stuntnaz said..
I don't no why kite schools don't cover this it should be mandatory for all schools to teach self launching and landing . That way students can be made aware of all the ins and outs and what can go wrong and what to do when it goes pear shaped .
As far as
self-launching is concerned, it's an
advanced skill that has lots of potential for dangers, accidents and can damage the kite. The majority of students booking lessons simply don't develop sufficient skills or book enough lessons to justify teaching this skill. It's simply not a priority. However for the few who are ready, skilled, competent and confident enough, we do teach it. This is usually only after 3-4 lessons are done at least and it corresponds to roughly 5-10% of students. With kite beaches getting busier these days, self-launching should be discouraged as too many accidents can occur involving other kiters or even worse, members of the public.
As far as
self-landing is concerned, it's a
basic skill that must be learned in the first lesson by
using the safety system and flagging the kite. Because it's not part of any official instructor training scheme, no schools that I know of teaches this except ours. We call this the ''emergency self-landing'', safety is deployed during the
first few minutes of flying and student self-retrieves the kite once flagged out by following the safety line hand-over-hand straight to the kite and secures it. It's simple, fast, effective and safe no matter the wind conditions. This skill is an essential part of student independence, as they often drift downwind and/or end up in trouble where there is no one around to help.
As a result of not being taught how to self-retrieve their kites using the safety system in their lessons, newbies often end up trying to self-land using all those
different dangerous self-landing methods i.e. pulling back lines or front lines, smashing kites to the ground, etc. all while being hooked in the chicken loop and not ever thinking of using their safety systems...
Christian
