This is my first post here at PKF. I searched the forums but couldn't find what i was looking for. I been power kiting for a while now. First kite was a HQ RUSH III 2, but i recently purchased a HQ SCOUT 5 meter with x-over control bar. I was flying the other day , and the wind was a bit gusty and the kite kept flying past zenith. I also had a scare for the first time:shocked2:. I was walking the kite back to where i had my stuff, and i was lifted a foot or 2 off the ground and traveled about 8 to 10 feet, but landed softly, anyways I read somewhere its caused by the gusts, and parking at zenith is not a good thing to do when getting into bigger kites. So is this caused by gusts OR the brake lines being too long? Also if there is any basic guidelines for tuning point me in that direction. Thanks

Your brake length should be set so that you see no effect at all on the back ( brake ) lines when the bar is level.When you turn the bar one way or the other you should see the brake on that side tucking the corner in once you move the bar a bit more than an inch. The brakes should not be in play as you walk back up wind .

Yes , it was probably a gust that lifted you ! If you had the kite sitting lower at the edge of the window you would have gotten yanked downwind a bit but not lifted in the air.

Try turning the kite before it hits / overshoots the edge. That or give your brake a bit of a tug to slow the kite down.

Never flown a scout, but yeah, parking the kite at the zenith will give it the opportunity to pick you up on a big gust.
Gusts will also cause it to overfly the zenith behind you. Best thing you can do when that happens is pull in on both brakes at the same time, almost like you are going to land it, but let them out once its back in the window. Just be ready for the power to pick up when you do that, or you'll be in for another surprise.

You are fortunate it put you down softly. Some kites dont do that so well.

Wouldnt the kite also overfly if the brake lines are to loose?

Yes, loose brakes will cause it to do that. I'm trying to remember on mine if you have a way to "dab" the brakes if it tries to overfly. I don't think you have that option with the crossover bar. Better to have the brake lines tight enough and turn before you are too far to the edge of the window. I had to adjust my 3m twice and the brakes were snug enough on the third tightest knot.

Thanks for the replies, i tuned it up, tried it out and the winds were too unpredictible, always changing direction... but today i pulled all the lines off, to check for stretch, and guess what... the left front line was 4 1/2 inches longer..... gettin it taken care of, but that brings up another question...........

Where can i purchase leader line so i can make extension loops to add to my x over bar leaders so i can adjust when minor stretching occurs?

We have leader line in stock.

http://www.awindofchange.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&am...

For leader line pigtails, you can go to a marine store and get thin sheathed Spectra- sometimes called "tweaking line" - made for rigging on dingies. Not as nice as Q-Leaderline that Kent speaks of (I carry it too), but your your application it will do.

Your safety leash is hooked to the brakes so you can use it to "dab" the brakes if you need to slow it down.

Something important about the Scout: It's real important not to fly with the brakes too loose. I had a local flyng her 5m Scout on the beach the other day and she complained that it would keep on flying when she dumped it on safety. Instead of flagging it just stayed in the middle of the window, wandering about. She had the brakes all the way out, and moving them up closer to the kite of course helped.

What surprised me though was that later, as the wind built to 20+ and gusting, I had had enough and went to put it down at the edge of the window. When on the ground I dumped it onto the safety, and instead of flagging out it went downwind in the window fully inflated. I reached and grabbed the bar to try to regain control (and steer it into the ground) and it supermanned me about 20'.

The problem with the Scout rig is that the safety does not dump the kite fully on the brakes, but maintains a lot of tension on the front lines. I recommend flying the Scout with brake lines tighter than you would think is necessary and loosening them only if the kite is puckering and choking.

Thanks for the replies once again, acampbell, i did notice my scouts brake lines seeming a bit too long, and the same thing was happening with flagging it with the kite killer, but not that extreme as you described, it still kept its basic shape, just under inflated, with some pull,:puzzled: im going to try going as short as possible to see how it flys...:Ange09: i just hope that using the shortest knot makes them too short and not short enough....

One more question, how exactly do you make leader line extensions, and what knots are to be used?

I've used thin Spectra tweaking line as described- about 3/32" thick, folded over double, then with figure eight knots tied at regular intervals for adjustment, say every 3". That leaves a loop at the folded over end to use with larks head knot to put on the the existing leaders. Remember that a figure-of-eight knot uses up a lot of line, so think of that when cutting your blank pieces. In other words, the finished pigtail will be shorter than you think if you do not cut generously.

for figure-of-eight knot, see...
http://www.coastalwindsports.com/FigureOfEightKnotTutorial.h...

Excellent, thanks for the info

Another Thank You from a Scout owner. Man I love this site!

Good to see another 'Wingster here Jaymz

...and another inline skater

Let's start our own club :karate: