Hey guys,

Had a bit of a kitemare today, just wanted to get some opinions! Pumped my kite up on the beach, wind was about 18 to 20 kts, turned the kite over and place it facing wind direction which was a couple of degrees off a direct on shore, weighted the trailing edge down with 5 good handfuls of sand. Turned to walk away and put gear back in the car so not in peeps way, heard the kite launch, turned to see it come into the air. Ran after and managed, between me and another fella to catch if before it caused any damage. At this point, I kinda took it as a sign that today wasn't my day and packed up, which was a good thing as a big storm came in pretty quick and caught a couple of guys out, which would could have been me.

Going through it all in my head, can't see what I did wrong but it must have been something. Although I did look across the beach after at other kites and they seemed to sit really low and stable when in the le down position, while another Naish (mines a 2013 Ride) seemed to sit quite high off the ground and flap a fair bit.

Anyone have any thoughts? Does this just happen once in everyone's kitetime?

Sorry for the essay.

Cheers
Sean

You weighted the TRAILING edge down?
If you actually did that then there's your answer. You need to put enough sand behind the leading edge near the centre of the kite to pin it down. Amount of sand depends on the wind strength.

Always put sand right behind leading edge.

Always make sure you're not placing your kite on a slope which could tilt the leading edge up.

Seamus1982 said...
Thanks guys, will make sure I weigh down at the trailing edge instead.

Hmmmmm..... Maybe you should re-read all the above advice....

Beersy said...

Seamus1982 said...
Thanks guys, will make sure I weigh down at the trailing edge instead.

Hmmmmm..... Maybe you should re-read all the above advice....

This ^

Make sure you understand the difference between leading and trailing edge. Everyone above has said "weigh as close to the leading edge as possible" yet you've said you'll weigh at the trailing edge.

Either mistyped, misread, misunderstand or a good troll?

i chuck my board on the leading edge......fins up!

There is always the odd wind veer that can catch you unawares as well, especially before a storm. Usually you can get a veer of 90 degrees or more in front of a system, or just from a localised obstruction casting a wind shadow and causing it to veer 180 degrees. Even with a veer of 90 degrees that could be enough to fill an unweighted side of the kite and develop enough leverage to toss a significant amount of sand off.

If you pump up and the trailing edge starts lifting regularly when it is nose down, you should probably be suspect and go overboard on your weighting.

shane75 said...
I carry a couple old socks with me fill em with sand much softer on the kite material if you want it to last longer place near centre behind leading edge, also better to not use the board to weigh it down, why? because as they wear from scratches and chips along the edges of the boards from hitting the ground when getting on/off board it will damage your kite when the material flutters against your board.

Im going to buy your second hand kites if you look after them this much!!