Self landing a larger 4 line hybrid in plus 15 knots can be tricky and dangerous in my opinion. Had a bad experience trying a "flip" in to the wind on 12m the other day at Cott. I didn't get it right, and then she crumpled, and relaunched in the power zone....flew it straight to zenith and depowered, but still got too much air.......not nice.

I then did what I should have done in the first place and flagged the safety leash to the single line and let her fly. From this experience I will leave "the flip" to sub 15 knots.

The flip... pardon my ignorance but what is that?

mrbonk said...

Are we talking about the 'fly it onto the ground and pull the line for the tip closest to you' type landing? If so, I always had mixed success with that one myself. Never had to bother trying again after I did my 5th line retrofits though

So how do you do it with a 5-line set-up?
I tend to have mixed success as well. Having 5 lines with the Y, I fly the kite in the ground and have to pull on a steering line. Every now and then it f—k’s up and I’m not sure why

Any suggestions??

1. Clip safety leash to centre flagging line. MUST be to centre line that will be upper most when landing
2. Fly kite to edge of window about 10m above the ground
3. Pull in a heap of depower
4. Unhook!
5. Dive kite straight at the ground. You must be very decisive about this!
6. Let go of the bar

99.9% success rate in everything up to 25+knts

I dont want to sound like a hound. But there is an easier way.
If you have 5 line kite with a tuned stopper ball. A good Kite instructor can show you how to tune a 5th line stopper ball so the kite stays on the ground.
If they derr dunno......
Tune it yourself.
Release the kite to 5th. Let the kite settle then move the bar along the 5th.Make sure your middle strut is parrallel with the ground = Zero angle of attack. Set the stopper ball there.

To Land a kite.
1) Unhook or open the chicken loop.
The kite will drift down wind and land like this 'U'. It wont sweep across and roll down wind cause its already there! Like magic. This happens basically 100% of the time and works in extremely strong wind. No skill required. Its easier landing a 5 line kite than closing the inflation valve.

2) Tie your 5th line like this to avoid being dangerously tangled in kite lines.
seabreeze.com.au/gallery/gallery.asp?imageid=6414

Practice in under 20knts, once you have it sussed, tingle feet and butter flies are all gone, you will find it works in the most Nuclear wind your willing to ride in.

Ok kool.

Umm I guess it will be a bit tricky when it's blowie.
If it comes off the ground it might drag you around a bit and mow down a fair bit of space on the beach.

NJPornstar said...

Ok kool.

Umm I guess it will be a bit tricky when it's blowie.
If it comes off the ground it might drag you around a bit and mow down a fair bit of space on the beach.

Nah, it's not tricky.
This is standard stuff, Porno.
Go back to kite-school.

You just flag a bow to a rear line and smash the thing into a little shoredumper.
Soak the animal....that usually knocks all the life out of it in strong breezes.
lol.

hey gruezi are you still flying the xbow.. because its really hard to do the 1- line flag on it simply because you cant reach the ring at your front lines. Darren gave me a good tips after a couple of nightmare attempts now ive got an extention that comes down to my de-power bar..i hook my safety from suicide to the extentionfly to the side of the window - unhook and just throw the bar it leaves you with one line and usually a kite pionting down wind so you can just go and grab it 95% of the time... for the other 5 .. i just hold onto that line and walk my way back up the kite till i can secure it. hope this helps and i hope cabrina change ther leash system ... its set to suicide with jsut the depower of the bar if you drop .. which from experience isnt enough

im sorry, but self landing by "flipping" in anything other than light wind is just plain retarded to me

instead of pulling the steering line pull ur 5th line.. i do this with my torch and it works fine dude.. wen the kites sittin on the edge of the window u gota walk upwind a tiny bit befor u pull it aswell.

jev7337 said...

mrbonk said...

Are we talking about the 'fly it onto the ground and pull the line for the tip closest to you' type landing? If so, I always had mixed success with that one myself. Never had to bother trying again after I did my 5th line retrofits though

So how do you do it with a 5-line set-up?
I tend to have mixed success as well. Having 5 lines with the Y, I fly the kite in the ground and have to pull on a steering line. Every now and then it f—k’s up and I’m not sure why

Any suggestions??

IanR said...

The flip does work and Ive done iit in 35 Knots. It take pracitce and decisiveness, it is risky and there is always a chance to mess up.

SO,tell us how ya did the flip in 35 knots an wot happend

user said...

The flip method is fine.Just be pepared ALLWAYS to pull the pin if it goes wrong!

Also,you must FULLY commit to it. You can't be half rsed about it.

Let the bar go,grab the front lines and YANK the top line with to drop the kite onto the LE.

If it goes wrong, pull the quick release,or the kite can take off in the power zone.

In 35 knots,I would just pull the QR ! Stuff that !

I'm with User, the flip works fine.
But like he says you need to fully commit to it.
You need to practice it regularly, and start practicing in light winds only, on a clean beach.
I would not use it in more than 25-30 knots, if its that windy then I would flag to a front line. The best technique is to release to a front line with the kite touching the ground on one tip, at the edge of the window then move your ass quickly upwind to put the kite in the middle of the window.
Do not release bows and flat kites from the top of the wind window.

Remember, either you or the kite can move to make the situation better (or worse!!), so don't just stand there after you release and wait for sh1t to happen, YOU move to make the kite BE in the middle of the window.
Wait for the kite to settle, then wrap the flagged line around your harness hook one or twice (once is fine in most winds) and then walk hand over hand keeping the flagged line tight as you slide along the flagged line which is wrapped around your hook.
If the kite lifts off or does a loop stay still or move towards the kite to reduce the pull and lift, once the kite settles again start sliding along the flagged line until you are at the kite.

Secure the kite well, then grab your bar, unclip your leash from the flagging line, and walk downwind of the kite while pulling the flagged line back through the flagging ring, if you do this 99% of the time you will have no tangles. (and you will have safely self landed)

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve

Ps

I only ever selfland/selflaunch when I have to If there's someone around I get them to help me.

Yes waveslave I was the guy who tryed to explain to you that it was not a good idea before you did it..

For Blownaway
I Awoke to a blustery Southerly gently rattling then windows in there frames.
The night before I made plans to meet some friends and travel down to the gong for a kite
By 11am we were at the beach all pumping up our smallest kites, my seven, two nines and a six and another seven. It’s massive out the back and completely blown out, but on the inside there’s a nice little wave peeling down the beach.
The guy on the six went out with a surfboard and went down wind and started ripping. Myself and a couple of others went out. Within minutes of hitting the water I realise that the wind is real gusty and shifting 15 to 45 degrees on the gusts and I think going up to 35 knots. I persevere for ten or fifteen minutes trying to ride one or two little waves One of my friends kites goes down and get munched by the shore break then another one goes down and get munched. Then I see my friends on the beach all in a group! It look like one of them may be hurt. They all walk the Kilometre back to the Cars.
By now I’m sick of this wind and my kite is behaving really badly. I decide to come in but all my friends are at the cars. I come in with the kite low and hit the beach. Ah, there’s a little dune maybe I can land in the lee of the dune. I try resting the kite on it’s wing tip behind the dune, but every time I let go of the bar the kite starts to hover. I quickly recover the bar and move the kite and myself to a place were the wind is less disturbed. This time I can gently move the kite to edge of the window balanced on the wing tip, and slowly release the bar. The kite is sitting still.
Moving like a ninja, making sure I did no move my hips and the chicken loop to much I reach out and pinch the top leading edge line between my thumb and fore finger. I pull it down towards the ground and up wind. Going hand over hand as fast as I can, all’s good. Oh no!! The far wing tip is beginning to hover. Now swearing like a Sailor, I give the line a quick hard pull down and up wind. The wind catches the top surface of the kite and it gently taps down. Landing leading edge to the wind. Sticking to the sand like glue. I quickly run up and secure my kite with sand. I Take off my safety, bar and lines Thanking my lucky star I got away with another lucky escape. Thanked any god I could think of, and then went and found my board.

HA HA where do you guys all live. I cant believe that there is a place that you can kite alone anymore. where we kite in Mackay, any wind over 15kt there is always someone to land the kite for you, they will even ride back to shore to give you a hand if needed. (that costs beers) [}:)]

Dont try to do it alone the safest option is to get a hand and enjoy the mateship that occurs in this awesome sport.

the wind has NOT been over 15kt for a few weeks and is not looking good before Christmas.