Hi, all. I am only just getting into kitesurfing, taking lessons at the end of the month, but until then I am playing around with a small trainer kite. I've tried a few things to self-launch it, like fold the edge etc, but it collapses anyway. I've only been able to flip it in 15-knot winds and even that rarely.

My daughter loves it, so I let her play with it while I was holding the middle of the bar with one hand (just in case). She was doing great, had the kite up at the edge of the window going slowly from left to right and back. I got chatting and not really watching her until the kid's yanked the kite down (probably gust-assisted too) and it's pulled her up and away until my arm jarred me into attention. Little girl wouldn't let go of the bar though, just hung there and went for another go of the same as soon as she found her feet :); this one ended with the usual booomph when kite hit ground.

Anyway: apart from tying the bar to a post or a large dog/child and walking to and fro...is there any way to self-launch a small 2-line foil?

thanks, plummet, worked like a charm.

dave...... said...

you can also launch from the side on position as a regular kiter would. kite bridles up, and some sand on the edge your going to launch from.Set the lines upwind and then walk to the side. Put a small amount of tension on the lines and the far tip will sit up. The trick is to keep walking downwind a bit to get the angles right and get to the edge of the wind-window. Pull on the bar and the kite will self-launch like a real kite. This will help teach exactly where the wind window is and will progress your learning on a real kite

What he said.

Hey, you spotted eagle ray...nice user name lol!!

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