Want to learn how to start unhooked riding. What are the steps to doing this? Is there a difference between a safety leash and a suicide leash? Whats the best place on the bar to put your leash? Ive got standard issue slingshot and cabrinha leashs, would these be suitable? ps i ride a turbo deisel and crossbow

I use a slingshot leash on the chicken loop of my sonic. Its worked pretty well so far though I don't ride around unhooked that much. You may want to set a stopper on your bar so that when the kite goes to the leash it doesn't depower so far that it inverts every time.

This came up a little while back here:

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=22060

my question is , why unhook?
what is the difference - apart from uncontrollable power?

Hey Big mark.
The difference is
1 style
2 being able to handle pass
3. being able to extend on tricks. (look at the difference between a hooked in raley and an unhooked one)

BTW this is NOT a claim that hooked in tricks are not cool. I think both styles are sick but unhooking is harder to learn.

Its like wave riding on a poleboard, hooked in

i ride a 9m crossbow and a 12m turbo deisel. Any clues on trimming, leash placement, and generally how to fly these kites unhooked?

quote:

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Originally posted by NJPornstar

Didnt think you could do a raley hooked in
I'll need to learn that one.

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A hooked in raley is not a raley its a gayley. Got some heavy flaming for claiming raleys when I was not unhooking.

Camo

There is no such thing as a hooked in s-bend

Hi !! just some simple tips for unhooking..

1. Practice flying your kite unhooked on the sand but do not fly it through the powerzone as it has a super strong pull and is near impossible to hold onto the kite....for me anyway.

2. When using a leash i would recomend attatching a suicide leash to your fifth line for starters so if you let go of the bar while unhooked the kite will immediately depower.

3. Firstly just ride along like normal then unhook but continue to ride along normally, keep the same stance as you would if you were hooked in. It is very important to do thid before trying tricks so you know how it all feels to be unhooked.

4. The first thing to practice would be simply popping of the water, not throwing yourself into a trick, just edge hard into the wind, when you feel you can no longer edge(dont edge to hard as you will lose all speed) simply release that edge and kick off your back foot and you pop into the air, wont be huge, only small for starters. Just keep doing that until you land that nearly 100% of the time.

5. Once you can do that try some simple tricks like, raleys, backrolls, just simple things like that.

ONE THING TO REMEMBER !!! - keep you bar close to you body so you dont get sore forearms and most importantly so will lessen the chance of pulling any muscles or injuring yourself. It will also help doing your tricks !!

hope this helps. if you need to know anything else just chuck up a post any someone will answer your questions !!

GOOD LUCK

JLxx

to start with just try these few steps until you
get more comfortable with unhooking and hooking back in.
1 get a bit of speed and edge
2 just before you unhook come off your edge
and head down wind then unhook so you are unhooking with
minimal power
3 once unhooked,then start to edge again,the harder you edge the harder it will be to hold onto your kite but the more pop you will get, so to start with just edge a litte then head down wind again just to get familiar with the feeling(practice, edge-head downwind- unhook-edge-head downwind-hookin)
4 to pop off the water when unhooked edge as hard as you can and then realease your edge, there is no need to move your kite when unhooking (unless you are doing kite loops),being unhooked and edging hard gives you the pop without having to throw your kite back through the window
5 to hook back in head down wind or fly kite in corner of window easier to hook back in when there is no power in your kite
6 you may need to tune your kite and bar depending on what you ride,
so when you unhook your kite doesnt stall or flare usually by trimming your front lines in it will prevent this happening (you dont want your back lines trimmed to short)
If you are using your crossbow, connect your leash just above safety release the plastic ring will sit between leash and bar,if you have to let go of the bar it will depower, you can grab your leash and pull the chickn loop back down and hook back in (take the power out of the kite by heading down wind while doing this).

Hey Robweb and all others, hi I'm sorse or dave, I teach and coach all aspects of kiting including the top level guys.
You've already got some great advice of alot of the crew, I'll add a little bit see if i can help..
Safety first . a suicide lease is only safe if you have another quick release from it, If you are using a slingshot bungee with quick release on it it may not handle a suicide release as was not made for it, they developed a spreader bar with rope goes around harness with QR on it, also has a thick bungee with clip which won't break or release.
When i first started I we didn't have that option it was just attach to the safety position and go ride just don't let go of the bar. I still think this is the safest way to start learning unhooked riding..
safety out of the way unhooking, first thing when riding take careful note of your stance, depower the kite before unhooking, as once you unhook the kite will produce more power then hooked in. keep your stance the same, most people tend to let there arms pull out and compensate by sticking out there bum out. bad
Speed keep riding fast, the faster you ride the more on top of the water you are if you start slowing down sink in the water and you'll drag more and be carrying more weight..
three hooking back in, make sure you practise this, if you find you got to much power and are struggling to hook back in, then with one hand grab your chicken loop and then let go of the bar, it will slide up and depower the kite and you can hook the chicken loop in with out any hassle. note make sure you don't accidently pull your chicken loop safety can make things hard.
well go out give it all a try and let us all know how you go
good fun and great kiting

what about this unhooked wave riding ... any tips for that ??

Unhooked in the surf, just be sure to have your kite stabilized before you unhook, otherwise you'll be trying to regain control of the kite and miss the big snap ya had planned.... Oh yeah, if you can't pull in your bar just grab the chicken loop...