I'll start at the beginning, as this will be an ongoing thread.....

I took kitesurfing lessons 2 years ago, got up, crashed, got up crashed.... Made a few attempts to go out on my own, but learning in the gulf in winds good enough for my 10m tube kite, made for big waves, and launching and landing by myself sucked..

Now the present... I have been intrigued by the the arcs, by this forum, videos and lots of internet time.... So I bought a 19m venom to learn in lighter winds and smaller waves...(I only live 5 blocks from the gulf, no flat water close) So.........

I go out today, winds 15mph straight onshore, and launch the kite no problem.. Grab my 137x44 board and go out to the first sandbar to give it a go again...... I LOVE THE AUTO ZENITH !!!!!! The problems I had before was getting the board on my feet in the waves, the kite going this way and that.... No prob today. Fiddle w/board, kite just sits there waiting for me to play w/ it...

Board on my feet, dive the kite and get up go a little ways fall backwards.. Try again, go a little more.. Couple sines of the kite, drop back in... I did this both ways some runs up to 3 or 4 sines....

NOW THE GOOD PARTS ARE COMING

Get up again, go a little ways fall back,, kite leaves me heading for the dunes.. Chicken loop come off the spreader bar and luckily kite flies over the wood poles to keep cars off the beach and lands in the dunes...... I go retrieve it and luckily no damage.....

Reset up, and remember a thread about this problem.. Hook the donkey dick thru the metal loop to help hold it in place. Thats probably mandatory, but im winging this on my own... Learn the hardway.......

Grab my bigger board this time (158x41) Hook in, hook safety to harness and launch....Easy launch, but wtf...... Safety line is too short, makes kite go left...Grrrrrrrrrrr

Rehook it back where it was.........(can u see where this is going?) go back out and do some more short lefts and rights...


THIS IS FUN

Dragging the board back out, look down and see the cl is about to come off again...................Grab the bar to slacken it up, kite powers up chicken loop falls off I GO FLYING ONTO THE BEACH AND THE KITE IS HEADING FOR THE DUNES AGAIN

SAFETY NOTE: THERE IS NOBODY WITHIN A QUARTER MILE OF ME WHICH I DID ON PURPOSE

Kite,bar and lines clear the poles, but the bar catches on the porta potties and now i have a kite flying about the shidders...

I hobble run over there, (my knee and shoulder are bleeding from my flight to the sand) Grab an o sh@# handle and kite flags on the beach road...........I quickly grab it and drag it to the poles and secure it.........


Questions:
1) How do I keep the chicken loop from coming off

2) On a venom 2, 15mph winds can I tighten the end straps to make it turn faster

I had fun despite the mishaps and will be out again tomorrow, can't get much worse........

I can do this, its not that hard.....


Stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow:singing:

nice go of it! dd keeps loop in.

get away from the poles and the chitters and the other crap , that will ruin your fun .

this kite needs a big bar 60cm or so.. if the wind is solid 15 alittle on the tips will do some. remember the kite will turn faster depowered (bar all the way out) and also it will climb much faster as well, really need good timing with that in light air.

trim in at the main a little 10-15%, it may help speed things up .

cool , that 19m is a real sky hook ,

Glad you and the kite are ok :D

Yep - donkey dick (aka chicken finger etc) goes through the front of the spreader bar hook to keep the chicken loop from falling out when there's no tension on it.

With the Zero7 bar (and the Zero4 maybe) you should probably use a second safety/handle-pass leash and hook onto the 'suicide' ring in the center of the chicken loop. The Zero7 OE leash that goes from the rear line to the spinning attachment point works as a safety but if the CL comes out, the whole kite & bar is gone - just like in your case and mine too - must have amused the locals no end to see my fat arse in a diaper seat harness pounding across the sands after a big blue jelly fish in the sky - you want the safety/handle-pass leash on that ring so at least you've got a chance to get the bar back in had. Make sure the leash has it's own safety release too ...

Don't try and go too far upwind at first - that's always my problem. Get some speed under the board downwind, then edge up to go upwind.

The DD in not keeping the cl in...... Is there a fix for this.... Maybe it needs viagra......

i dont know that much about depowers,having flown them but a few times,but on Jovvers kites its really difficult to get the cl on the spreader bar and i cant imagine a situation where it would come loose on his kites........

What bar do you have? Are you putting the DD in the spreader bar hole so it goes UNDER the CL?
I know on my Naish bar the donkey dick is too short and requires constant pulling. To keep it in. You can take it off though so I usually mount the DD on the spreader bar itself.

Give us pics - that'll be easier

It sounds like you are using an 07 bar and used my trick of putting the DD through the metal ring inside the CL to keep it from sliding down. Make sure you also put the DD through the hammerhead on your bar as well! That has worked for me since making the adjustment. A second failsafe is to hook your rearline flag leash directly to your spreader bar. That adds another blockage to keep the CL on but if it still all comes loose, your kite flags while still attached to you. This hasn't failed me yet. Let us know if we are making wrong assumptions here. I can take a picture of how I do this if I haven't been clear.

Yes, I have the 07 bar... I found a DD that hooks on the spreader bar that is much stiffer than the one on the cl... I will give that a go... I will definately hook my leash to the spreader bar.....Kite flying off to the dunes sucks.... Just glad no one on the beach..... I know that at my skill level w/ onshore winds I need wide open spaces........

Except for the mishaps, I had a blast w/ the little riding I did achieve ! ! ! !

Thanks for all your help.......................

where's your safety leash ? should be on you and the slide ring?

remember its your junk, if it hits somebody its just like you punched them.

the thing just flying off??? even if the dd is too short, too flexible the safety would catch it every time.

On the 07 bar there is a swivel ring ABOVE the CL. That is where you are supposed to hook your supplied safety leash, but if the CL comes off your spreader bar, the whole rig flies away. That's why I hook the leash directly into my hammerhead instead of the swivel ring. That way I'm covered no matter what comes unhooked.

It sounds like you were kiting in onshore winds. I think this is fairly dangerous unless you can get upwind and stay upwind because (as you reported) you get can get blown or lofted towards land and towards things that you don't want to hit (like beaches, posts or port-o-potties).

I think that side-on winds are much safer to learn in. I'm not a kitesurfer but have watched quite a few of the beginner DVD's. Might be worth picking up a DVD to refresh your memory if your lessons were a few years ago.

on shore are tough at times, have to be enough to get through the break. to start on the water would be very frustrating.. thats why body dragging is an important element.

drag out pass the break, if you can't hook it up in the wash. this gives you launch run out, while you ease into a cross wind or an up wind line

Sounds like his sandbar could be a good distance out? Sometimes we take what we can get. My first local experience here was on/side on wind but it's all we had so we worked with it as best we could. Luckily the beach was deep so our "stop and walk back out point" was still 2-3 line lengths from trouble.

I had the same issue with a Flysurfer chickenloop letting go randomly. Culprit was a DD that was both a hair too short and kinked - so it bent quite freely. There was some sort of mod on here somewhere showing a short chunk of something attached directly to the spreader bar - nothing attached to the chickenloop. Anyone recall where that was?

big zip ties,

The good news is Sat. we have sideshore winds coming...The water should be relatively flat..... I need to work on my water relaunches then too....I think I solved the chickenloop prob. Found a super stiff one that attaches to the spreader bar... seems to hold well.... We'll see. . . . . . . . .

Im gaining alot from all your input ! ! ! Thanks

It sounds like your biggest problems came from the tricky CL and you have that fixed !
Nothing but good times now !

I agree you have to make calculated risks at times. Onshore is WAY better than offshore try and body drag out to a safe spot before riding.

Very low light, low battery and no flash ... but you get the idea ... click for slightly bigger ones

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