Postby ronnie » Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:48 am
[quote="BraCuru"]
Watching my video I have realized that in the situation, when the kite was sitting on the tip, pumping the front lines by right hand and pumping left steering line would lift the kite faster out of the water. [quote]
Hi BraCuru,
That's exactly what I found when experimenting at launching the Xbow in marginal wind, when there wasn't enough wind to just steer it off the water.
Had knee deep flat water and wind fairly steady. 2/3rds of the time the kite could stay at zenith, 1/3rd I had to work it. 13m 2009 Xbow, slightly under-inflated
When it was nose down I did the normal rear line tug, but sometimes it wouldn't move to the side without alternate jiggling of the front lines and rear line. That particularly seemed to free up the leading edge where it touched the water and helped the kite come up onto its side well downwind. (Next time I'll make sure the kite is inflated hard and use the pulling both rear lines but pulling one more than the other - as shown in the video)
Then as it moves round to the side of the window, to keep it upright at the correct angle, tugging the front lines leans it forward, pulling the back line leans it back.
Once its at the side of the window, very rarely was there enough wind to get it to just lift off.
I had to jiggle the front lines and rear line to get it at an angle where it was tilted back about 10 degrees, and then alternately jiggle the front lines and the rear line to pump it into the air. Had to use the right amount of front lines versus rear line to keep it at the 10 degree angle while pumping it up.
I didn't move my feet but was standing, so it would maybe work the same if I had a big twintip on my feet, but might need a little more wind if I was floating without a board. There are a couple of unused screw holes near the rail outside the front strap on my raceboard, so I may be able to twist over one end of 2" webbing to make a strap loop I can get the toe of my front foot into and put my back foot against the rail to keep the board flat for launching. I'm only interested in using a raceboard as a light wind freeride board.
I'll see if I can find some method that works in less wind, but currently I think if the kite wont stay at zenith without working it I dont think I would be able to launch it in deep water without a board.
I dont understand how the ERA system would help the kite get off the water. I can see that it would help get the kite from the nose down position to up on its side, but I dont see how it would then help the kite lift off the water in any lighter of a wind than by using the pumping technique with the front lines and the rear line?
Last edited by
ronnie on Fri Apr 29, 2011 12:35 pm, edited 3 times in total.