Ok, apex 3 7.5, im 171 lbs 5'10" on a GI patrol

Question 1) almost every time I get my kite out and set up, when I walk the lines there is almost always one of my break lines wrapped around one or both of my power lines so I am certain its something im doing when im packing up or unpacking everything I just don't know what or how to find it. Is there any way to wrap the lines up when I am done that would prevent this?

Question 2) when I am getting on my board I always seem to have issues starting to move, granted im still new but was just wondering if there are any secrets to get a board going, once im moving I seem to do ok but getting started is the frustrating part was just wondering if anyone could offer some pointers on getting moving (like do you point the board parrellel or perpendicular to the wind etc)

Thanks for any help!

Answer to 2... point your board downwind when you do the first dive to start.
What I did when I was learning - do a test dive then point the board just ahead of the that; that way, you should head downwind and pick up speed easily but not so far downwind that you lose tension in the lines and you lose control of it.

Are you 5"10" only when you're on the board?

Couldn't resist.

It sounds odd about the line crossing thing. I'd think if one was wrapped, they both should be. Like if the kite flipped inside the lines without you noticing. The only other thing would be if you wrapped a brake line around the entire bar but again, it'd be crossed over all of the lines I think. When I'm wrapping up I hold the chickenloop to the bar, reach the brake leaders to the middle of the bar and hold them with a finger, then grab all four lines (or the brake leaders and the centerline assembly, wrap a few times in a fig 8 around the middle and when I get to the flying lines (past all the center line bits and bobbles) I start wrapping in a fig 8 around the bar ends.

Unwrap is oppositie of wrap.

Usually only a few full twists to sort out.

1: you know, i used to have that problem.. EVERY dang time it seemed to do that, and i could never figure it out.. but then all of a sudden i stopped having problems. :puzzled: unfortunately i never nailed down the problem.
how are you landing your kite? if the kite flips all around, then that could be the problem.
I always wrap my lines in a figure 8 kinda pattern around the bar, which helps prevent a tangled mess, but i dont think that has to do with the lines getting wrapped..
hopefully someone else will have more knowledge.

Maybe best option is to re walk lines from kite to bar just to be sure there are no tangles

When putting the kite away ,roll each end of the kite towards the center. When you go to lay the bar down in the kite , lay it one end on the trailing edge the other towards the center of the kite, the last wrap of the lines coming from the bar end towards the center of the kite, tuck all your bridal lines up and out of sight. Bar and lines are now in a straight line laying on the kite , slide them nice and neatly to one side so they can be rolled up (1 or 2 rolls) with the fabric of one side of the kite. So now you have two sides of the kite rolled to the center with the bar included in one of those rolled sides, now tri-fold the leading edge to trailing edge , pick it all up carefully and give it a big hug to sqeeze it down to bag size , one end of the bar will be at your chin the other end burried in the kite, drop it down in the bag just like it is.
When you go to fly again , unfold and only roll out the side with the bar far enough to lift the bar out , just as you held it going in , unwrap the lines a few feet to get it away from the kite so you can continue anchoring and opening up the kite. Whenever picking up the bar from the kite or the ground do it exactly the same each time , allways watch that the lines come off the bar towards the kite not allowing anything to slip off the bar to the back.
When the kids put any of my kite away about half the time it will have problems setting up to fly, its usualy lifting it out of the kite where you're going to have a line end up on the wrong side of the bar which creates the issue you've got.
You may almost always have a "spin the bar" situation but an "undo the lines" situation is solvable with super carefull packing and unpacking.

A few times I got twisted lines when unpacking the kite even though I always keep the lines attached to the kite and the handles. I'm not talking about 2-3 twists where you can take the whole handle assembly and untwisted a few times to solve the problem. What I had were individual lines wrapped around the other lines making a mess to untangle. The interesting thing is that after half an hour of untangling you find that without disconnecting anything the lines are all in order. I realized that the problem is wrapping or unwrapping the lines while they are layed down perpendicular to the wind direction... the wind can take the slack in one line and wrap it many times around the other lines. My solution is to always lay down the lines parallel to the wind direction. While applying some mild tension to the lines to make sure they are in the correct configuration you can move to the proper angle relative to the wind and kite ... in order to launch at the edge of the wind window (if needed).

The only suggestion I have for the line situation in to avoid putting your bar in among the bridle ?
Often it appears my lines are a mess but once the kite takes shape I find out I only have a full twist or 2. Getting only one brake line crossed seems odd ?

I expect the suggestion to point your board more downwind should help you with your starts?

When the wind is strong I just do a small dip of the kite 1st to get rolling while keeping tension on the lines. Once moving I dive the kite more to build speed and run cross / upwind. Sining the kite is often needed ~ I can only park the kite if the wind is strong enough.

ok let me run you through how i wrap up

kite in anchored down, i fold the 2 corners into the middle, fold the corners into the middle again, then gather up the bridle of the kite, place it in the middle of the kite then fold the whole kite over onto itself in half (so the only folds i have made are along the width of the kite at this point) throw something on the kite to hold it down then go to my bar. with the chicken loop at the bar i grab everything and just start doing my figure 8s, once i get to the kite the bridle lines are in one of the folds already so i put the bar with lines on top and roll the kite over it so the ends of the bar are just barely sticking out both ends

Quote:

Originally posted by macboy Are you 5"10" only when you're on the board? Couldn't resist. It sounds odd about the line crossing thing. I'd think if one was wrapped, they both should be. Like if the kite flipped inside the lines without you noticing. The only other thing would be if you wrapped a brake line around the entire bar but again, it'd be crossed over all of the lines I think. When I'm wrapping up I hold the chickenloop to the bar, reach the brake leaders to the middle of the bar and hold them with a finger, then grab all four lines (or the brake leaders and the centerline assembly, wrap a few times in a fig 8 around the middle and when I get to the flying lines (past all the center line bits and bobbles) I start wrapping in a fig 8 around the bar ends. Unwrap is oppositie of wrap. Usually only a few full twists to sort out.

i think this may help, I think what may be happening is since one of my break lines gets wrapped around one end of the bar first the other one has to wait until i get to the other end to actually wrap around anything but if i start with both in the middle that may solve it thanks

Your fold up is good , just make sure that when laying the bar down the lines extend away from it in a way that they can not tangle up with the bar.

the bar is placed on top of the kite and the kite is folded over so all the bridle lines are in the folds so the bar is in a separate fold from the one the bridle is in

basically the lines from the bar come off the bar and go under a section of the trailing edge then back into the folds of the kite and to the bridle

Sounds as good as it gets. :dunno: