RELAUNCH OF THE KITE – SPECIAL
Sometimes you have to relaunch the kite after it ends up in a weird position.
My name is Petar Pavlovic, I love sharing my kitesurf experience with you and in this episode we will see how to relaunch your kite if it ends up
- inverted,
- in beach position or
- in smile position.
Most of the time all those positions come after you crash your kite on the water and you keep on riding towards your kite.
The lines lose the tension and the kite turns on the water.
HOW TO RELAUNCH THE INVERTED KITE
I saw and experienced many times inverted kites. Honestly I never saw a kite breaking from being in this position but I believe that could happen. Especially in strong wind conditions or with a very used kite.
If you are not sure what to do it is smart to just let the kite on the side of the wind window pointing towards the beach and luckily your kite doesn’t break. Once the kite reaches the beach use the chicken loop quick release. Anyway it would be better to put back your kite in the correct position so you can fly it again.
Here is what you can do. In light wind I recommend to pull and to hold the back line so that your kite stoles.
As it stoles let go the line and wait for the kite to get tension again. If the kite is full of water it will help to slowly swim or walk towards your kite so that the water slides away from the canopy.
Once the kite is on full tension relaunch your kite normally. In most cases your back lines will be twisted with the middle lines. You should know there is nothing to worry about if this is the case.
The red (or on some bars a different color) is always in your left hand. You can slowly bodydrag or even ride back to the beach to land your kite and re-setup your lines.
On a stronger wind it might be difficult to stole your kite, so the only solution would be to disconnect the chicken loop quick release and to recover it again. If you are not sure how to recover safely the chicken loop make sure to check my previous episode
HOW TO RELAUNCH THE KITE IN BEACH POSITION
If your kite lands on the water in beach position there will be no tension on the lines. First you want to let go of the bar and slowly swim or walk up wind and hopefully the wind turns your kite.
If this doesn’t work, and you are in deep water, I recommend to keep your board on your feet if possible and start pulling one back line as much as possible until you see the kite getting a bit of wind.
As soon as the kite starts getting wind, let go of the line, make sure it is not twisting around any part of your body. Be ready to use the chicken loop quick release in case the line twists around the bar or the kite and it starts looping. If everything looks stable, normally relaunch your kite.
HOW TO RELAUNCH THE KITE IN SMILE POSITION
If your kite is fully connected on you and it is flying in smile position. You want to carefully watch your kite and catch the back lines in each hand. Often the kite bounces up and down. As soon as you see that one wing tip gets a bit of wind you have to pull on the back line so that the kite gets in full tension again.
In light wind conditions it can be supper difficult for the wing tip to get some wind so if the wing tip doesn’t get any wind, you have to disconnect the chicken loop quick release.
Sometimes there is not much tension on the kite for the bar to slide away over the safety line, so you have to push the bar away for 3 to 4 meters so the kite changes its position. Then go with the process of recovering the chicken loop so that your kite gets in tension again.
