Does anyone have any experience doing this. I have heard you have to reverse the lines but that will reduce steering

Talked with someone about it and he said you have to have the trim strap all the way in and the kite still powered up pretty good. He said it can be done but it takes some work

Reverse the lines??? Not sure what you mean.

Rich is right. Trim it out and you can fly it unhooked. It will be a little different launching that way but it's not hard.

Wicked fun for kiteloops. :P

When I still had my 16m (miss that kite sometimes) I was ripping across a lake in a 30km/h wind and had the top hat pop free. I held the kite on a solid reach for probably 40-60 seconds till I got back to my base setup. I was a complete newbie and flew most of the time almost fully depowered. The kite only luffed when the top hat popped, then it pulled quite hard the whole way back. When I landed I found the force had mostly pulled my depower line with figure 8 knot, all the way through the bar. It took a bit of work to get it free, and even longer for my arms to stop throbbing. I know it's not exactly what you are looking for, but from that experience, I think it unhooked could work.

trim it in, almost all the way , depends on wind load.

when its right for unhooked --->bar is all the way in against the chicken loop stop, kite should NOT fall back , it should feel loaded AND controllable.

hands close in to center and try to keep it high in the window.

unhooked you really need to have kite control and recovery at reflex level or it will be instantly snatched right out your hands, suicide leash is way to go and if you have not already been using this type of leash setup might want to rethink things before you proceed.

kite will be FULLY powered and 100% unforgiving. riding HOOKED at the same setting will give simulation for speed and control. power and response will be totally speed sensitive.
first kite loop unhooked is real gut check at...i am at 200# and first ones i did where on 10m venom in about 10-15mph.

gut check?

gut check ---> assessment for courage, determination.

looping an unhooked kite on land at speed...i never been slammed so hard.. first couple f-16's holy crap...unhooked loops ain't NO JOKE! not some thru the top spin dangle...full on cranked atomic snatch.

Arc's are the best at unhooking. If you fall, 95% of the time it just auto zeniths and waits patiently for you. Here's a good Ben Wilson basics how to unhook video.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gf4odLhzLA

great vid to learn from! **

Arcs are indeed great for this, i actually set up my arcs straight wired (no trimmer strap) at unhooked setting so its ready to go.

**heres a point that most new riders, riders who did not learn on c-kites, has missed in learning. this adjustment(adjusting to an unhooked setting) to a depower kite basically sets it up as c kite when unhooked. if you learned on a c-kite this is where you actually start, launch,ride and land. So the "ease of operation for a beginner" as advertised/marketed with depower kites is handicapping for a huge part of kiting. granted hooked in depower to relaunch is a great advancement in kite tech but if want the unhooked reach you HAVE to know ckite style flying. great thread ! skill dependent stuff is the best!

I often wondered that about modern kites actually. By the way, I think that the scorpion has got to be one of the coolest arcs made.

it really all goes back to c kites. …and if you started there you would be able to see the large missing elements driven by "ease of operation" in marketing esp. for water.