How to untangle a hydrofoil from a bar

[Breze]

Here you can see some examples of foil in the lines




If useing the QR, the big question is: Can the Bar run freely towards the kite and flag it. If not fully flagged, will the kite relaunch, spiral... and pull the rider into the foil.
For me: I try to fly the kite to the side and onto the water, untagle the foil with keeping an eye on the kite, to not have an unintended relaunch

[leeuwen]

Thx for the great replies and pointers keep them coming

So main learnings at the moment:
* take some sandpaper to my Moses setup
* move the board out in stead of the foil (I might actually practice this on a low wind day in the shallows just to get a feeling on how to do this efficiently)
* look at the kite behavior, with some luck you can just keep it in the air
* any sign of a possible kite loop eject to safety although, as mentioned, I do wonder how that behaves when there is a foil keeping the bar from flowing up the lines.

[purdyd]

Those two videos are great. The first one shows that you don’t have to drop the kite in the water for the foil to go through the lines,

I’m beginning to think that the best course of action is to release the bar. Then pull on the center lines to get up to the bar and board.

I typicallly have tried to retain control of the kite with some pressure on the bar. I think that might be a mistake.

Then thread the board (not foil) back out the way it came in. Granted I don’t practice clearing foils in the lines a lot but the last time this happened and I cleared the board it was much easier.

I can see either the board can come in under the lines like the second video or from the top like the second video

So identifying which way it entered snd where would be the first step.

This is a great discussion thanks for starting.

[jibskib]

To add experience from my biggest tangle (tango?) with the foil - sizing up the situation, i didn’t want to immediately release the safety (kite was down still) because the bar had no room to slide. I found the center line to pull the kite around to flagged position and kept it tight while untangling with my other hand and eyes on the kite.

It was a huge tangle and in hindsight could have probably hitched that center line to my harness to have both hands to untangle. Staying calm and knowing I could completely release the kite if needed helped. It was good to learn how effective keeping that one center line tight could be, and it helped by creating slack to carefully untangle.

[Flyboy]

In the second video the problem really seemed to be completely self-inflicted. I would have pulled away from the board (towards the kite) rather than staying on top of it leading it to bouncing up between the lines. Basic rule: always keep clear of the board when you come off ... no?

[MattyM]

Happened to me the first time this summer after 6 years foiling. I wasn't far from shore, but felt that once I'd pulled my safety there wouldn't be a lot more I could do except hope someone grabbed my kite when it reached the beach. Instead I decided to spend a few precious seconds trying to extricate my foil from my lines - which I did. Was able to relanch - no harm done. Scarey though. As others have said - first thing is to keep calm.

[a99]

Happened to me the first time this summer after 6 years foiling. I wasn't far from shore, but felt that once I'd pulled my safety there wouldn't be a lot more I could do except hope someone grabbed my kite when it reached the beach. Instead I decided to spend a few precious seconds trying to extricate my foil from my lines - which I did. Was able to relanch - no harm done. Scarey though. As others have said - first thing is to keep calm.

But still maybe best option in such cases just simple to flag out QR, than swim to untangle foil from lines and then connect to qr bar for launch and safe launch kite? Of course it depends of situation. But in any case maybe less risky than to try in secnonds to untangle foil and you can miss this half second when kite can start up.

[Foil]

Happened to me the first time this summer after 6 years foiling. I wasn't far from shore, but felt that once I'd pulled my safety there wouldn't be a lot more I could do except hope someone grabbed my kite when it reached the beach. Instead I decided to spend a few precious seconds trying to extricate my foil from my lines - which I did. Was able to relanch - no harm done. Scarey though. As others have said - first thing is to keep calm.

But still maybe best option in such cases just simple to flag out QR, than swim to untangle foil from lines and then connect to qr bar for launch and safe launch kite? Of course it depends of situation. But in any case maybe less risky than to try in secnonds to untangle foil and you can miss this half second when kite can start up.

Every situation is different,and makeing the best ist move is a bit hard to fathom,
But on the occasions it has happened to me it was clear to see that releasing the bar to safety would have been a bad choice, as the bar would have then been added to the tangle but then out of reach and me left without any sort of kite control option.
My run of things to try-
Keep calm and resist blind panic which can make you make big mistakes,
If kite is in the air get control of the bar, quickly, but ensuring its round the right way,
Look carefully at the problem, and talk yourself through the best options available,
Consider if you are best slowly lowering your kite to get near to your kit for a try of untangling,
If so, then study the way the lines are caught around the mast,wings and fuse,before trying to undo,
Try to keep one hand on the bar to control the kite, a foil kite may allow you to remove both hands for a short while if you have to duck beneath the surface(not as scary as it sounds)
Have a back up plan in mind if things get too bad, line knife option, or full kit release,

[junebug]

Happened to me a couple of times when I was learning. Both times the kite was in the water straight downwind of me. I swam toward the kite to get to the foil and then kept kicking while trying to get the foil untangled to try to keep the lines slack so there wouldn’t be an accidental relaunch. Fortunately, I was able to get everything sorted pretty quickly and I didn’t have to pull the QR.

In the videos above, the second situation is totally avoidable. When the kite goes or is going in the water, always be mindful of how you fall and either direct the board away from the lines or grab it before it goes anywhere.