in rotten weather and wet sticky sand situation, just bundle it in the car after rolling it up or folding it up off the sandy wet beach, a clean wet kite is so much better than one full of wet sand, seaweed and shells.

[apollo4000]

I can attest given two sketchy landings over sand and shell beaches in Norfolk. Currently have a love/hate relationship with my Souls but not quite putting them on eBay.