Disaster averted

Post general kiteboarding discussion topics here!
User avatar
WindMuch
Site CoAdmin
Site CoAdmin
Posts:1010
Joined:Tue Apr 20, 2010 10:12 pm
Location:Oakland
Contact:
Re: Disaster averted

Post by WindMuch » Tue Oct 15, 2013 11:07 pm

Rushing. That.

Reminds me of the time this summer I arrived late at Sherman. Wind dying. Folks coming in.

I blow up my kite down on the front beach, run out my lines and ask a guy sitting at the peanut gallery for a launch. He stands there looking at me.

I'm thinking: "WTF, dude, just launch my kite!"

He stands there, still looking at me. I stand there, bar in hand, hooked in, looking at him. Time stands still. "WTF"?

That was about when I realized I'd never connected my lines...!

Kirk out

super_monkey
Regular
Regular
Posts:590
Joined:Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:26 pm
Contact:

Re: Disaster averted

Post by super_monkey » Wed Oct 16, 2013 6:44 pm

More Waves Please wrote:Hang glider and paraglider pilots stress to set up exactly the same way every single time you rig. Whatever your routine, do it the same way every time - from unpacking kite, to laying out and untangling lines to the order in which you connect your lines to the kite. After a while, you can set up and go really quickly without thinking too much about it.

I'm surprised to hear so many rider have different kites and bars in their quiver. That by itself can lead to problems (as some of you have experienced). I ride with one bar that works with all 3 of my kites. No chance of grabbing the wrong bar or reversing lines. I guess that's another benefit of sticking with the same brand of kite throughout your quiver.
I would totally agree with that. Is there a good reason to have completely different kites in your case?

User avatar
sflinux
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor
Posts:291
Joined:Thu Mar 24, 2005 2:02 pm
Location:ocean beach
Contact:

Re: Disaster averted

Post by sflinux » Fri Oct 18, 2013 6:26 am

Your bar setups sounds like an accident waiting to happen. I've always ridden a mixed quiver. What I've found that works best is to tune your bars so that all lines are equal. As far as the knot/pigtail gender problem, here's what works best for me. Go to West Marine and buy a few yards of 7/64" amsteel. Cut 4 pieces in 35-40 cm lengths. Tie an overhand knot and check that they are all the same length. These pigtails are reversible and I keep them on my bar lines. They can be mated with kite lines; loop to loop, loop to knot, knot to knot, and vice versa. With this setup, I can just rotate the pigtails to match whatever loop/knot my kite has, and all lines are always the same length.
Attachments
piigtails.png
pigtail gender changer
piigtails.png (61.94KiB)Viewed 2164 times
Last edited by sflinux on Fri Oct 18, 2013 8:43 am, edited 3 times in total.

rowboat
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor
Posts:74
Joined:Sun Dec 02, 2007 6:36 pm
Location:San Francisco
Contact:

Re: Disaster averted

Post by rowboat » Fri Oct 18, 2013 7:47 am

Great comments everyone, thanks for the constructive conversation!

@sflinux - you are absolutely right, and the same thought had occurred to me, but of course I hadn't gotten around to doing anything about it. Fact is I'm selling the older set of kites anyhow, but I like your solution & it definitely makes sense to have all kites / bars in one's quiver set up the same way. Totally agreed.
-- Lose the Handles

dwaynej
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor
Posts:143
Joined:Tue Sep 10, 2013 9:15 pm
Contact:

Re: Disaster averted

Post by dwaynej » Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:22 pm

I have one bar and four kites and all match, but instead of creating pigtails for the bar, why not change or add pigtails on the miss matched kite(s) so you are always rigging the same way??

Dwayne

victor
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor
Posts:126
Joined:Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:00 am
Contact:

Re: Disaster averted

Post by victor » Sun Oct 20, 2013 8:35 am

universal pigtails with both knots and larksheads are available. i got a pair at live2kite for $6.

Image

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 49 guests