Total noob here, first time out on my own after a few lessons and had problem with kite I wasn't sure how to recover.. would appreciate some advice..

I was relaunching and instead of naturally moving to the edge of the window so I could pull upper steering line to relaunch, the kite moved directly down wind of me into the power zone, stayed there and was pulling hard. Luckily I was in waist deep water so I could stop being pulled onto shore ( was cross onshore) and held my ground.. wasn't sure how to recover situation so I popped QR (cab vector ids 2012) hoping the kite would depower. the bar ran up centre lines but kite remained powered to the same degree so I thought well what the he'll do I do now. Didn't want to pop QR2 and have kite fly uncontrolled down beach or into trees. This happened twice and luckily both times a guy on the beach landed/collected for me.

Any helpful advice on how to avoid/causes or how to recover a kite in this position?

Thanks in advance!!

antisense said...
[br] popped QR (cab vector ids 2012) hoping the kite would depower. the bar ran up centre lines but kite remained powered to the same degree

Sounds like antisense ! (Pun only) But this smply shouldn't be able to happen. Saying the bar ran up the centre lines sort of implies the kite must fold & flap with relatively little power.
Seriously. If this has happened twice don't fly it again till you have had it checked. Preferably by those you bought it from.
If you bought it 2nd hand bring it in and we will check it out for you. Don't fly it.

Thanks for the replies.

Joe,
Thanks for the encouragement! Unfortunately I couldn't just do self rescue cause I was so close to shore and by the time I would have reached the kite, it would have been in trees or on the road. I'm sure the kite was rigged correctly and inflated enough as I had an experienced kiter check everything for me before launching.


Puppetonastring,
Cheers for the offer to check over the kite and I appreciate your concern over flying it again until it's checked out.. The kite is brand new out of the bag so I might take it back to the place of purchase and get them to check it out. I should say the kite flew fine for most of the session. It was just these two times where the kite seemed to get stuck on not want to move across to the edge of the wind window for relaunch. The wind was very variable down at Melville yesterday, so I think this may have coincided with brief lulls but I'm not too sure.

Bigtone,
Thanks for your comments. As you say I definitely need to get to know the kite better. Interesting to hear you've had the same problem (sort of).


I think the big problem for me (and the main reason for posting) was that I got into a situation where despite the lessons I've done and videos I've watched and understanding of how the safety systems work, I really was not sure what to do next to ensure my safety and more importantly the safety of those around me. Once I pulled QR1 (hoping the kite would depower fully and empty), the bar ran up the centre lines until the split ring and just sat there and was still exerting alot of pull. Perhaps if i'd moved forward the kite would have shifted and fallen backwards to depowered fully? Because I was close to shore I was standing and bracing myself and when I popped QR1 the kite just moved downwind and stayed in the same position. This really surprised me as it was only pulling on the centre lines. So in this situation with QR1 released, bar run up centre lines until ring, kite still full of wind and pulling, what would be the safe thing to do to get the kite to settle. As I said before, I could have popped QR2, but I was worried the kite would blow down the beach into trees and other people and gear.

I should also say, there's a butt load of weed down at Melville, so maybe this could have affected bridles and lines..

Cheers.

cheers ! :-)

I had a similar experience on my 2012 Switchblade 16m when I was just starting. The winds were very light, the kite crashed leading edge down and was completely down wind of me. I didn't want it to drift down towards shore and vegetation, so I punched out. To my surprise (first time punching out) the kite still had power in it. I totally expected it to just lose power.

I believe there just wasn't enough wind to push the canopy completely open and make it drop on its back. In my case, I was still able to hold the kite. So I just walked towards it until it dropped on its back. Then while rolling up the line the kite flew up and started hovering upside down, though there was no power in it. Now, if that happens, I first swim towards the kite to let it drop on its back. That's only necessary in very light winds though. Otherwise I just grab one of the outside lines and pull until it gets to the side of the window and it relaunches.

As long as there is room its fine, you're already flagged out so nothing much else to go wrong. Hand over hand up the centre lines is the other option where you are short of room.

In case you missed it there was a recent thread on light wind relaunching that's got some good ideas and its also worthwhile looking at some info on reverse launching using the back lines to get the kite out of the water.