Hey I wanted to ask some of you guys that ride kites like the Speeds and even the newer Ozone closed cell foil kites that have gone away from having a handle on the brake lines for stalling/landing the kite.

I was curious what you've found works well for landing and staking out the kite while you have it on the ground and are either taking a break or packing up. How do you keep the kite from re-launching when you can't stake out the brake handle?

I think Flysurfer has a video showing a guy activating the FLS and then walking the line up to the wing tip. Is this kind of the standard practice for stronger winds?

Anyhow, would love to hear what works well for people.

Thanks!

Nate

Nate - I added cross straps to all four of my Peak2s since they didn't come with them stock for some crazy reason. My bias is that in general all these 4, 4.5, or 5 line DP kites benefit from a brake line cross strap. My Ozone kites nicely still come with these stock. Cost savings?

I'm sure you can get these lots of places but I got all of mine from Chris at hardwater.

Depends on wind conditions but I'll usually stall it out by over sheeting or by grabbing the the back lines by the stall balls and steer/stall the kite down onto its trailing edge. Depending on the the leaders I'll either larkshead or loop them and put the leaders on the anchor with a biner.

@Nate,

The New Ozone Chronos have a Cross strap on the Brake lines.
Other than that if it is windy then fly the kite as far as you can to the window and bring it down onto one of the tips.
Sand the tip down and hey violla

yea ive noticed that most have done away with the straps which i think are very helpfull. If its not too windy then i grab both rear lines and bring it down.then continue to hold as i walk up to the kite. if its very windy i get a helper or bring to the edge of the window and release it. i think flysurfer kites and closed cell kites in general are really best used on water or snow. Its very easy to get scratches and scuff marks when flown on land as they dont sit still on the ground due to the fact that they have air in them and also get damaged very easily by hard crashes or just a rough pass on agauunst the ground.

If not overpowered I use the " stall balls " on my Flysurfer's back lines to back the kite down to the ground. If I am overpowered I take it down the ede on to a wing tip. I then ask for a helper , bring the trailing edge down and let it slide back to the middle or go to 5th line. ( flag out line on my arcs ) Once the kite is down I do a wrap around my kite stake with each back line setting the bar in behind the stake. When concerned I stake my 5th line seperately in case the main stake comes loose.

As mentioned, closed cell kites still have a decent amount of pull even sitting on the ground since they stand up in the wind. This means you need a well set stake. Usually the stake holds long enough for me to put weight on the kite when needed.

Thanks guys! I find myself flying alone about 80% of the time, so I might need to think of adding a cross strap. I also noticed that I could hook my kite leash caribiner in front of the stall balls on my bar and keep the kite stalled that way - but that seems like an accident waiting to happen. I guess the safest thing to do if you're alone in moderate winds is to bring the kite down to one side, activate the FLS, and then secure the flagout line to a pole or a staked ski or something firm while you walk downwind to the kite.

Activating the FLS is always the best end all option if you really want the kite down. But a PITA. Activating at the edge is a safe bet but prone to having the kite tumble downwind after activating and making a mess of things. Personally I like activation at the zenith as it tends to be cleaner after release.

Stall handles just simplify everything. Even if you want to flag the kite out, you can tail stall, bring it down and then yard in a rear line to flag and either anchor that line or walk it out to the kite.

On ice we carry spare anchors for emergency landing while riding. But you can easily used your skis as a dead man for the flagged out line as long as you're mindful of your edges. :o:P