I would like to see real world video of self launching and landing of pump ups........That's whats kept me from trying them.....

I always kite alone...... Only kiter out......

Do a YouTube search ... doesn't look too hard but I don't have the space here to experiment.
Landing is a piece of cake

Ive seen all those vids...... I want to see the "pros" in action....

gotcha , next round

the only issue about self launch/land tubes is they get a little tattered on the LE at the roll points. extra sail tape is a good barrier. the landings are just cool , the joker just slams into the off position.



tight spot ? do it on the water actually better for the kite, but the landing leaves it wet and messy

if you can't go solo you don't need to be going. that's the way i see it . nothing wrong with a convenient experienced hand, but poor assist are much worse than botched solo .

Self-launch like in the vid works easy - did it twice today. Self-landing without releasing to safety there's a trick to it!

got some shots, edit tonight quick and simple

I'm not a pumper but I see modern bows self launched and land all the time on our beach. Locals simply screw an auger into the sand, (or anchor to the occasional washed up log), attach the chicken loop an walk the kite to the edge of the window holding it into the wind by the leading edge. Then they simply leave it there floating with the wing tip about a foot of the ground with an occasional bounce off the sand while they calmly walk back and pick up the bar to hook in. Like an ARC anchored on auto-zenith, they could just as easily go have lunch before launching, but like Phree says, they might get some wear on the bounce points. Landing is reverse. would not make an exciting video. :-)

I'm sure Phree's video will be great. I usually launch and always land my bows just as Angus described. I also first learned to launch my bows by this technique, which works well:

1) Lay your line ends down and unwrap your lines walking downwind.
2) Lay the bar upside down (so right is still to the right if you were looking DOWNWIND at the bar, but to your left if you are facing back UPWIND) and push it into the sand or snow a bit to anchor it.
3) Walk the twists out of your lines through your fingers, back to the start.
4) At the line ends, inflate the kite, upside down.
5) Flip the kite right side up, leading edge into the wind, and add a bit of ballast right behind the leading edge on the canopy to make sure the kite stays put.
6) Go behind the kite, downwind, and connect your lines to the bridle.
7) walk back downwind to the bar, flip it right side up, clip in your safety leash, depower the kite by pulling the trim strap all the way in, and hook into the chicken loop.
8) Walk in an arc back upwind with the lines barely tensioned, whichever side you want for the launch.

9) When you get a bit upwind of the kite, maybe 15-20 degrees, walk until the lines are tightened up. Push the bar away from you to dewower the kite completely. The kite will rotate sideways.

You may have to work the bar a bit, but your ballast will roll off and the kite will assume the same position parked on th ground at the edge of the window described in Angus' method. This longer method may seem overly cautious, but it assures you are back at the kite before it could potentially be in a position of powering up without being at the controls.

krumly

i find that when your alone with an LEi creatvity really comes into play when having to land.
water can be your best friend.

for higher winds look for the anchoring method.
when all else fails flag out on a turning line(o#@%$#! handle) and walk up the line. yeah your pully will be all smushed and lines messy but it will get the job done.

enjoy. hope this helps, not that detailed kinda rough on the framing but for the first go with the helmet cam , usable? edit stuff , raw framing stuff def needs tedious set up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCD4a_3qgf8


maybe bring some light

That's basically what I do but what was unsaid is that you setup the bar/lines backwards when setting up downwind. The "blue" is on the left and "red" is on the right. Then you just need to twist the bar before you head up wind to flip the kite so you don't get confused On landing if there's not a ton of wind, you can also just yank the upwind line to turn the kite upwind. It's really just all personal preference. Most important part is to not be hooked-in incase you beef it! Like he said in the video if you use the wrong landing loop expect to be kite looped!

Very nice! New and different to me; thanks.

i 'm working on another , i like the untampered runs with decent action with out too much clipping, as i get better and more time involved on the imovie edit thing , layering and still fades, will come a;ong need a little more ground/fixed footage, to sew it all together. i get stuck on choice shots and music selection and end up blowing alot of time but fun while the breeze is down. with the cool stuff every 20-30sec can take an hour mostly from choice disease though.

Thanks PHREE, sure looks simple enough... I got a screw in ground anchor too....
Hopefully my new kite will be here Wed. so I'll give it a try..

I, and am sure everyone else appreciates all the help you guys give......

Thanks again......................

whats the screw in ground anchor for?

CL the kite to it ... I think 'they' call it ghost launching. They do it here a bit too ...

oh , sounds like one more thing to drag. not a fan.

permanent fixtures in the ground are hazards, for you and everyone else.

Sand bags are used at my local beach and at the other, there's a jetty thing with a concrete water tank lid thing ...

Yeah, I wouldn't use a ground stake to launch or hold the kite. Try a huge frickin log You won't find a stake outside of a huge l beam with a mallet that I'd trust. I find sand bags to be sketchy too since they are much better for up forces like you'll see on huge sled kites, your power kite will want to slide the sand bag. You can however also launch from the bumper of you car :D

The easiest kite to solo launch with an anchor is an SLE/bow as you can anchor it and walk down to the kite and hand launch it and walk back. No need to do this with a arc, and a LEIs are just sloppy at the edge when depowered so there's some specific kite experience needed there.

Here's a good video on self launch by sanding the tip. Lots of guys out here use this technique, I personally don't like it much. I like to keep my kite 100% under control all the time.


Here's a decent sand bag launch video

And a POV anchor video:


Here's a self landing like I typically do if it's not nuke'n. He's off camera, but you can see him yank the upwind line to spin the kite so that it's facing upwind.


Trying to find some good videos of how I launch... this one is not bad. You can see how he walks up wind and the kite just rolls up. i tend not to have a lot of dragging, my kites just rolls and goes.


Here's a video where imho the guy just beefs it a bit. This is the danger in launching like this. If you have really rough sand or have lots of shell peices then you may wear the leading edge as phree noted. When I saw this video the first time, I thought he'd just end up reverse launching, but somehow he manages to roll the kite... eventually :D