Why do people lift the kite at 12 when launching?

[Jbrook]

Most people were taught neutral is your friend when they were learning, so I think most people still raise kite up to neutral, creatures of habit?

[SupaEZ]

Most people were taught neutral is your friend when they were learning, so I think most people still raise kite up to neutral, creatures of habit?

Neutral is also everywhere at edge of wind window....i like 60 degrees angle until i get in the water

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[tomatkins]

I think the majority of kiters are new enough that they aren't aware of how dangerous it used to be to hold kite at 12.(or still is sometimes)We used to scream constantly "keep it low and go".If you kept your kite at 12 in moderate to strong winds you were going for a bad trip.Can still picture kiters with one or two people hanging on their legs like a runaway hot air ballon. Depower changed whole game,for the worse in some cases....:

So, none of the new kites have "auto-zenith"?

Is "drift" the new "auto-zenith"?

I would have thought that a good marketing concept, for manufacturers, would have been: "You can put our kite in a 'safety zone' overhead, and relax... take a break... no worries!".

Ten years ago, when I started kiting, two things tended to happen when a kite was put overhead at zenith: (1) Overflight, where the kite overflew the kiter, and then fell out of the sky, showering the kiter with coils of line... and (2) Straight up lifting or lofting, when a gust hit, and the kite could not be depowered.

Do the new "C" kites still tend to do these 2 things? I haven't heard of either of these things happening for a number of years.

[edt]

why do most people land their kites after they stepped on solid ground and not while still in the water?

dunno bout your launch but if you do that here you will harvest 10 or 20 pounds of seaweed and spend the next hour picking it off your lines

[s29feb]

Do the new "C" kites still tend to do these 2 things? I haven't heard of either of these things happening for a number of years.

In general no - more stable than a bridled kite, plus with the feedback you know where and what it is doing. However, like any kite if it is well beyond it's range then you are going to get lifted but with a good C you know much sooner when you are at the limits of range - unlike some bridled kites that might feel safe but are so depowered you have no control so when the shit hits the fan you are going to hit it with it!

[nobby raish]

My mantra.....

LOW and GO!!

[TheJoe]

unlike some bridled kites that might feel safe but are so depowered you have no control so when the shit hits the fan you are going to hit it with it!

That is because wind is what gives a kite power. Kites have trim straps not depower. Too bad most people do not know what the difference is and this is one of the reasons people get hurt. How many times do you hear people say how much depower their kite has?

[nobby raish]

yeah,funny.

Now kites are safer....but people are not.

C-kite days,kites not as safe...yet people behaving safer.

C-kites taught us all a healthy respect for wind and it's power.

[Ned Divine]

Don't apply your rules to everyone just because you live next to an active volcano that causes intense no thermal wind gusts to loft all your kooks.

No rules, only good intention, no volcanos, only in your temper, relax

[Ned Divine]

why do most people land their kites after they stepped on solid ground and not while still in the water?

dunno bout your launch but if you do that here you will harvest 10 or 20 pounds of seaweed and spend the next hour picking it off your lines

Good point, never thought of that!