Had an interesting, although not very pleasant experience the other day and wondering if someone could explain or help so that it does not happen again.
Kite 8m SWB2
Me 75kg been kiting 4years
Wind 20-23knts side shore

Pulled onto a wave and started riding down wind doing bottom turn then top turn the waves were about 4 foot. Came off a bottom turn swung kite back toward the beach for the top turn but pushed too hard and out the back of the wave. Swung kite back and dived it hard to go back out for another. At this point was picked up and slammed down wind, then same again and one more for good luck. Got a look at the kite here and it was twisted like a figure8 and was looping like mad. It hit the water but continued to loop and the bridles were a mess. After the following self rescue (thanks Mike for getting my board) I laid everything out on the beach and untangled the mess. All the pulleys were fine and everything else was fine.

I was steering very aggressively before this happened but am sure the kite did not touch the water. The wind was kinda gusty but the kite was fully powered and flying fine before hand. Kite was pumped up `bay watch` firm and I have had this kite for a while now but this was the first time I had ridden hard side shore. Any suggestions?

P.s. I am looking for constructive comments and not the narrow minded pin head crap I have seen about cabs, I love these kites and they work for me and yes I have flown many other kites!

was it inflated properly? only ever had any problems with mine if its underinflated.
i pump mine to 13psi.

Yep, mine has done that on a few occasions after touching the water.It looks like a pretty twisted butterfly and loops itself really fast without any major power tho.
If there is a way to get it right without ejecting and self rescue,I would love to know because I had to swim on 3 occasions.

I'm not 100% sure as I don't know Cab kites personally but from the bridled kites I have flown, in a high pressure situation the kite can collapse one side and turn inside out so to speak on that one side, and have what looks like a propeller at the end of your lines, turning and twisting till it can hit the water and stop.

I used to get it one side collapse on me when I pushed to hard, like a failed kiteloop where the last half of the loop I've hit the water and dug my heals in, which ever side I am pulling, thats the side that collapses.

I tried to increase the pressure in the leading edge but it just delayed the fault. Infact I could make both sides if I super dug the heals in as the kite goes through the power zone, it jellies, a couple of whap whap's and kite is back to normal.

Anyway, I think you did this, put it under a heap of load on one side making it twist.

cheers for now,

Robert.

Yep Pretty butterfly and spinning propeller describe what it looked like . I am starting to think that it had slack lines and then I pulled real hard to go back out. I`m certain the pressure was fine as it is what I usually pump them to. As sebol said, is there a way out of this without having to eject? I did try pulling lines but was fairly hard cause it kept taking off and I did not want it to pop.

Thanks for the comments thus far.

Puetz is onto it.... Happened to me again just yesterday while flying the misses 7m IdsX.

I have found the same as Harry on the mid air collapse with both the 8 and 10m SB2, but not the SB3's.

As mentioned to help stop this mid air collapse pump the kite as hard as possible.

I have also found that depowering the kite quickly and a lot with the bar seems to trigger this effect (especially when gusty), as the back lines go slack. Try and keep the bar pressure as even as possible in gusty conditions - no sudden depowering, and you should find that this will help.

Hey Jason,
Was entertaining to watch.lol
From the beach it looked like you broke something,but no damage was done so the wingtip touching the water sounds like the problem.

How many beers did it take to untangle

The heavier you are the more times it happens. I basically couldn't use the 2009 Rhino because it kept happening to me.

I tried a Best 2010 Waroo in Gero and at will could make it fail, and it was pumped up to massive hard pressure.

I believe its a flaw in the bridle design that only show up in high load situations.

see ya!

COL said...

13psi, you've got to be kidding. What sort of pump do you use to reach that pressure?
Col

normal cabrinha pump with a slingshot gauge on it. 12-13psi every time, never have a problem. not all kites like these pressures but cabs love it.

jkiter said...

COL said...

13psi, you've got to be kidding. What sort of pump do you use to reach that pressure?
Col

normal cabrinha pump with a slingshot gauge on it. 12-13psi every time, never have a problem. not all kites like these pressures but cabs love it.

I think your gauge may be incorrect, you are bloody huge, and your cabrinha pump is an exceptional pump.

Most pumps cannot get past 8-10 psi. The top pops, the valves pop and the handle breaks.

I was having that same prob every time I went out, I tryed everything to prevent it from hapening but in the end I just traded it and bought a 2010, prob solved. I just think the kite was blown out to much in the leading edge. Also I am a big bloke 99kg (hey..I'm working on that one..ok) so when the kite went flat out throught the power window the front edge folded almost everytime, the only thing that would help was to pull the power on to try and minamize leading edge collapse. Oh yeah...I forgot to say that it seemed to happen in really strong wind when I should have been useing a smaller kite. Don't know if that helps at all, cheers Marcus

Ha Jason

The SB ll 8M. Was very prone to this collapse usually happens in gusty conditions when you are depowered it doesn't matter if the kite is as hard as a rock it can still happen Cabrinha were aware of this problem and manage to tune it out in the next model. one way to avoid it happening is to limit your chickenloop travel during gusty conditions.
If it does happen again immediately let go of the bar the kite will then sort itself out if you keep the bar sheeted in it will belt the crept out of you at least a couple of times if not more .

Bob Dawson kiterepairs

PS Your new leash is still here