dont worry about wind meter go back to Coastalwind sports and print off the Beaufort Scale for dumbelina kiters

I'm a reasonable judge of windspeed, but I still often check my wind meter. Probably more important - especially inland - is being able to judge the gusts and lulls. I watch the trees at home - if they are bent over in the wind with all the leaves rustling, but basically still then it's a really nice steady wind.

If the trees are waving around wildly - that means trouble. So I usually go and annoy someone on PKF instead....

Good tip john! trees bent by wind that aren't moving much=good, trees moving a lot=bad.

I know if my wind chimes are going on the back porch I'm missing good stuff :D

Yeah i had mixed luck with the Beaufort scale to be honest, maybe im a bad judge.. Good tip i will take on board by John there, to be fair the bad day i that started this thread was a "trees wildly back and forth" kind of day! oops

Still, weather for the beach looks good for the weekend! So hopefully i finally get this baby in the Air! :duh:

You'll get the hang fairly quick of whats too much and what isn't ... and when you get used to it, you'll handle lulls and gusts without thinking. In fact, you'll probably end up looking forward to the gusts

Don't let being solidly built put you off - there's guys bigger than us out there doing it. The guy who convinced me to get a Flydoor is 150kg :o

oh dear, oh dear think i must be doomed....
Kami you come back to NZ any time soon, haha? Think i need find a local to show me what i am doing wrong..

Well, went out to beach today with a new hope and confidence from all your advice and after re-reading every guide and video i can find. Alas still no joy, its beyond embarrassing now!

My packing and unpacking HAS improved, i still had a couple of weird twists somehow and had to take the leaders off to untwist but it only took 5min rather than hours in a tangle.

No, the issues today are still launching and flying this damn kite! I had it all setup, lines untangled, brakes staked, KK moved down to brake loops and hanging lose this time. I put the KK on, pointed the brakes at the kite and tried to launch. The kite didn't even seem to inflate properly, but it did turn 90deg to ground and then just do 2-3 loops on the sand! I tried to launch again with the lines still twisted, it did a few more weird twists causing more mayhem and still never leaving the sand at all.

So i staked brakes and went to untangle by hand and setup again. Pretty similar stuff all over again! I staked again and even tried to check length of lines etc, took the KK off just in case they made a difference..

This time (about 30min by now) it DID leave the sand and fly upwards but only for about 2m from the ground where it kind of stopped dead! I should add it still didn't look properly shaped or inflated? it was kind of "flat" no curves etc, just didn't look right.. anyway there it was 2m from the ground stopped, i tried to fly it higher etc but may have applied too much one way as i i got a spin and the sand again. I reset yet again and tried to launch some more, still wouldn't launch at all, did do the 90deg to ground thing again and flip over. The wind kind of caught the kite and rolled it all up in a mess. So frankly i gave up for the 2nd time with the 4line kite. /cry

The conditions were perfect, 8-10mph steady onshore wind, there was 20-30 kitesurfers out at sea and one guy going up and down the sand on a Buggy with a kite without any issues ( it looked like a 3-4m kite to me). I did try to catch the attention of the guy on the buggy to see if he could offer some advice, but either he didn't see me, or just didn't want too sadly..

So either i am doing something very wrong! Or my 2nd hand kite is faulty / setup badly? its doing my head in, really don't think i be taking it out again unless i can find someone to help me out locally.

I did have some fun with my 2m 2line after though which cheered me up, that one flew fine for an hour no probs!

Have you ever had such a crap newbie on PKF before? hahaha Wish i could afford a new kite rather than my 2nd hand one, but alas no budget for that right now.

only thing I can think of is, maybe a tangle on main bridle, line caught by a knot

and also unequal line lengths

Yeah thanks, one think i am going to do Monday is lay it out at home and go through it thoroughly looking for any problems, not totally sure i know what i looking for, but will look out for any rips or tears, broken or knotted bridles. Anything that looks "odd" maybe...

Looking to find a local if i can to help me out on the beach sometime, haha

Quote:

Originally posted by Euromir Yeah thanks, one think i am going to do Monday is lay it out at home

That is a real good idea. Lay it out and compare every line and bridle segment, left and right, one at a time. I find that setting up at the beach or field that you feel pressed for time, because time is flying and you're not, and you don't want to miss the wind or the sun or the tide in my case. Then you are much more prone to miss something.

I once spent a considerable amount of time with an oddly flying kite pouring over the bridle and line connections, scratching my head and not finding anything wrong, only to walk back to the handles and find a brake line snagged around the leader and KK knots. It was right in front of my eyes all along.

When I rig a new kite, I like to do so at home in the quiet back yard where I can take the time to lay things out neatly and look things over. Then when I go to fly, I wast no time besides a quick set-up.

No, not even for a holiday I'm happy to be away from the place

After following Angus' advice, try the way-out solutions ... got the lines on the handles the right way around? Holding the handles up the right way? Not giving it too much brake when flying?
When it got up to just off the ground and 'hovered', was it trying to rip your arms out?
Sounds like you can fly your 2-line fine - the 4-line needs to be launched on the power lines alone, lay off the brakes.

There's quite a learning curve in the beginning ... you just gotta suffer the tangles and what-not until it all clicks for you - chin up old bean!

2 ways to find locals. Forums and Flying.

Pretty much every person who passes who kites will take the time to say hello. We can't help it. Like flying a calling card.
Just get to the beach and fly. The rest fall in place !

Here is a short description of how I get people started

Handles, index finger above top line. At 1st DON'T apply any break at all. Pay attention to them to be sure you are not applying them. Launch the kite . Get it overhead ( zenith ) . No try hard NOT to fly the kite !!!!!!!! For a about 5 minutes just try and keep it at zenith and don't make huge hand motion. Start to rock it back and forth then settle down at zenith again. Again using small actions not big ones.

At about 10 minutes start doing that rocking a bit more and start doing figure 8's up high then settling down at zenith again.

Take the kite back to zenith. Feel how you can have it hang on the edge like that all the way down both sides . Work it down + up both sides. If things go crazy get it to the edge and calm it all down again.

Now back to figure 8's. Start taking them deeper and deeper into the power zone and get used to how the power picks up and drops off with speed + placement in the window.

Back to zenith. Now apply just a touch of brake and see how the kite will " brake turn ". Play with that rocking back and forth accreoss zenith.

Back to Zenith. Now try applying both brakes evenly to back your kite down in front of you. Launch again and do it a few times. NOTE how adding even brake slows the kite to and beyond stall. How SEED EQUALS POWER and the kite doesn't pull so much in the power zone when it's not moving / slowed down. Try this later as you fly and feel confident.

In a perfect world we would be about 1/2 hour into a lesson by now. At this point I would shut up and tell you to work on those things . Every mistake you are making will be 1 of 2 things . BRAKES or you are flying too aggresive. Find kite CHI !

Them's the basics and should set you up for a great day !

Don't be afraid to try a kite loop. Start high. Hard turn with added brake. Commit and hold on tight as you go past your comfort zone and until the kite is heading back up. Then you can straighten out just like a normal turn with a prolonged power period!

Have FUN!:wee:

If all else fails and you can't get someone to run an eye over things and sort out what's going wrong - you could maybe post a few pics? Perhaps of the kite on the brakes ready for take off? Or have someone take a couple photos for you? Or vid?

It sounds like there's too much brake tension on the kite.....

I had a problem with one of my depowers and made a video showing what was wrong and sent a link the manufacturer (I set it to private on youtube). He looked at the vid, suggested a solution and we fixed it.

Sorry had hectic few days at work, i will try and look it over tomorrow and post some pics if i can..

Sorry its been so long since i started this topic, been snowed under at work for past couple of weeks sadly.

However some great news, finally got the Rebble up and flying, with some help of a fellow kiter. Spooky really i was working with the guy at work for a week or so when he suddenly mentioned he flies foils! What a chance to meet someone at work who lives down the road and flies foils! JACKPOT

Anyway he took at look and discovered the brake lines seemed too short and was still killing the kite when fully off, so he has shortened the leaders on the power lines temporarily to balance things out, and low and behold we had it flying! Awesome fun, but blimey it had me running across the field a few times, totally surprised me what a 3.5m can do to a 250lb guy!

We did notice the tips of the kite are not inflating fully still and on inspection it appears the very outer bridle lines have been shortened by the previous owner, kind of curling the tips in when it flies sometimes. We are going to try it with some of his lines soon and see how that goes, but i may need to look a good kite service or bridle fix..

So chuffed i been flying it today though, learnt lots from my new friend and got to fly his Bullet too. Damn i am hooked proper now!

Excellent news!!

Well Done is worth the anguish now:Ange09:

Jackpot!

Ah, stretched front lines ... yes my Rebble is exactly the same :D
Don't run - slide much less work and danger