First day out with one on my Syn's :wee:

Weather forecast waffled about 6 m/s so I thought I could at least see how the Syn flew & compared with my extensive ( ) Vortex and Phantom experience ...

First bow-tie on launch. Needs to be well filled for launch, thankfully wind was building to an honest 6 m/s while I was untangling the lines. I'm impatient, obviously
First invert and first recovery of an inverted arc :wee:
First good session meddling with trim at the bar of an arc. I think I'm starting to assimilate the over-analysis of the information I got from here and experience
First time to use the Carltb (where he been lately?) landing technique - f**kin' awesome, it just touched down and no tangles!

Had a good time scudding down the beach, basically ... downlooping the 19m Synergy, concentrating on letting the harness do the hard work and not hauling on the bar, playing with sheeting in and trim.
A couple of locals turned up with their 12m LEIs and surfboards but even they didn't go anywhere.

Problems ...
Damned safety released on me twice for what I could tell was no good reason and in my muddle to land the kite, the center line/sheeting line pulled at the bar, wedging itself into the hole - had the devil of a time pulling that back through turned the hat upside and had no more releases.
During all that, the velcro retainer for the self-landing handle got ripped off

Questions ...
Do the self-landing handles NEED to have the velcro straps on? They're a bit annoying when not flying, they fall out & the line gets messy but are they necessary?
How much difference to turning speed does meddling with the flight straps acheive? Or bar pressure, for that matter? The 19m Syn in the sweet F.A. wind turned like my 16m Airush LEI does IMO ... I want more

Sweet review. Sorry I can't answer any of you questions though.
Glad you enjoyed it.

The little Velcro straps at the landing handles just keep things tidy at the leash ring when setting up and other times where there is no tension on the lines. Mine ripped off the right side the first time I dumped it to safety as well. I replaced it with the larger Velcro strap that is around the float (meant as an option leash guide), but that was too much Velcro- when I would dump the kite to safety in light winds to land, the Velcro held too tight and the bar would not go up the line to flag the kite. the kite would just stay powered and spiral until I ripped the Velcro free by hand. Not good.
So now I just leave it be and am mindful of it at set-up. The flying line and leash ring stay in place the minute you pick up the bar for launch, no problem.

My advice to others is to attach those landing handles with just a few hooks of Velcro- just enough to keep the handle and ring in place at the end of the leader during set-up. Make it easy for it to come open properly and not tear or interfere with the safety.

Internal straps at the tips will have a lot to do with turning. Center strap and placement of the lines on the VPC knots will have more to do with de-power and bar pressure, but honestly I have not played with them a lot. Others could say more here.

Ok cool thanks mind at ease!

Next question - the 19m has like, handles that are sewn on the spar pockets at either end, in the middle - what are they for?

supposed to be to organize the vpc bridle. I have never used them. I was very surprised to see them on the charger.

What, when you pack up? Bit of over-kill, aren't they ... bloody huge things!

grab handles, only used for packing and once I had to use it to stake my kite down in HIGH winds.

if u never use them, cut them ... same with on my Vapors, ive cut the velcro tabs

I assumed they are there like Rip says as handles but for self recue on water ?

Once you have rolled up your bar you body drag in with the handles , NO ? :puzzled:

They don't look that sturdy to me ...

Those big loops that are velcro'd on the middle of the spar pockets are there for a helper to grab when doing an assisted landing. This helps keep the helper from grabbing the sail and tearing it or even grabbing the spar and twisting it and bending or breaking it. It also helps prevent line burns from grabbing the pigtails or line.

To use it, drop the kite down on the edge of the window and instruct your helper to grab the velcro handle. Once the helper grabs the handle, run towards the helper to flag the kite out flat.

Other than that, they have no other use. If you never use a helper then you won't need them but they cause no harm at all to leave them and they do work excellent if you ever do have a helper. They can also be used to stake your kite down but I would not recommend using them to help assist in the launching as they are not designed to hold back that type of power.

I have heard of guys using them to hold their kite into a taco long enough until the slack in the lines is gone during drift launches too. A couple quick tugs on the tensioned front lines releases the velcro, the kite opens and launches off the water.

Never tried it myself though.

So whether use use them or not, it appears they may have more than one use.

I always thought they were self rescue handles; standard on any water kite from what I have seen.

Landing makes the most sense so far :D

Stupid french law!...................aj

Quote:

Originally posted by Kamikuza Landing makes the most sense so far :D

How do you self rescue on water with your Arcs Kam?

AJ ...... How about you ?

Funny how 2 land lovers thought they are for self rescue.

I find it hard to get people to catch a kite right as it is. Asking them to pull that velcro thing , it's a handle. That isn't happening in my life?

Self rescue depends on many things, conditions, location, and wind stength. You have to make the best out of what you have. The best option is relaunch! If not, try to get to the kite and roll it up and swim in. I have only needed to self resuce using the kite as a sail a few times in 11 yrs. Equipment failures have been the reason! ....aj

So I couldn't take it any more and just called up Marijn at Vliegerop in the Netherlands and..... Yeah, they are for catching the kite, not so much self rescue.

Funny part is that I never even noticed them before this thread! Last night I ran out to the kitemobile, take out the Synergy and dump it open on the front lawn, grab the wing tips and am like "Dang, look at that!! WTF?!"

Hey Angus....I thought you were a PL dealer?



Ok, just kidding! Just goes to show that you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Can't wait to see ya at NABX my friend!

Yeah with all the ARCs that have been through my hands you'd think I'd notice, but I guess my brain does not notice something that you would not look for in the first place. I've always felt natural grabbing the tip of the kite by the spar pocket. BladeRunner's right; I'm not going to shout over the wind to a newbie to explain how to deploy the handles when it's easy to just grab the tip with the spar.

First time to use the Carltb (where he been lately?) landing technique - f**kin' awesome, it just touched down and no tangles!


im still about, but just not had much to say for a while. not getting as much kite time as i would like as its still freezing over here. it was snowing as i came off the water yesterday!!!

It was 15 this morning on the way to work, probably 19'C yesterday :O I got sunburned in the afternoon out in the yard we've had a total of maybe 2cm of snow all winter in this area ... global damned warming ... fuggin' volcanoes ...

I've only noticed the handles on just the 19m ... not the 15 or 12 when I been playing with them :D and forgot all about it when I got the wife to grab the 19m on Sunday so I could untwist a line ... "no no don't grab the kite from downwind, walk around to the upwind side ... upwind ... upwind upwind UPwind UPWIND UP WIND hey-zeus woman!"

Might have a solution to the annoying velcro straps on the Oh-7 bars ... from the Navigator manual. Anyone have a better picture of the real thing? I can't decide if the handle and the stopper through the ring are one piece or not ...

[img]http://www.post#@%$#!.biz/albums/userpics/11553/plnavhandles.JPG[/img]

My 15 has those handles as well...

What bar though?

Quote:

Originally posted by Kamikuza Might have a solution to the annoying velcro straps on the Oh-7 bars ... from the Navigator manual. Anyone have a better picture of the real thing? I can't decide if the handle and the stopper through the ring are one piece or not ... [img]http://www.post#@%$#!.biz/albums/userpics/11553/plnavhandles.JPG[/img]

My picture would not be much better. The side of the landing loop that is away from the camera is covered with Velcro, so when stowed, it is folded over the ring and stuck to the webbing piece that in the picture is now sticking through the ring. It would not rip free by itself but it does not have to since the kite dumps on a front line. To pull the Velcro free for landing via the handle, you grab the loop/handle to peel the loop back away, separating the Velcro.

Sounds like the Oh-7 then ... I was guessing that the webbing on the line, above the handle, would wedge into the ring and stop it from falling out like if say ooh you ripped your velcro straps off being a ham-fisted clod? Nuts, back to figuring out how to repair the velcro ...