is there a trick to self launching these kites. i was out today, rigged up, harness on ready to go. hook into the chicken loop. pull the kite around on the ground to catch a wing tip in the wind, no problems so far. it fills with wind and goes into the nose down after a crash postion, no worries...then i thought it was just a case of pulling on a steering line to tilt the kite onto its side and bobs ur auntie..no way..........for the life of me i could not get it up enough to fly. ive just come across from crossbow 3s which all u have to do is look at one of the steering lines and the thing launches, but not the rebels..does anyone know a secret, or point out what im doing wrong, or teach me the secret "launch u mother f****king kite" handshake. spent more time on the beach pulling on lines than i did riding...............

I know I'm not answering your question here, but try the old sand on the folded wingtip trick if the rebel wont come to the party

Let the bar right out and then just grab the out side line should work ever time, Don't pull in on the bar until the kite takes off and sits at at the edge of the window in the sky. If all else fails do double rear line launch works a treat
Paul

it was 25 knots today.should have enough power to launch. i was holding the bar in a little i think, it just didnt seem to spin up enough to get it sliding across the sand.. in the end i got it to launch but not sure what i did.. looked a bit like a kook. out there doing jumps and stuff but cant get kite off the beach..do u have to pull in a few arms length of rear line?????

I've only self launched a couple of times. Instead of letting the kite move across the sand I just walk down wind in such a way that tension remains in the lines and when you have walked far enough around the kite will be at the edge of the window and will take off. Prefer this to trying to get the kite to skid across the sand which is a pain in light winds. Hope this makes some sense.

I've been doing a stack of 07 rebel self launches recently.

My routine in moderate winds-place kite on LE down on beach with a bit of sand on it, rotated into the wind so the back wing is opening up but kite is not quite drifting down the beach, walk out to slightly upwind about 110 degrees to the wind (only the safety leashed, not hooked in) with moderately depowered trim, once lines coming to tension, and I am sure the lines are ok I hook in with the bar out, walk upwind slightly while tugging the back steering line to rotate the kite around on the spot till the back wing fills up and the kite starts to want to roll onto the wing tip, then (the special trick) you need to walk a little towards the kite and downwind again for it to fill with air (still with bar out) and roll right onto the wing tip, then keep moving a little in the downwind direction while starting to steer the kite up with a bit of sheeting in to get it in the air.
Wow, that's hard to describe!

I think attaching the chicken loop to a car/fence/big weight system may be easier, but havent really tried this yet.

is there a patent office in festersville?

When that sliding kite scraps across the beach in a screaming arc.....
I don't look away.
I lied before.
I really have to check it out.
You never know what might happen.......?
like bridles hooking over the wingtip,,,
pulleys getting snagged on strings,,,
some psycho kitelooping maybe,,,
Be careful.

Self-launching has changed a bit over the years.
(Doona-kiters seem to be doing the same old thing though).
lol.
But I'm talking about inflato kites, bows in particular.
Since the intro of bows,
self-launchers seem to need more beach real estate now to fly a kite.
With self-launching C-kites, all you needed was a clear line of straight beach.
But bowkiters need a big semi-circle of sand drawn on a fat radius.
It's become greedy beachhog day at the local.

poor relative said...

Get a kite betty

I sacked the betty when I invented LaunchPad (patent-pending).
It's the sickest self-launch system on the blue planet.

The great thing about LaunchPad (patent-pending) is that it's made right here in WA......
not in some cheap-arse Asian sweatshop.