Ok, my first set of lines were cheap-o rubbish, designed for use with a 3m radsail, these lasted me for about a year+half, which considering they had a dog run off with them and went all frayed, is good going.

Flying on the 8m, i've managed to break two sets of brake lines when letting go of the handles, and so I end up attached to the kite with no easy way of letting go, so I just have to try and ditch the handles, whilst still attached to them via kite killers.

What rating line do I need for the brakes, as I've been using 25m Ozone 110kg brakes and 180kg main lines - (never had the main lines snap)

I'm really surprised your breaking the 110kg breaks those are made for Ozones up to the 14m Yakuza, I'm guessing some other factor is in the mix here... If you plan on buying new lines you could get the same ones and use the powers you have now for your breaks and use the new powers for the power lines... But I'd like to figure out why you have that much power still when the handles are released to the killers...

I'd seriously look at why these are breaking, are they breaking at the leader on the handle, is it at where the kS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s were attached, in the middle of the line or up by the kite... you should try (if not already) tie your killers up on the leaders close to the break line attachment, a extra knot can be added apx a 1/2" from the attachment knot and put your killers there... I'm hoping this should provide enough depower that it can't break your lines...

Other than this I'm at a loss... but I'll still brainstorm it some more... and maybe someone else will have some more possibilities...

Good luck...

How do you wind your lines up at the end of the day?

Figure 8 on a winder?

Wraped around the handles?

Krohn, I wind the lines up on a winder, figure 8, two at a time, as otherwise I end up with two lines longer than the other at the end of winding,

SCREWYFITS, the lines are breaking at the larS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s head knot attached to the handle leaders, possibly due to the knot on the handle tightening, and the line sliding down the handle leader, whilst under load

My only suggestion is that my old leter lynn KS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s were semi-elasticated, so they had alot more give, and didnt give your arms so much of a tug when you let go of the handles,

when the kite is depowered and flapping in a heap, it's giving about 10 kg of pull, it's just the initial tug that's breaking them. Im also going to work on some sort of quicker release for the KS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s as being dragged along a field upside down with no way of letting go is not my cup of tea...


Only other thing is that I only fly if there's no-one downwind from me as the Ozone handles are pretty solid.

So are you getting line wear from the leaders?

Maybe try to add the killers over the lines, then attach the lines to the leaders, then slide the killers down the line to butt up against the leader so it pulls on the break lines instead of the leader and lines... and then it doesn't put the strain on the larks head and you should have much more depower this way... It's highly likely that you will have to extend or replace the kite killer lines to reach this far forward... if this is corn-fusing I could take a photo to show you better... and I hope this helps...

Is the line breaking below the sleave or is the line breaking within the larks head?

If the larks head is breaking I found that using a heavier sleaving material helps.

yeah if your brake lines are sliding down the leaders when you dump the kite then the friction under load will often cut the loops.
Make sure the KKs attach on the side of the brakes nearest the kite. Or put a second knot on the leader behind the attachments.

Spectra has a very low melting point. If the kite lines are sliding down the leader when you dump the kite than friction burn is the likely cause of the breakage.

Go to racekites.com and review this tutorial http://www.racekites.com/reviews/getReview.asp?reviewID=635 on how to properly rig kite killers to prevent friction burn and other mishaps.

I wish I had seen that a month ago. With all I thought I knew, I had mine positioned such that it was convenient to remove the kS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s but when I had to release the kite due to a gust, the brake lines slid up the brake leaders toward the handles and cooked both larksheads on the brake lines. All mine are connected with the two knot system shown in the link above now. I guess I could still have the kS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s on the ends of the leaders but that would require 3 knots in the leader. At least I didn't THINK I didn't have anything left to learn. Thank goodness, PKF teaches me so much before I have to learn the hard way all the time.

wow, thanks for all the info guys, I'll set about repairing the lines, and maybe use two sets of main lines instead of the brakes, as I do occasionally worry about the amount of force the initial tug gives,

I'll also look into elasticating the KK lines, so that they have a bit more give to them

Well... I wish I'd had that when trying to explain in my own words... Thanx, I'll have to save that... I tried to explain the 2 knot and single knot and was ready to post photos but this was perfect...

I too have had some brake lines snap when I've invoked the KK. Both times the line broke at the handle end, once on the larks head loop and the other time just inside the sleeving. After reading the great post on spectra' low melting point I'm sure the loop failure was due to sliding and heat.

The second failure being just inside the sleeving has me more confused. My best guess is the stitching may have been unlucky and weakened it?

http://www.racekites.com/reviews/getReview.asp?reviewID=635


After looking at the above post, I do have on concern about the 2nd suggested way to connect the KK. When the KK are attached to the heavy handle lines, all is fine until you actually do break a line. If configured this way, your KK ends up being connected to the power line through the handles when you let go. I had this happen and had near full pull with the handle under tension between the KK and the power lines.

The resulting pull and death spiral of the kite really sucked. Lucky the kite didn't have far to go to the ground and I only had a few loops to untwist. I was also able to run out much of the pull. Had the winds be stronger, I'd have been really screwed.

Needless to say, now I always connect the KK on the brake line sleeves and not the handle's cord. Also, I think I'm going to switch to a bungee cord KK for the larger kites to give a more gradual brake line tension.

Quantum