1. Wind lines up as best you can as per usual after the entanglement / ditch - try not to let the ends wind around each other.
2. Choose a non-windy, private grassy area with shade! Crack open a beer and play relaxation music. (Let your inner force flow with nature)
3. Lay lines out as best you can.
4. Find what looks like the least tangled line.
5. THE most important rules:

A. Straighten the line you're working on (let the other lines loop around it).
B. Pull it through knotted bits from the bar end (don't thread the ends through). C. Never pull tighter any line which is tangled.

6. Work in small stages, starting from the kite end, if required. Twiddle it to see which way to pull thru (always pull the line from the bar end of the knot).
7. Put the untangled line to the other side of the bar.
8. Repeat with the next least tangled line.

Important note.
When frustrated do not pull really really really hard in all directions on the lines. Trust me, it only makes it worse.

Also, if it's a mega birds nest, try to keep all lines as loose as possible and look for loops, not knots (if you see what I mean !). It's usually where a loop has wrapped around another line/s or sometimes a group of looped lines. I've had instances of pulling out one loop and the whole thing has magically untangled. Just knowing which loop is holding it all together. Lucky me, eh ! Just to balance it up though, last week I had a 2 hour, 4 liner special. Ouch...

Just take your time and try to remember that if you do get rid of the tangle, it will have saved you the cost of 4 new lines - try to let that inspire you.

If you are a chiropractor or something and earn more than $100 per hour throw the whole lot in the bin and get a new set of lines

pintofpale said...

If you are a chiropractor or something and earn more than $100 per hour throw the whole lot in the bin and get a new set of lines

...mumble mumble... ecological impact.... global warming....
don't chuck your lines even if you are a high earner, donate them to some poor developing nation - Ethiopians have a right to kitesurf too.

Actually just msg me, I'll have them!

Anyway, it really isn't about knots but: The lessons you'll learn about life, the universe and everything

Do chiropractors earn more than $100 per hour, or just charge more than $100 an hour? If they are one man bands they must have overheads, if they work for someone they probably get paid a percentage or wage or something...


I did take a photo of it after all, thought I hadn't. That's already half a beer in, getting ready for the hard yards.

Green Pat
Just looking at that photo makes me a little quesy....
My advice. Get your girlfriend to help you. Tell her it will be a good bonding experience and that tangled lines are a metaphor for your relationship. If you can untangle lines together, you can get through anything.
Then just sit around, sort of fiddling with the lines, drink beer and get her to sort it out.
P.S Don't give her any beer. It will affect her fine motor skills and decision making abilities, hence taking her longer to sort the lines out.
























r

Fooosh said...

1. Wind lines up as best you can as per usual after the entanglement / ditch - try not to let the ends wind around each other.
2. Choose a non-windy, private grassy area with shade! Crack open a beer and play relaxation music. (Let your inner force flow with nature)
3. Lay lines out as best you can.
4. Find what looks like the least tangled line.
5. THE most important rules:

A. Straighten the line you're working on (let the other lines loop around it).
B. Pull it through knotted bits from the bar end (don't thread the ends through). C. Never pull tighter any line which is tangled.

6. Work in small stages, starting from the kite end, if required. Twiddle it to see which way to pull thru (always pull the line from the bar end of the knot).
7. Put the untangled line to the other side of the bar.
8. Repeat with the next least tangled line.

Spot on for me Foosh... when the head of the lines is coming through and reaches a real snag work your fingers in a gently 'drumming your fingers on a table' motion in the thick of it whilst gently pulling the line. Seriously it all works itself out better than trying to force it or show it the way.

In my 1st season I used to try to work the tangles out up the lines WRONG!! Cottoned onto Foosh's technique in my 2nd season thank gawd.

As a sound guy I have a zen-master like ability to 'see' through tangled leads/lines, understand where they are coming from/going to and feel their pain. If you spend years ferreting around the back of high wattage PA racks, with huge spaghettis of black audio leads looking like a 3D model of chaos theory, in pitch blackness with a intermittant mag-light hanging ou ya gob you tap into this inner peace (near the end of the nights bar card).

As an average intellect fella I like they idea of paying a couple of squids to sort all the crap out though.

I like Pat's n Hairy's modus op too... bit scarse around these parts lately though - a nice Makers Mark n dry or two eases the pain when it is a do-it-yaself operation. After the weekend fun at Yalls I have at least a two burb untangle ahead of me... been quite some time since I have had anything beyond a 1 beer tangle. Oh well still rapt with the session

I had a knot once
It was rather tight
Needed to get it loose
Or I'll end up in a fight
So a little hot water
Some wiggle and wobble
A pin to get it started
And straight it was once more.

Damn anyone else bored?!
So shouldn't be in the office right now!

I would like to use the original rules, but with an extra step.

Don't tell your mates about the kitemare on hand, instead organising a downwinder. At the meetup point, insist you leave your car there and take theirs.

Once your at the upwind carpark, get your gear out and say, "OH CRAP!... I forgot about this... arrrrggghhhh!".

Now, stand back and watch how quickly the lines untangle.

[}:)] I'm such a good friend.

WARNING !!!
Once it gets to being a 6+ stubby birdsnest you risk making the problem worse not better.
Solution - save it till tomorrow & concentrate on drowning your frustration.

gruezi said...

90% of tangles happen with your lines still fully attached to the kite.

Get your soggy tangled mess to the beach and do not, I repeat do not undo your lines from the kite. Like everyone has said, work on finding and undoing the loops and keep it all loose. The minute you begin pulling one line here and pulling through there, you will make it worse.

Undo the loops with kite attached to the lines right then and there at the beach.

This is the best advice ever, if you can pull it off. Unless your bar passes in between some of the lines and / or twists around the centre lines it's super easy to get the tangles out this way. This is what I've done in the past and I've never had more than about a 400 milli-beer tangle.