If you need something discrete and to blend in and not stand out; find some old wood handle screwdrivers. Anything brightly colored and left unattended gets picked up has been my experience.



Can you see it?



Left it there all day and it was just fine.

I've used the front tow hooks on my truck before. Let them try to walk away with that :P

On a more serious note: Last year on the ice I left my 50 dollar ice screw unattended and unmarked while I kited for several hours. Was gone when I returned Figured a ice fisherman saw it and grabbed it. Learned my lesson that day.

But colorful is fun. Match them to the color of your kites. My 9 year old daughter called me out on that when she realized that the 1.5 and 2.5 that she flies have color matching ground stakes.

I will not leave a ground stake, but take it out just before I launch/relaunch the kite, and take it on my person or on buggy .

A suggestion is if you must leave one, hang a bright plasticized note off head that says something like, " Please do not remove. This is my stake and I am here kiting today( with a buggy...or?) and will return shortly, thanks".

Someone still might take it, but most will get and heed the message, I feel.

Not having a brightly colored stake may mean not finding it on a return to beach , land, ice or snow spot. Had kite friends that lost theirs because it blended in with terrain.

I certainly would not leave an ice screw, but I have done this: Use ice screw to make hole at base launch but then remove and put in similar diameter thickness wooden dowel to use as base stake. Dowel might need some kind of tape wrap to bulge center and keep dowel from sinking or slipping into hole or below surface. Tie top with bright flagging tape streamer to find it.

I remember reading that somebody lost a stake (of some kind) on a grass field and could not find it after flying. The grounds keeper found it with the lawn mower. It caused some damage to the mower (blades and spindles) and the grounds keeper man was very upset.

When buggying I slip mine into a piece of slightly bent, thin walled tubing on my buggy just after launching the kite. That way I have it with me if I need to re-stake my kite.

Things that blend into the grass are already a PITA if you find yourself flying anywhere near sunset.

If you can't find it and decide to leave it behind, it sets up the scenario for....

Deciding whether to switch to decaf, because you just hit a screwdriver at speed while on a landboard.


ATB,
Sam

I haven't used a ground stake since the first couple of months flying. I weight a wingtip, unwind, launch. Then when I quit, I land, tie off brakes to the buggy. In decent wind the buggy will want to move around but not much by the time I get to the kite and weight a tip.

On top of that, your grass must be shorter. I would never find a wood handled screwdriver in my grass. I have to have something high visibility.

Kind of a pita having to worry about your stuff. I leave stuff laying around and nobody has ever taken anything yet. Only people ever around are dog walkers and joggers. They think I'm weird and stay clear of me and my stuff

Legend has it that a kite buggier got his scrotum ripped open by a kite stake! I'm going to have a little lie down after thinking about that.

Quote: Originally posted by jimbocz

Legend has it that a kite buggier got his scrotum ripped open by a kite stake! I'm going to have a little lie down after thinking about that.

I have heard the same legend. This is why I always take my stakes with me in the buggy. Most stakes come with a nice little pouch which will fit on the side rails.
Having your kite stakes with you also helps if you need to stake down while out riding.

I used to have a lady bug ground kite that I'd tie off the top of my ground stake. worked great and no one ever took it. Until I had it staked in my back yard: it blew into my neighbor's lawn, still staked to its tether, and their lawnmower bot ate it.