Herman wrote: ↑Fri Apr 09, 2021 3:48 pm
Papasmerf I agree that landing well powered foils is a serious undertaking. Also, I have had foils spin through 180 which leads to an awkward situation.
I have put this weird spinning effect down to the shape of the kite shape collapsing asymmetrically resulting in weird spins. Now I am very careful not to over brake and keep the kite in shape as I fly it backwards. I have initially found it easier to be sensitive holding the leaders but it is fiddly to get hold of them and have recently been practicing asymmetric and sensitive use of the handle.
I am curious to know if you are using a brake handle and your thoughts on keeping the kite in shape by not overbraking?
i do have a brake handle but i have been ingrained from all my old flysurfers to use the balls ( that are always just out of reach) so i use the brake handle to pull the balls on the steering lines within reach of one of my hands and i grab both balls(ha ha) and then i reach up with other hand and grab a ball in each hand (ha ha ha) . i have very long arms so i am not sure how normal or short armed people reach those balls.
I think you are spot on, i do believe my 180 spins are caused by overbraking and the bottom half of the kite will collapse upwards just as it gets close to the ground. it tends to happen when the wind is medium to high. when it does happen, i just put both balls in one hand and hit the release and flag it out, since it is already on the ground, it is generally not that big of a mess. i think it is a bad idea (on my crappy beach) to stand there and try to spin it back 180 degrees.
i find it is sometimes hard to find that right spot where it won't collapse. in very light wind, i can usually get it to just keep its shape and sit on it's trailing edge and put a stake in the ground (which i always forget to get out). i think that as i feel more power in the kite as it reverses causes me to over react by pulling in more brake, and thus over braking.
of course, there is always the stake method or the carabiner method which i keep meaning to try but reverse landing generally goes fine.