So I just started out, and have had more than a couple of nose dives while getting the learning curve of working it up and down, rolling on powerslides. Anyway today in 15-25 knot winds I was trying to reverse launch my kite more or less directly down wind in the window, and it kept slamming in the ground... Bar was upside down. Several runs up and down the dirt road in the empty field later, I saw a white ribbon fluttering from the nose of my kite: the center cell is completely popped inside. Now I have to wait to Tuesday to take it to the shop to find out if it was my poor piloting or a faulty seam :megan: I wonder if it can be repaired.

I need to remove the nosedive from my repertoire once I get my kite back, or my next one, if the first one is dead already. red=left blue=right would be a first step.
Mastering vertical 8's I guess would be the next... But I had a tendency to crash the kite doing them, unless I was on the top knot of the Scout.

Should I just go static and hang up the skates until I can do vertical 8's on the lowest knot to the left, right and center, and do jibes running around cones without looking (too much) at the kite?

So pissed at myself now.

How hard was it hitting the ground on the nosedive?

I've got a Scout II 4m thats taken quite a bit of abuse. I use it to show people who have never power kited before or hardly ever flew a kite for that matter and they love to crash it nosedive style. Its seemed to hold up really well so far.

The wind this Wednesday and thursday was 15-30knots. On Thursday I had my first walk of shame when I decided that the gusts were too much for me and there was no way to tack back and make it to work on time. It took some pretty hard wacks that day. 5 or 6 at least. Today slammed it 4 times fairly hard: reverse inflate, kite loop onto the ground, scratch head repeat. Then I looked at my hands, doh!

I have flown the kite <20 times. It was new on the 18th of February.
today was the fourth day on wheels
I called the shop and they said they could tell by looking at the rip if it was all my fault or if HQ gets a warranty claim.

popping cells is tricky. I have purposely tried to pop cells in the past and could not get it to happen. But then on the other hand I have seen people barely nose down a kite and it pops one. It seems to be one of those things that if you hit it just right it might blow. Name brand doesn't matter in this .. it just comes down to if you mess up if your lucky or not. I know I dont need to tell you this but moral of the story is dont crash leading edge down. Leading edge crashes, trees, bushes etc. are one of the few things that can hurt a foil. otherwise they are very tough.

If it came down from the top of the window all the way down to a dive in that wind it is a pretty hard hit, but I feel like I've done similar and it lived to fly again. Definitely let us know what they say because I'm curious!

Center Cell Seam= poor pilot
50-60 euros to repair.
I think I'll have some new wheels of doom to try after Easter when I get it back. So at least have something to keep me busy.

If the rib pulled from the stitching and is otherwise in good shape - Warranty issue.

If the rib is shredded from nose to trailing edge with part of it still stitched into the upper and lower ribs - Hard crash - no warranty.

First, ouch! trashing a kite hurts. Don't be pissed, just go for another flight. (This is an addiction - one kite is never enough!)
Second, without trying to sound like I know as much as many of the other voices here, I'd suggest getting to know your kite inside-out before getting back into the skates. Taking the time to understand the reactions and movements of both the kite, and yourself, will help with the "which way to pull" when you're facing backwards or being dragged and the kite is heading for the dirt.
Just my .02.

I hope the Scout can be repaired.

Have a look around the 57 second mark in this vid. You can nose dive a Nasa wing straight into the ground, take a couple steps backwards and up it goes again. I'd never done this with a kite before and got a laugh out of it. Foils are surprisingly tough....but not indestructible.

That looked soft. Mine took some burly hits on gusty days. It definitely fit the later description, I only noticed it because the stitching behind the ripped seam came undone and let a white ribbon flutter as I was about to relauch.

It will be hard to leave the skates at home once theyre done. Maybe I'll use them as cones for jibing practice... For a few minutes

Yeah, it was too light to buggy in so we just had a static fly. Although it wouldn't have mattered if it was 15 knots... there doesn't seem to be anything to break on a Nasa...