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Re: Disaster averted

Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 11:07 pm
by WindMuch
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

Re: Disaster averted

Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 6:44 pm
by super_monkey
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?

Re: Disaster averted

Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2013 6:26 am
by sflinux
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.

Re: Disaster averted

Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2013 7:47 am
by rowboat
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.

Re: Disaster averted

Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:22 pm
by dwaynej
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

Re: Disaster averted

Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2013 8:35 am
by victor
universal pigtails with both knots and larksheads are available. i got a pair at live2kite for $6.

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