Power Kite Forum

newbie question about line length

Dr4hcir - 10-11-2014 at 02:21 AM

Hi,

I was searching around for a forum like this to post my question. A couple of years ago I bought a Peter Lynn Twister 3.0. I went to a kite shop and asked what would be a good starter kite with four lines. They advised me this one.

They told me some basics and I memorized the instruction booklet but I couldn't find some good information about something I noticed after trying to get the kite in the air. The brake lines were much shorter (around 20 cm) than the main lines, so the kite was pulled down the moment I tried to let it go up.

There was one sentence in the booklet about all four lines being of the same length, so I used the ajustment knots to overcome the differences. Now I can get it in the air, but I still have the feeling that I have to tilt the handles too much which isn't comfortable, but I can't ajust anymore.

Question: should the lines be the same lenth?
Thanks for the help.

John Holgate - 10-11-2014 at 03:02 AM

Pretty sure the lines should be all the same length. I tend to hold my handles with the bottom of the handles pointed about 45 degrees toward the kite - this allows me to completely slacken the brake lines or to pull the brakes enough to re launch the kite if it lands upside down. Skip to about the 4min mark on this vid to see what sort of angle I've got the handles at.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZVCD-Kzu9k

Dr4hcir - 10-11-2014 at 03:20 AM

Thanks for the help, John. And the vid. Definately going to check this fully later on. I saw the angle of the handles. It's just how I imagined it. The handles themselves allready have an angle, so your hands are almost straight. The last time I tried I had to go to allmost 90 degrees to keep the kite in the air and that's definately not comfortable. I'm going to search for a good shop in the area to get me some good lines. Anybody know a good place in the Rotterdam aerea? (netherlands)

Thanks for the extra tips.

robinsonpr - 10-11-2014 at 03:41 AM

I've got a 3m Twister, and yeah the lines are the same length!

Bladerunner - 10-11-2014 at 09:46 AM

If that was a new kite you should be talking to the dealer although 2 years may be too late? Peter Lynn is pretty good about quality control and I am shocked that the kite came that way.

When your handles are in neutral you should have just a little slack on the back lines. They should NOT be effecting the back of the kite until you apply them. Applying full brake should back the kite down.

A cheaper fix may be to buy a bit of Qline or similar and make extensions to equal things out? A number of the sellers on this site have Qline and could mail you some cheap.

Dr4hcir - 10-11-2014 at 01:02 PM

Thanks for the tip Bladerunner. Will be looking into Qline.
I should definately have contacted the dealer, but at the time I wasn't that sure and let it slip. My guess is the lines were mixed up in the shop. But well, they're bankrupt I read, so not going to bother...

John Holgate - 10-11-2014 at 11:47 PM

A quick fix could be a loop of 2mm spectra from a marine supply shop to make both pairs of lines equal if there isn't enough adjustment available on the handles. Something like this is pretty quick and effective...


Extendo knot small.jpg - 214kB

ssayre - 11-11-2014 at 06:58 AM

Add to the leaders like John Holgate suggests and fly.