There have been some questions on previous posts about using a 5 gallon bucket to make running kite lines from a boat easier. Here is a link to a youtube video showing how we have done this. This was not our idea. We got it from other online recommendations.
Obviously this can be done many different ways, but this has been working for us. Nothing exciting on here. This is just for information only in case you want to try it out.
I mean I think this would be a little harder if you could not walk it out right? Swimming the bar out, and in wind with a board is not a trivial matter. There are a lot of timing issues? I guess it depends a little on a few things. I was figuring if you drift the kite, can you have a form of feeder that makes sure the lines are not tangled as they go out of the bucket?
Or a kind of line winder? Mostly the lines wil be fine, but you definitely do not want to get a kite that goes nuts on you because of messed up line.
We have also coiled the lines the other way in the bucket to put the kite in the water first letting it out downwind. This worked well also, especially in lighter wind days where we weren't worried about the kite trying to launch on us while we let it out.
It was a surprise to us that during the first run on the video I was in waste deep water. We are almost always in deep water, but the winds were NW which had us launch in a place we hadn't used before. We are learning that things you do "1000" times the same way will change as soon as you turn a camera on.
I tried something similar in the past where I just shoved the lines into a 32 oz. pop bottle: attach your lines to kites, then, starting nearest the kite, just feed your lines into the bottle. Tie chicken loop to something then swim the kite out and do a regular tether launch. I've only done this maybe 10 or 20 times, but so far without any problems.
it is important to realize (like you guys do) that it is smarter and safer to position the student / rider downwind of the edge of the wind, and set the kite leading edge down into the water allowing it to drift downwind and away from the boat, thereby avoiding the possibility of kite or rider crashing into the boat. (keep the boat outside the student / rider's wind window. that is better than actually assisted launching the kite from the boat, like i see and hear many people do.
elaborate bucket technique. you can skip it and possibly save some time / effort (like when your trying to rock a lot of lessons with the least turnaround time in day, or need a complete re-rig mid session to a different bar that has not been prepped into the bucket), by simply unwinding lines onto the floor of the boat, then starting at bar run the lines through your fingers on one hand, leaving sorted lines in a pile/coil on the floor (or in a bucket, whatever) until your at the ends and the lines are "racked" in your fingers the same way they are "racked" onto your stick. attach to the kite, and go. its not that much harder to keep it organized.
Since you have someone in the boat to sort things out, I can see the advantage in getting the kiter out on the water with the lines out and checked before releasing the kite.
It is laborious though.
It looks like one of the kite is IDS?
This one is just based on an IDS kite and I reckon there are details that could be improved to make it less likely to get tangles in the first place, but IMO a more refined and better detailed version of this type of launch could work OK as long as conditions were not too rough and windy.
They do explain at the start that you should be experienced to try this, but I still think that any video should explain what is likely to go wrong, because beginners are still likely to have a go when something looks simple.
i personally do that a majority of the time, but i wouldn't say it is less likely for unexpected / inconvenient things to happen tho (including line-loop snags, line snags on bridle components, or kites turning/flipping/hot launching). i recommend drifting it out with tension on a single center line (so the kite is disabled) and then letting that line feed out in the end, after you can see no line tangle (and to maintain a disables kite if does flip into the air during the drift). the point about swimmers tangling lines around their leg being a drawback to the rider swimming out technique is pointless imo, there are too many simple ways to avoid that (feeding the line out at a proper pace for example, so as not to allow excess line drifting around the swimmer / rider during the swim.) either way can be done effectively and relatively quickly.
ronnie: why do you think whether a bar is IDS or not makes a difference? numerous bars utilize the same double centerline leash system. (although the IDS is the only one which theoretically nullifies the use of a kiteleash for riders who stay hooked in all the time, which i think is dumb, but beside the point). The type of bar makes no difference (although i will say i personally greatly prefer single center-line disable / leash systems)
bnthere wrote:
ronnie: why do you think whether a bar is IDS or not makes a difference? numerous bars utilize the same double centerline leash system. (although the IDS is the only one which theoretically nullifies the use of a kiteleash for riders who stay hooked in all the time, which i think is dumb, but beside the point). The type of bar makes no difference (although i will say i personally greatly prefer single center-line disable / leash systems)
I didn't say it made a difference compared to other double front line flagging systems. I mentioned it because I didn't want to appear to be suggesting that method would work with any kite.
I have a 2008 Nobile 555 that flags to both front lines, but the front lines dont roll anywhere near as much toward the centre of the kite as the IDS bridle does. I havent tried drift launching the 555 by that method, but i wouldn't be surprised if it was less successful.