Hey fellas, I was wondering what methods you use to keep your lines neatly wrapped up on the bar. When I go to wrap the lines back up, I usually do a figure 8, however, undoing the lines when I'm ready to fly is always a chore.

No matter how careful I am to keep the lines as uniform and neat as possible, I inevitably end up spending 10 minutes untangling knots after I walk the lines before attaching them to my kite.

My friend Adam (flyjump) had mentioned clipping all of the lines into a carabiner attached to an anchor and then wrapping the lines and then just reversing the process for setting up, that way the lines are tethered at one end.

What methods do you use to make setup quick and easy so when you get to your spot you can get flying right away?

I also wind in a figure 8, i do this with all lines separated from the kite. i found if you leave them connected they kink causing weak spots in lines.I tend to keep one hand always on lines, the left, with all lines pinched flat and wind on the taught side.

On the unwind i take my time and make sure i keep tension on lines with hand not on bar making sure one or 2 lines do not jump off before the rest, if this happens it will almost always be a tangle. After i carefully lay down the line i start at the bar, i grab all lines in my left hand and stretch it out as far i i can reach from my right witch is at about my navel palm up with a line between each finger, steering to either side of my body and centers and safety between my legs. i walk slowly toward kite . The hand out front is the key the further it is away from the other hand the easier it seems for the lines to magically unravel them selves. if they seem to fight me i get my daughter to go a foot or 5 out in front of me holding the lines.

Sorry that was long winded, but doing it like that i have never had a tangle that did not right itself as i walked.

I can usually seem to get within a few feet of the end, but where the lines join to the braided loops they always catch and take a few minutes to untangle. I try to keep as much tension as possible while wrapping it up so as not to twist the lines or accidentally wrap it incorrectly.

I just watched one of Carltb's videos about setting up a PL Arc, and I think I'm going to use his method next time.
Usually, after I set the bar down, I'll step between the lines, place the left two between fingers on my left hand and do the same with the right side/right hand. Then I begin to walk. The way he did it was with the two outside lines first, hooking them up to the TE, then going back and walking the two center lines and hooking up to the LE.

Perhaps that will help.
Thanks for responding!

The biggest thing I found is unwinding them in the opposite motion that they were wound. If I don't pay attention I wind one way and unwind using a different motion. I find that most people do that. Really pay attention next time you unwind and wind up. Lines always untwisted when i wind up but they are twisted when I unwind if I haven't paid attention. Good Luck

This is for revs but works for power kites too.


EDIT Sorry I didn't read your post closely enough, that's for handles it wont help much with the bar other than the part about "apparent twists".

With a bar, I used to larks head the left steering line to the left power line and the right etc etc but still ended up with tangles ... so after reading a thread at kiteforum, I made a little line tidy device out of 10mm acrylic tubing ...

It keeps all 4 lines separate so in theory, zero tangles. Works perfect maybe 90% of the time :D

Trying to find the thread ...

Whoa having great luck searching stuff on the interwebbernet lately ... I must be getting better at it :D
This little thing works a treat ...

http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2316213&...

I made the 2009 version on page 4 but haven't attached it to the bar.

Awesome! I was considering making something like that, Kami. My idea was like a block of wood with a few slits in it that opens up so you can put the lines in, close the lid and move down the lines to keep them straight.

For ARC's, since I share bars between kites & always disconnect , I resign myself to two walks; one to separate the left and right pair, then one to separate each brake & front. But it goes fast. Pay no particular attention during winding besides a smooth consistent motion.

5th lines are the ones that still buggar me up a bit and still require an extra walk or two but I'm getting better at it.

Yeah, I got the 2 Oh-7 bars and erm some arcs so I take the lines off each time.

I've started (when I have space) laying out the lines first at right angles to the kite, away from the TE.
So, one walk away from the kite to lay the lines, walk back to sort them out and attach :D done! The little gizmo works good Works the same for my 5-line Airush too ... although for some reason I'm real good at twisting the lines on the arc

Ok, that wrist line organizer with the vinly tubing is just a great idea. I've been using this http://henry.sandi.net/staff/sbateman/lineorganizer.jpg for while, and while it does work very well, it isn't as fast as the wrist version.

Thanks a bunch Kamikuza for the link!

I've really never had an issues with lines tangling... I take my bars off my LEI (not my fixeds) and parapack my handled kites. But the line seperator would save a few calories in needing to walk out the lines. Would probably do it anyway, but I'll give it a go and see how it work.:karate:

^^^^ reported