Can anyone give me advice how to get the kite back to flying position from when it is flagged on its back in the water. I have been able to get the kite relaunched with lots of trouble. The obvious advice would be to pull on a steering line but this seems not to have as much effect as you would expect. Any tips would be appreciated.
If its on its back it means you've let go of the bar or most likely hit the release.
Once you hook back in and grab the bar it wont lay down anymore.
Then coax it off by working the steering lines.
If the wind is too light or the kite is an older model it will be very difficult.
Think about what the kite is doing versus what you need it to do, see where the water or line tension is holding it, and change these to get the result you want.
A lot of times it can help to use technique from the video above of pulling one front line and the opposite rear line to rotate or roll the kite into a better position.
Sometimes you will have to pull both front and rear lines on one side of the kite to rotate it.
Sometimes you will be better off hot launching or side launching even if normally you reverse launch, or whatever.
If you must choose hot launch make sure you have space downwind!
It comes down to practice and most kites have their quirks although they may "normally" most easily relaunch by pulling on one steering line or reverse launch by pulling both steering lines at once.
People may have more useful advice if you say what kite and whether it flags on one line or both front lines.
njrider wrote:Great tips. BUTT most times when this happens you don't have the luxury of standing in the water like in the video.
If its on its back, sitting on the water with a smile
I would swim to the side of the kite pulling the line connected to the wing tip furthest away from me, the kite should just stand up at the edge of the window.
njrider wrote:Great tips. BUTT most times when this happens you don't have the luxury of standing in the water like in the video.
I feel you brother. Assuming you are in deep water and the canopy is laid back on the water, you are in the suck. No magic there.
If you are lucky you still have your board.. That helps a lot to provide resistance to get the kite relaunched. If you loose the board, stay deep and kick against the wind as the puffs come.
On its back like you stated, you have to get one side of the kite flying, and as you know, the only way is with the steering line. Whichever side flies first will slowly shed the water off the canopy. I work mine from straight downwind to the edge of the window seeing what sheds the water soonest. It always takes a long time in light wind, but from my experience, it always happens, so keep at it. Once you are there, it is like the magic (and obvious) Switch video. The best thing from that video was to take all the power out of this kite which will help prevent backstall. Hope that is helpful.
first thing depower you kite compeltely. Try and swim to the side as much as possible. Grab as much front line as you can and pull it back over your head. As you release then swim like mad towards kite to get it to fall over onto its leading edge.
Then grab the opposite steering line to the direction you are swimming ( the top one) an slowly put tension on it. Too much and you will pull it back over.
When it starts to move (the kite) then tease both steering lines top and bottom to avoid pulling it back again. This is a good technique for high aspect kites in light wind so works a treat with others.
Eventually the kite will move into position and off you go... Remembering to let it breathe still.
I am not sure what the proper terms (if there are any) for the conditions we are talking about. I think of on its back as LE still down, but canopy on the water (usually involving some kind of twist as well). On its tail would be trailing edge in the water with LE up. On its tail is the one you need to pop the center lines to get it to roll over.
Just remember to make quick short pulls on the centerlines. If it does not roll over, let the centerlines back out. Don't keep pulling. My friend was doing this in deep water and got too much slack in his centerlines in deep water. The centerlines wrapped his bar, and he got a nice spiraling deathloop (overly dramatic term) pull out of it. He was able to release his leash, and we got the kite back, but we were lucky he wasn't near the beach when this happened.