Subjective I know but hey, give it a shot. All types of kites please although I'm primarily interested in bigger LEI/SLE & foil kites & arcs ...

Lately with my arcs, I've been kind of rolling from one end - starting off with about a 3-inch wide fold - then folding in thirds and putting in the pack ... I like the ease of packing with a reasonable size at the end of it - the pack has a bit of space in it and the wind doesn't blow my neat roll out of shape :D
Another thing I wonder about is the 'internal' bag in the pack - I've seen some people put the folded kite in that, then jiggle it down into the bag. Worth the effort?

My foils; I fold the tips to the center then keep folding in half to the center until it was narrow enough to fit in the pack, then in thirds and into the pack. Leaves a nice space to parapack the lines into

... haven't had my Airush LEI out in so long I can't even remember how I pack that :wow: think I did a combination of folding and rolling cos of the spars and tubes ...

Should have done a poll I guess to make the results easy to read but I couldn't anticipate the replies ...!

With the arcs, I prefer to roll, then fold, then stick in the "inner bag" because I find it easier to keep the kite away from the zippers when closing the bag. If I leave the spars in (generally only temporarily while I'm taking it from the field to my place) I just roll it and stick it in the extended inner bag.

With foils, I fold the tips in to the center until it fits the bag, then either roll or fold till the other dimension fits the bag as well.

With my flysurfers, I fold them in half, paying on its side tips touching, put the bar on the outside and roll it to the middle. Then fold in half and stick in the bag. Only trick is making sure the bridle lines are all inside the kite. Otherwise, its a walk in the park. Though the S3 doesnt like to deflate very quickly. Bugger takes forever to roll cause you are constantly waiting for it to deflate.

With my LEI. I normally start at one tip, fold/roll to the middle, then do the same from other side. Then I fold it up from the trailing edge to the top and see if it will fit in the bag. Sometimes I leave the bar attached, sometimes I take it off. Lately, I leave it attached for faster setup...

the sticks in my arcs are placed the day i get the kite and never are removed . and the bags are somewhere, i think

lines off. tips together roll it up , fold the TE , bind it on both ends with the leash from my harness. done.

FB kites I fold like most others. Fold tip to middle getting the bridles tucked in and then keep folding like that till its a strip narrow enough to fit in the bag. fold into fourths or thirds depending on kite size for the final package. I never use straps since they are tight in the bag and don't ever mess up. straps would be useful if you ditch the bags for size/weight savings.

Arcs, I take completely down. Sticks out, lines off, tip to tip, then roll it up. Fold into thirds to fit in the bag. I have to make the package small for travel and storage.

Phree, I've heard about sticks corroding from electrolytic corrosion if they are left in contact with salt. You ever had a stick melt away? You should be the poster boy of how to get them to do it if it is indeed a problem.

Fb kites, if its quite windy i will land the kite near to a bush or simply fly the kite out of the window, i take the 2 top flying lines off the bridles first, tie them together in a lil knot and put them close to the vents, then i take off the two bottom lines and tie them up in a lil not and put them near the bottom of the kite so theres no chance of the bridles tangling, then i fold the kite up from the edges inwards pushing the air out of the vents as i go along, depending on how im feeling and what the winds doing i might do it nice and neat in maybe 8 folds or maybe 3 folds to the centre if its windy or im wet, when its folded both sides to the middle, i overlap the folds, then fold it vertically, push the air out and chuck it in the Bag.

Ive never packed any other kites.

Quote:

Originally posted by Jack1988 Fb kites, if its quite windy i will land the kite near to a bush or simply fly the kite out of the window, i take the 2 top flying lines off the bridles first, tie them together in a lil knot and put them close to the vents, then i take off the two bottom lines and tie them up in a lil not and put them near the bottom of the kite so theres no chance of the bridles tangling, then i fold the kite up from the edges inwards pushing the air out of the vents as i go along, depending on how im feeling and what the winds doing i might do it nice and neat in maybe 8 folds or maybe 3 folds to the centre if its windy or im wet, when its folded both sides to the middle, i overlap the folds, then fold it vertically, push the air out and chuck it in the Bag. Ive never packed any other kites.

Why do you remove the lines from a fixed bridle kite?

i use one piece fiberglass/resin tubes some OME. the furrels will lock on if left together .

i have a virgin 3piece set and a few random sticks for back up .

failure that i have exper. has been 30+mph launch sudden load snaps at the furrel .

i see the value in compleete breakdown, esp for stick maintenance

aluminum will jsu fatigue and break with otu much warning but the stres on the spars is not too much to worry about.

Quote:

Originally posted by BeamerBob Quote: Originally posted by Jack1988 Fb kites, if its quite windy i will land the kite near to a bush or simply fly the kite out of the window, i take the 2 top flying lines off the bridles first, tie them together in a lil knot and put them close to the vents, then i take off the two bottom lines and tie them up in a lil not and put them near the bottom of the kite so theres no chance of the bridles tangling, then i fold the kite up from the edges inwards pushing the air out of the vents as i go along, depending on how im feeling and what the winds doing i might do it nice and neat in maybe 8 folds or maybe 3 folds to the centre if its windy or im wet, when its folded both sides to the middle, i overlap the folds, then fold it vertically, push the air out and chuck it in the Bag. Ive never packed any other kites. Why do you remove the lines from a fixed bridle kite?

I mean the actual 25m flying lines, i prefer to detach them from the bridles and rap them up on the handles.

fold arc tip to tip then roll to squeeze out the air then either wrap the tail (i bet you woundered what it was for) round the roll and put it in the extended backpack, or re roll the kite from the centre then take out the spars, fold the roll into 3 then put in back pack.

Quote:

Originally posted by Jack1988 Quote: Originally posted by BeamerBob Quote: Originally posted by Jack1988 Fb kites, if its quite windy i will land the kite near to a bush or simply fly the kite out of the window, i take the 2 top flying lines off the bridles first, tie them together in a lil knot and put them close to the vents, then i take off the two bottom lines and tie them up in a lil not and put them near the bottom of the kite so theres no chance of the bridles tangling, then i fold the kite up from the edges inwards pushing the air out of the vents as i go along, depending on how im feeling and what the winds doing i might do it nice and neat in maybe 8 folds or maybe 3 folds to the centre if its windy or im wet, when its folded both sides to the middle, i overlap the folds, then fold it vertically, push the air out and chuck it in the Bag. Ive never packed any other kites. Why do you remove the lines from a fixed bridle kite? I mean the actual 25m flying lines, i prefer to detach them from the bridles and rap them up on the handles.

My guess is BeamerBob meant the actual flying lines too. There is really no need to remove them. If you handle wrap the same way you unwind the lines you will get no tangles (ok maybe a few but nothing major) and if you parapack you should never detach the lines. Removing the lines is not necessary for packing a kite.

and by keeping the lines attached, the bridles can never get tangled with each other. (unless you manage to pass the handle through a bridle segment, and that is easily avoided with careful ground handling).

yep I mean why detach the flying lines for all the reasons mentioned by Angus and B roc. It's worth getting handles and lines for each kite to avoid all the possible problems and certain added hassle of removing untangling and reattaching them.

normal FB... refer to Angus's help page @ coastal wind sports...
Arc... go with carl!!

I fold up my Arc's just like Carl. Fold them over wing tip to wing tip, fold the spars inward to square the spars up with the kite, then fold the bottom of the kite up on top to the same width of the spars and start rolling. As you roll it presses all the air out of the back zipper. Get a tight roll and stuff it in the bag. I also place the bar/lines along with the spars so it all rolls up together. Sometimes I take the bar/lines off of the kite and store them separately so I can use them on another Arc, depends on what kite it is.

LEI's I roll from end to center to try and get as much air out as possible and then stuff.

Fixed Bridle (FB) I usually always leave the lines attached and fold the kite from wing tip to center - repeat - repeat etc.., turn sideways and roll it tight and put it in the bag. Then I daisy-chain the lines from the kite back to the handles, wrap together and slide it in the bag along side the kite.

Hey kent I really like that daisy chain idea. Do you daisy chain all 4 lines together or each one individually?

all four together, starting from the kite back to the handles.

I actually do a double loop daisy chain which makes a 100 ft. set of lines come out to about 12-15 feet when daisy chained up. Then I just coil the remaining daisy chain in loose loops, collapse them with the length of the handles and wrap the leftover line to keep it all together.

With my ARC's... My spars stay in unless I am packing for a trip. I remove my bar since I share it between my 10 and 15. I fold the kite in half. I don't fold the wingtips in to square it (I used to though). I roll the kite tight to the fold. I unroll it back a couple feet then fold in the ends and roll them up into the kite. Like a burrito.

I pack both my kites and bar in the extended 15 bag. It could probably fit another small arc in it packed this way.

When I did have a bar for each kite they stayed on the kite. I would wind the lines almost up to the folded in half kite. Leaving 1/2 kite span (the folded kite) of line. I would throw the bar over the folded kite. Roll up the kite as above along with the lines. This way the lines do not twist up as they get rolled into the kite. I preferred not to roll the whole bar up into the kite because of all it's hardware. The kites get packed into the bag as above.

Folding the arcs in half ... one tip upwind with sand on it say, bring the other up to it and then roll from the tips to the center? Doesn't the kite catch the wind and make a nuisance of itself? And when you come to unpack?
Apart from the time it takes to roll the whole kite tip to tip, it's nice to be able to take it out then just give it a flick and have it unroll itself ...

The Phantom bag has a mesh sack in the middle with the hole at the very end - makes it easy to get the kite in and then into the bag. The Vortex and Scorp have that bag with the zip on the side ... harder to get the kite in from the top - although I haven't tried sticking it in from the bottom ...!

zero gee, are you rolling from the fold to the tips?

Yes, I roll from the tips to the center (or the fold). The spars and wind help squeeze the air out. Also, while rolling the kite I work my hands from the center of the spar toward the LE... then back toward the TE... etc. until finished... for a tight burrito.

Folding the kite in half has never been an issue as long as there is enough weight on the upwind tip. Unpacking is a snap. The wind helps unroll it a bit, then let go of the top tip and weight the upwind tip. No problem.

If it's pretty windy, it can be troublesome to fold the spars in to square it up before rolling. This is why I stopped doing that. It slowed me down and it didn't seem to really buy me anything over not squaring them up.

+1 for leaving the lines on FB kites...

yep does eliminate potential bridle tangles as well....

i fold the bridles inside, fold the tips in right to the middle over the bridles, fold each end in again so I've got a rough square in front of me, then just flake out the lines in a loose pile into that square until the handles are just below the TE, then i fold the lines in so the pile isn't disturbed, then roll up into a nice package sorta stuffed sleeping shape like.

works for me in sand and generally light winds but yep to avoid tangles in higher winds I'm going to have to learn AWOC's method or continue to suffer tangles....

Arcs? I roll 'em tips to middle, not much to add.... i try to get the funky diagonal fold at the beginning locked around the strut on the first roll, also makes it easier to keep squeezing the air out if I keep pulling the edges of the kite to the ends of the struts as i roll it up... (oh yeah... burrito man got that one... :wink2: )

My Bullet and the Rebble have little velcro tags at the top or bottom, that you can tuck the bridle under ... keeps things neat only noticed them on the Rebble after about 4 years of owning it
In high winds I do the same thing but have to put some weight on the TE and swear a lot. Once or twice I've ended up just stuffing my Reb into the pack like a sleeping bag ... then unpacked it later, feeling guilty, and folded it up nicely

I always wrap lines on the handles, it suits me down to a tee, i dont mind winding them up and my bridles NEVER get tangled unless the kite is dragged around aimlessly, which just doesnt happen, i only have one set of flying lines atm and quite a few kites, i would rather rap them up and have the pleasure of picking which one to put the lines on, i need to buy more lines but i just aint got the money, my brother keeps losing or selling all of our lines ffs.