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Re: Self Landing Foilkites in 20+kts

Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 8:18 pm
by edt
neilhapgood wrote:
Wed Sep 12, 2018 6:58 pm
can you not walk up the back lines once its down and not anchor it?
oh sure of course. The problem is what happens when it's nuking. I'll do that up to I dunno, 20-25 knots but what if it's blowing 30-40? You lose your grip for a second and you can get your hands cut up pretty bad. Like I said before I just pull the QR hold on to the flag out line go to the kite. It's not ideal and from the look of the crazy suggestions here, what you really want is an assisted land not a self land. If it's blowing 30-40 knots on a tube kite I also just pull the QR, but there's way less spaghetti on a tube kite when you do that.

Re: Self Landing Foilkites in 20+kts

Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 8:36 pm
by andylc
In all fairness I doubt many would want to self land any kite in 30-40 knots.

Re: Self Landing Foilkites in 20+kts

Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 10:58 pm
by airsail
Strange that for many year Flysurfer fitted FDS (5th line) to its kites a standard, seemed to be when kites were supplied and fitted with bars permanently attached. Self landing in almost any wind was relatively straight forward with little chance of problems. Even in stronger winds on my 10 mtr Psycho, just park it overhead, hit the safety, kite folds in half and drops in front of you then just walk up the 5th line. You may get a couple of twists as the kite comes down but the bridles stay relatively untangled.

Fast forward to these new kites, no bar supplied and no FDS and we have this thread running. After picking up my new Soul I was surprised to find no FDS bridle or attach points described in the instructions. Maybe we are pandering to the LEI crossover guys without a dedicated bars for these kites and now have problems self landing in higher winds.

Re: Self Landing Foilkites in 20+kts

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 12:17 am
by foilholio
FDS is easy in 30-40knots. I never get even worried self landing in these winds, in fact I only self land. Where as most tube kiters are scared of being left alone in high wind and express fear if having to self land. I don't blame them I have seen enough looping tubes with riders drag over roads and into things that makes me more than concerned. The remaining pull on a flagged tube when it goes right is worrying in itself.

Re: Self Landing Foilkites in 20+kts

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 1:01 am
by early bird2
Keep in mind that in strong winds , when you backstall a foil kite , the kite can and will invert sometimes if too much back lines tension is applied and this is a dangerous game .

For me the safest way is to drop the kite on the edge of the wind window at about 5 feet from the land and then backstall it and very important for me is to keep walking or running parrallel to the kite until the kite is straight downwind and then from this point I teather it to something rock solid or flag out .
In medium wind , If I have lots of room downwind , I will backstall it walking down wind with it .

This is very dangerous to have someone landing it for you in strong winds if he or she is not very used to land a foil kite .

Also in winter on snow , I will sometime just land it on a fisherman's shed wall or even on the side of my van when in a hurry in a huge cloud gust .

For me strong winds : LEI kite is the safest .

I kite a little over 100 times a year and self land and launch 99 . 9 percent of the time .

Re: Self Landing Foilkites in 20+kts

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 5:56 am
by Kamikuza
TomW wrote:
Wed Sep 12, 2018 6:56 pm
mine bounced off the tip and did mach 2 to the other side. Fortunately there were grass covered dunes on that side and the lines hit the dunes before the kite crumbled behind them. I was speculating that it would have hit the ground and exploded... It was going really fast...The lines were screaming...
Wind dropped, my 21 folded and settled back, then opened up again and attempted Mach 2 to the other side of the window -- then the chicken loop snapped and it drifted over the trees and over the road, stringing the lines across the road :oops:
neilhapgood wrote: can you not walk up the back lines once its down and not anchor it?
You can, just hand over hand up the lines, holding front and rear to maintain the correct tension. Can be hard on your hands, and be prepared to let go one side and hold a front line for a "safety" landing.

Re: Self Landing Foilkites in 20+kts

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 9:06 am
by Henk
early bird2 wrote:
Thu Sep 13, 2018 1:01 am
For me the safest way is to drop the kite on the edge of the wind window at about 5 feet from the land and then backstall it and very important for me is to keep walking or running parrallel to the kite until the kite is straight downwind and then from this point I teather it to something rock solid or flag out .
In medium wind , If I have lots of room downwind , I will backstall it walking down wind with it .
When doing this, the kite will drift a bit downwind from the edge of the wind window. You walk with line tension to keep it backstalled such that the kite lies downwind.
Would it also be possible to walk exactly the opposite direction such that the kite will end up parallel to the wind? Or will this result in the kite rolling up or tangling?

Re: Self Landing Foilkites in 20+kts

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 12:16 pm
by coffeeking
No part of me would take a foil out in 30-40 knots - launching would be nightmarish, self landing would be really nasty, but then no part of me would be kiting in that anyway - it's no fun in my view, it's just punchy unpleasant survival around here.

I edge-backstall mine, when I had arcs, as a learner, I often got caught out in big winds and squalls and on those times I just hit the safety but I'm paranoid that my S5 is a little more sensitive than my good old arcs were. Only once had it jam (really old-school bars/lines etc) and go into loopy mode - then it hit the sea and I could swim towards it and grab one side's lines.

Self landing LEIs in that is fairly sketchy too - had them bounce back up and go nuclear.

Re: Self Landing Foilkites in 20+kts

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2018 1:15 am
by early bird2
Henk wrote:
Thu Sep 13, 2018 9:06 am
early bird2 wrote:
Thu Sep 13, 2018 1:01 am
For me the safest way is to drop the kite on the edge of the wind window at about 5 feet from the land and then backstall it and very important for me is to keep walking or running parrallel to the kite until the kite is straight downwind and then from this point I teather it to something rock solid or flag out .
In medium wind , If I have lots of room downwind , I will backstall it walking down wind with it .
When doing this, the kite will drift a bit downwind from the edge of the wind window. You walk with line tension to keep it backstalled such that the kite lies downwind.
Would it also be possible to walk exactly the opposite direction such that the kite will end up parallel to the wind? Or will this result in the kite rolling up or tangling?
Rolling up and tangling . Practice beginning with lighter wind and then increase the wind strenght slowly .

Re: Self Landing Foilkites in 20+kts

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2018 1:42 am
by JakeFarley
I cannot backstall land my 21m S5 in anything over 10 knots. Tried wind shadow landing a couple of times, but wind direction and space on the beach sometimes prevent it. I don't want to flag out on the FLS and have to deal with a rats nest. So I normally come in early so there is someone on the beach to assist in landing. :(