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here's an idea for you, left and right on bar doesn't matter shit.

its front of bar and back of bar that counts, many people dont know port and starboard and don't give a f***, myself included, took me long enough to get left and right.

i'd have my bar all green on both ends of the front and red on the back side, so when its 180 degrees around you dont have to go red, left, or red right, its just red-wrong.

as i have a centre line leash it doen't matter which way my bar is as long as the lines are straight, but having a front and back would make me fix it correctly every time.

sq225917 wrote:here's an idea for you, left and right on bar doesn't matter shit.

its front of bar and back of bar that counts, many people dont know port and starboard and don't give a f***, myself included, took me long enough to get left and right.

i'd have my bar all green on both ends of the front and red on the back side, so when its 180 degrees around you dont have to go red, left, or red right, its just red-wrong.

as i have a centre line leash it doen't matter which way my bar is as long as the lines are straight, but having a front and back would make me fix it correctly every time.

Simon,,
My system deals primarily with the front line backline swicth fuc up read it it is just above your post in the fokiten's rigging sys,,thread,,
fo

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Does it really matter who's is right and who's is wrong? If your rigging method hasn't put you in hospitial then it can't be that bad.....

I saved a new guy a couple weeks ago.

He was preparing to launch a big Cabrina for the first time in 10kts with one side control lines reversed.

I corrected the lines, then flight tested / demo'd it, and handed it over,
no problems after that.

This thread helped me save somebody yesterday. When helping somebody launch, I had never thought to double-check their lines for them. It's pretty easy to tell if somebody is a complete newbie or not, and if they seem like they know what they are doing I won't spend too much time second-guessing them.

However, yesterday at the beach I was asked to help a woman launch her kite. She looked experienced (and, after she got on the water it turned out she was much better than I am.) It was blowing 15 mph with 25 gusts and she was on an Amp (7.? flat) - but she couldn't have weighed more than 90 lbs: fairly well powered.

As I held up the kite I was remembering the Alameda incident and I checked her lines. Sure enough - centers went to backs, steering lines went to the fronts. I put the kite down, we switched the lines and away she went.

It will be a while until the whole world is on non-reversable kook-proof lines, and until then even experienced riders can make mistakes. I will always check the rider's lines when I help launch.

Want to have an assisted launch or to give someone a launch? Some ideas about things to watch out for to try to avoid an incident or accident appear in:

"Ready to Launch?"

at:

phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=12349

There was an update on the accident victim on ikitesurf.com. She has yet to come out of her coma. This is very sad news.

Preflight and preflight again, wear a helmet, impact vest, etc. and be careful out there. There is some new information indicating that this accident may have resulted from a rigging error or from lost bar control following a wave impact in onshore wind conditions. Reportedly, she had just launched her kite from upland while standing in the shorebreak. Always launch from stable ground. Often launching with your kite near the water while standing upland is safer, absent rigging errors. Carefully consider launching and landing unhooked, your choice not to could potentially have serious consequences. We may never learn the full details of this sad accident.

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good thread
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fo, I'd be interested in hearing your suggestions for extending your rigging method all the way to completing a self-water launch, step by step . I gave your method a trial run w/no wind the other day - seems like a winner and was much more tangle free than the one my instructor taught me - I'm sure I would have intuitively wound up thinking of it myself anyway - but thinks for the shortcut. (No other kiters in these parts so tips like this are invaluable). Also, any communication tips that I could utilize to thwart off these curious jetskiiers (hey neat, is that a parasail, parachute crap from 10 yards away)?

I have a question or a statement..Why do rigging accidents happen? People in a rush or people rigging incorrectly because the kite is upside down or on ite leading edge?

As a newbie, I know that confusion results from how to hook up the lines because everything is either upside down or just different from they way we fly the kite.

So, how about this..

(1) What if you inflated all the struts but not the LE and layed the kite out as if you were doing a straight downwind launch.

(2) Sand the tips

(3) Unwind the lines with the bar right side up (or normal)

(4) Seperate all 4 lines...no tangles

(5) connect the center lines to the leading edge

(6) Connect the outside lines to the TE

* There should be no confusion regarding "how to hook up the lines & no tangles or crossing at all because the kite should look as if we are flying but the LE is deflated.

(7) Put some sand on the bar then you can either pump up the LE or turn it over and pump it up..

Just a thought..

KV