I am fairly new to kiting (within the last 4 months), just started going up wind with ease now. I love the sport but have had one reoccurring issue. Line crosses/tangles. I have posted on here before about tangling my lines and ways to prevent it and have been able to get my kite into the water without tangeling my lines (using a drift launch) but now my issues seems to be crossing my lines. I kite in light winds and sometimes during relaunch my kite flips over onto its back (wingtips up) and then I am able to maneuver it into a proper relaunch position but this results in outside lines being crossed. Once these lines are crossed I am still able to fly the kite with ease and have full control but they are an eyesore. My question is, is it dangerous/bad for the kite to ride with crossed lines? How can you prevent/fix this without reconnecting your lines? And how do you determine if the way your lines are crossed are safe? I assume that kiters who do 360s and other spin tricks get crossed lines but this can be fixed by just spinning the bar.

My lack of understanding is likely due to my inexperience but I appreciate any information I can gain from experienced kiters. Thanks.

yes you can ride with crossed lines however it may wear out your lines in the long run and it can be uncomfortable especially if only one side of your lines/bridle is crossed

you can uncross the lines without unattaching the lines but you have to unhook your bar from the harness and kind of flip the bar around to uncross the lines

cheers

You threw me off when you said people who do 360s can uncross their lines by spinning the bar... Do you mean that your lines are becoming twisted like this, or they they are actually inverted - where one or both outside lines are wrapped around the inside lines?

If it is the first then just spin your bar like you suggested

Otherwise, like the above poster said you can put the bar through your center lines and that will uninvert them. Obviously don't do this while flying the kite, but it is fairly safe to do if it's on the water, just unhook with your leash attached, sort the lines out, hook in, and then undo your leash and reattach it so it's not tangled.

You can prevent this by doing what I suggested in your other thread, if you hook in before you walk with your bar it is very unlikely you will invert, as long as you attached them correctly in the first place and you don't flip the kite all the way over itself on its back.

the way your lines are crossed is different than what you described where spinning the bar fixes it. Once your kite inverts one side or both are crossed and the only way is to unhook and flip your bar through the lines. There are forum posts about how to resolve inverted lines.

While onshore you can practice to see what the motion is. In the water your kite may still have some pull so when you unhook make sure you dont pull on the bar and you have plenty of room downwind. It also helps to wear a flotation vest so you dont have to tread water while you do it.

The lines rub and can cause line wear if they are crossed. Plus the kite is not as responsive.

As you get more experienced you will learn how to keep tension in your lines at all times to avoid an inversion. The inversion is caused when you let your lines go slack so your kite can invert. For example when your kite lands on the water and if you are going downwind you basically go towards your kite which slacks the lines. If you do land with slack lines, you can pull 3-4 feet (or however much you need to ) on the center lines only to keep the kite from rolling around, then slowly play out the lines to retension them.

Thanks for the advice. What was happening to me was inverted lines. I apologize for the poor terminology. I will have to practice passing the bar through on land to gain a better understanding. When you suggest passing the bar though do you pass it through in between the two middle lines?