bow kites

[KillaHz]

For self landing the bow. Sheet the depower strap all the way in, Start with the kite high sweep it aggressively across the window. When it gets about ten feet off the ground, unhook, step quickly towards the kite and pull the front line that is attached to the top edge of the kite. (this is not possible with 5 line kites or kites where the front lines split up the lines somewhere. By pulling the front line it pulls the kite towards the ground and into a safe resting position. A common mistake is to pull the stearing line which tends to make the kite want to roll back into the wind...

[elli]

I did hot launch the kite in the water downwind many times. The bow bows can do it pretty easily, there is no point waiting for the kite to get to the edge, waste of time. Other kites sometimes have to go to the edge, like the Waroo I had, which I could not flip dead downwind.

As far as landing, Gabes system works very well unless its really nuking, and even better if you have leash on the front line.

[Blackbird]

some prefer C, some prefer Bow, mixed in with a little SLE, and you're good to go! Some prefer whites, some blacks, asians are cute, but don't get your panties in a bunge just because someone prefers something else! They all have something to offer. Best advice is take one for a ride...

[Bulldog]

Thanks guys for the good info. I self-launched my 7M bow last week for the first time with sand on the wing and ended up with a hot launch anyway.

Not sure I want to try Gabe's self-landing method anytime soon -- when is it NOT nuking when you're flying a 7.

[windhorny]

gabe, I wont make an arguement out of this, but self launching and landing everytime, I can say safely that 5 line kites will self land just fine by bringing them down to the edge of the window, touching the ground, and then yanking 2 handfuls of the 5th line to yank the LE down. We did it with our bows all the time, everytime by just flying the kite down and yanking the upper front line as you said. When we switched to the rhino's we were wondering how to do it but it works just as well, with the added security of the 5th line if you mess up and the kite rolls downwind. In my opinion/experience, any kite can be self landed thi way as long as there is a line that is on the face of the LE as to a C kite where the lines are only on the tips. $.02

[KillaHz]

Yeah Yuri, never said it wasn't possible to do it with a 5-line kite...just not the way I describe.

[glenn]

Killa, thx for self land description. The part I was missing was starting from high in the sky and sweeping aggresively across the window. I was trying to land it from low like you would with a C.

Also, I have trouble reaching the front lines of my Waroos. Last time I tried this was at Dillon Beach and I ended up with 7 fingertips on one hand - two that were hanging off and the other 5 that were still connected.

[michael]

Gabe,

the self-landing method you described works really good. Some questions though:

1) "Start with the kite high sweep it aggressively across the window. When it gets about ten feet off the ground ..." - I understand that the whole purpose of that is so when the kite is 10 feet off the ground its LE should be facing down. Is that correct?

2) "When it gets about ten feet off the ground, unhook, step quickly towards the kite and pull the front line that is attached to the top edge of the kite" - this is somewhat confusing. Stepping quickly towards the kite will remove tensions on all 4 lines, yet you want to keep the tension on that front line. Also, if a gust hits and turns suddenly the kite, being unhooked won't let you regain the control. Why do you want to be unhooked?

The problem that I experienced with this method is that it's somewhat hard to reach that front line (because the depower line is so long). To reach it I have to pull the depower line/straps first, which pulls both front lines - this might cause the kite to start hot launching. I guess that's exactly the reason you want to step towards the kite quickly (while keep pulling the top front line as quickly as possible) - is that correct?

Other than that this method works especially good in light and moderate winds.

[windhorny]

You got it, the trick is quick! Just understand that when you start pulling the lines in you only have so much line before the kite is being dragged towards you instead of being pulled down. So the quicker you yank and the more you initially yank, the more likely the kite is to fall downwards. The wind is more prone to slam the kite down rather than lifting it up once it gets past a certain point.

[More Waves Please]

Knowing how to self launch and land your kite is pretty much mandatory on the coast. Either you're kiting on your own somewhere, or you're at a place like Waddell or Scotts where you're expected to be able to take care of yourself.

Gabe's technique does work on a 5 line kite with a few modifications. First, you need to have an o-shit handle set up on your bar. Ideally, it'll be connected to a front line, but a back line works, too. As with Gabe's description of which line to grab on a bow, the o-shit needs to be connected to one of the "top" lines. I have my o-shit hooked to the back line on the right side of my bar because the front line split on my RRDs is about 10 meters up the center leader. That works for the normal NW winds we're riding on the coast.

Second, prior to initiating the self landing, unclip your leash from the 5th line and hook it to the o-shit handle. I'm basically disabling the 5th line that's important for water relaunching and safety in the water and turning the kite into a simple 4 line C-kite. It's very important that you unhook from the 5th line; if you release the bar and pull on both the o-shit and the 5th line, you'll power the kite back up into some crazy loops (very bad!).

Finally, where Gabe says to step towards the kite, you'll want to drop the bar and yank on the o-shit as hard as you can while stepping away from the kite. This "swoop & yank" method is done in one fluid motion. Don't wait for the kite to stall out; anticipate teh stall and use the kite's forward momentum at the edge of the window to carry it forward and down. If executed properly, the kite will spin and sit leading-edge down just like you set it down by hand. If you blow it, the kite will fall back into the window and roll over itself until it's prety much straight downwind. That's ugly, but all you need to do is walk down the single line you're left holding to the kite.

Practice this on an empty beach with an underpowered kite. You don't want to be playing around with a new landing technique on a powered up 7m kite with other people on the beach!