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How to Self Land Your Kite

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Peter_Frank
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Re: How to Self Land Your Kite

Postby Peter_Frank » Sun May 11, 2014 10:18 am

Just saw the video.

Great, as this is how kites are self landed most of the time:

Of course, in really heavy winds with smaller kites and open space, you need to do it differently, but most who have'nt learned to self land, are not using these small high wind kites, and those who are, have figured things out by then.

The good thing about the method is, that if it goes wrong, the kite just sits on its side, no harm done and you try again :D

Around here, most kites have a high Y anyways.

Very natural to show the method that ALL kites and bars can use, instead of brand specific methods, thumbs up :thumb:

As said, in light wind this is the way everybody does it (here), also with a low Y :naughty:

8) Peter

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Re: How to Self Land Your Kite

Postby Kamikuza » Sun May 11, 2014 11:45 am

I've seen kites crashed into the ground like that, but without the bar work.

I self-land all sizes of my kites by landing it on the tip, reaching up and grabbing the center lines, walking upwind around the kite and keeping tension on the centers, then hand over hand to the upper front line... worse failure mode is it floats into the air when I pull the upper front line and crashes down a few meters more downwind than I planned.

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Re: How to Self Land Your Kite

Postby lander » Sun May 11, 2014 12:15 pm

I would say that is a bad way of doing it. This is how I do:

http://youtu.be/gpU4c4IHFYE
Last edited by lander on Mon Jun 02, 2014 5:04 pm, edited 5 times in total.

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Re: How to Self Land Your Kite

Postby William Munney » Sun May 11, 2014 2:58 pm

lander wrote:I would say that is a bad way of doing it. This is how I do:

http://youtu.be/gpU4c4IHFYE
That's the way I normally land, with the fifth line as a back up. Not too crazy about launching that way, especially on a beach with any debris or shells, due to the fact that a line could catch on something or the kite would be dragged across shells when you tug on the lines to launch. Gusty conditions could also be a problem.
With respect to an earlier point in this thread, I think the kite should always be trimmed with the shortest center lines and the bar pushed out when launching or landing, unless you have a kite that won't steer unless the bar is part way in.

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Re: How to Self Land Your Kite

Postby dracop » Sun May 11, 2014 5:39 pm

Self landing is tricky, I like to walk/swim/wade to the shorebreak, park the kite on its wingtip in shallow water (making sure I am over water and not the beach, kite wingtip on the water itself), then QR, which ends with the kite having leading edge facing the wind.. Very similar to a self rescue except I am standing on land while the kite is on the water and I am doing it to pickup a parked kite instead of sailing home. Prob would not be advisable if you have big waves near the shoreline but I dont have that in S FL.

I've tried the center line yank, but last time I did it it gusted hard just as I did it and the cuts on my fingers took three weeks to heal. The approach I use effectively does the same thing but puts the line tension on the safety system instead of my fingers, altho the QR method is messier to clean up the lines after. /shrug for 5 extra minutes I would rather save my fingers the damage potential.

Some quick warnings:
- If something gets tangled in the lines higher up the lines, you can get loops that generate alot of power.The kite over the water with you at shoreline means you will simply get dragged into water. There is a trade off for this though.

- Parking on the water introduces the risk that currents, waves, and wind shifts can alter the position of the kite relative to the wind. Its less stable than being parked on land, so you once bring it down, run to it. It works best if you have the kite in shallow water, but at 10-20m beyond the actual waterline going out to sea. If you have to go past waist depth to pickup the kite, use your safety leash to hook into the kite's pump loop to attach it to you so you can swim the kite back to shore.

= If you land on the beach, when you QR, the kite will punch backward a couple of feet , so leave some extra distance for the kite to move backward from you. On sand, leave a few feet between the kite and the ground before QR, otherwise it flips over if lines catch a wingtip. Seems to only happen to me when I do a QR landing on the beach, wingtip in the water responds differently.

I'm a beginner but rarely have someone to launch/land me, so after about 40 lifetime sessions, this works smoothly for me. I hate the anchor approach, tried it a couple of times and could never get it smooth. Kite instructor in Aruba told me not to waste my time, just use the QR approach. Worked easily in 35 mph winds when I was overpowered on my LF NRG 12. If you have super duper high winds, you can fly the kite beyond the wind window with an aggressive stroke (remember, kite is flying out to sea), then let it gently come down before QR.
Last edited by dracop on Sun May 11, 2014 5:56 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: How to Self Land Your Kite

Postby mark van haze » Sun May 11, 2014 5:40 pm

That's exactly what we were targeting for. Of course there are many ways to self land and depending on your kite and bar system this will differ a lot. This was meant as a video that will land any kite on any bar system for people who don't know yet how to self land, don't ride in 25+ knots and are somewhat advanced riders. Clearly stated in the beginning of the video.
Peter_Frank wrote:Just saw the video.

Great, as this is how kites are self landed most of the time:

Of course, in really heavy winds with smaller kites and open space, you need to do it differently, but most who have'nt learned to self land, are not using these small high wind kites, and those who are, have figured things out by then.

The good thing about the method is, that if it goes wrong, the kite just sits on its side, no harm done and you try again :D

Around here, most kites have a high Y anyways.

Very natural to show the method that ALL kites and bars can use, instead of brand specific methods, thumbs up :thumb:

As said, in light wind this is the way everybody does it (here), also with a low Y :naughty:

8) Peter

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Re: How to Self Land Your Kite

Postby Eurus » Mon May 12, 2014 5:43 am

I don't self land anymore ever since the last time where I landed my kite on a piece of glass and it blew out the leading edge.

You have to aggressively drop your kite during a self landing and anything under the leading edge that could pop it certainly will.

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Re: How to Self Land Your Kite

Postby ronnie » Mon May 12, 2014 8:10 am

Eurus wrote:I don't self land anymore ever since the last time where I landed my kite on a piece of glass and it blew out the leading edge.

You have to aggressively drop your kite during a self landing and anything under the leading edge that could pop it certainly will.
I check the area where I'm going to land it and leave the board there ready to put on it when I get to it.

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Re: How to Self Land Your Kite

Postby JGTR » Mon May 12, 2014 8:38 am

Great, as this is how kites are self landed most of the time:
Maybe at your beach but I've only seen it a couple of times in 10 years and never in decent wind

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Re: How to Self Land Your Kite

Postby maurice_k » Sat May 24, 2014 6:25 am

self land.jpg
self land.jpg (6.06 KiB) Viewed 1695 times
Hello,

Here at my school in Sumatra I have made a tool that works for people who go kiting but not know how to self land.

Attach it around a tree or something, hook your loop into the carabiner, walk to the kite . done.

www.seabreezekiteclub.com

Thanks


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