I've been riding a lot of different kites recently and been thinking about the recent incident at Kurnell. Is there anyone out there that has a good system for water pack down for these kites. By this I mean Ive drooped my kite to the water now I want to get to the kite and use it as a life raft get back to the beach but I'm basically hanging on the two front lines. Do I lock the fifth line to the bar and transfer my safety to a Oh **** handle on a back line and move up that line , or work my way up the fifth to where the front lines pair off and work my way up both or one front. I would like to include the Vapor, rebel/ North, Naish fifthline. Ion, Atom, Any Bow kite that you hook your leash to the chicken loop etc.

pull yourself up the 5th line till you have a substantial ammount of it, then start winding all the lines onto the bar making sure you're not tangled in them. This will make sure the kite never powers up. When you get to the kite, lock teh bar off and start paddling in.

Witht eh Ozone.. if you grab the 5th line it usualy will nicely flip over to its back for you. Though the anti-ivert line might get in the way heaps while paddling in.

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lex123 said...

pull yourself up the 5th line till you have a substantial ammount of it, then start winding all the lines onto the bar making sure you're not tangled in them. This will make sure the kite never powers up. When you get to the kite, lock teh bar off and start paddling in.

Witht eh Ozone.. if you grab the 5th line it usualy will nicely flip over to its back for you. Though the anti-ivert line might get in the way heaps while paddling in.

Exactly as lex123 said
and for a bow 4 line......... wind up one of the front lines a few times first as you would with the fifth liner.


my method step by step.
(first attempt to get the kite to flip leading edge down facing into the wind like it was sitting on the beach do this by pulling / gathering up an outside line until it spins )

1) lie on stomach
2) attach board via suicide leash ( not really the best idea but otherwise it is bye bye board )
3) wrap one front line around the bar 2-3 times
4) unhook chicken loop ( at least if by some freak event the kite still powered up even biased to a front line you can let go and avoid getting your board in the back of your head.)
5) gather up other lines and begin winding them onto the bar
6) remain in the prone position slowly winding the bar up the lines ......board dragging behind
7) it can be quite hard to wind the lines if it is very windy and you will feel more like you are winding yourself to the kite rather than the kite to you.
8) when i am close to the kite i like to wrap up the bar ends ( if you got those thingys ) obviously the lines are still attached to the kite and there is usually 4-5ft of line between the bar and kite.
9) I now wrap up my bar into the bridle and secure it or tuck it under one of the struts.
10) now grab the wing tip and flip the kite so it is resting on the wingtip ( which you are holding ) leading edge facing the beach. like it is at the edge of the window waiting to launch.
11) if you can now reach your bar and or lines try to hold onto the lines which go to the top wingtip and pull them towards you whilst you lie on the bottom wingtip your kite should now resemble a yacht sail ( sort of )
there are two options here either pull the wingtip all the way down until you can actually grab hold of it forming a horse shoe shape ( this is what i was taught ) or if you can use your bar or even hold the lines let the kite out a bit more ( more of an L shape ) this second option catches a lot more wind but it can be hard to hold the lines.
12) once in this position remove suicide leash from board and lay board on kite next to you or in front and attach suicide to the bridle so you do not get separated from your kite.

You wont make any ground upwind but you can certainly come across the wind quite well and because you are lying on your kite you can effectivly sail for hours like this. 2.5 hours once thanks to a broken bridle and a swinging wind.
I personally just like to lie on the kite because i feel safer from the bitey things.

Thanks Harry that seem a good procedure. Though some have recommended transferring the leash on the Ozone to the front flagging line, and working your way up that line. With all the different Safety System avalible today It's a pit manufactures don't supply recomended pack down Techneques. Does any one have any ideas for the bandiits or is it the same.