What's happens to cause a kite to "jellyfish"? Happened today and I got in a tight pickle.

Underinflation 1
maxed out range 2
lines outa wack 3
shidt kite 4

Ok thanks

not enough wind, kite falls backwards under its own weight

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Peahi said..
not enough wind, kite falls backwards under its own weight

No thats just a kite falling out of the sky due to low wind, allthough I can see how that might also look like a kite jellyfish.
The "jellyfish" is different and cauncy is the second kiter to say it happens at maxed out wind range, which was the case yesterday when it happened.
The kite had been flying fine for 1.5 - 2 hrs but it was super gusty and strong 35knts.
The "jellyfish" happened as I was bodydragging back to the board, the kite all of a sudden is out of control flying erratically around the window and looks totally fooked, while at the same time the the canopy is "rippling" (giving the kite a jellyfish appeance) cause the airflow is suddenly retarded.

I have had large kites jellyfish due to under-inflation (normally my wing tips fold first) and also because a huge gust overcame the rigidity of the leading edge (lucky for me, 15 knots on a 17m to 30 knots in one second..... kite jellyfished twice, pulled the safety on the second one).

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bigtone667 said..
I have had large kites jellyfish due to under-inflation (normally my wing tips fold first) and also because a huge gust overcame the rigidity of the leading edge (lucky for me, 15 knots on a 17m to 30 knots in one second..... kite jellyfished twice, pulled the safety on the second one).

Yeah under inflation played a part as well iam sure of it.

Does it have pulleys?

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goofy said..
Does it have pulleys?

Yes

I think the pulleyed bridles sometime can't hold the shape of the kite when overpowered.

I've noticed it before on larger kites with thinner leading edges and pulleys when overpowered or underinflated.

Try depowering the kite next time it happens see if that helps.

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goofy said..
I think the pulleyed bridles sometime can't hold the shape of the kite when overpowered.

I've noticed it before on larger kites with thinner leading edges and pulleys when overpowered or underinflated.

Try depowering the kite next time it happens see if that helps.

Ok thanks for that I'll keep it in mind.

Slingshot link

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cauncy said..
Underinflation 1
maxed out range 2
lines outa wack 3
shidt kite 4

As cauncy has discrided these are the most often causes of jellyfishing
But the kite will be doing it consistently
But you should realise that wind is not always laminar (smooth), sometimes there can be huge turbulence in the wind.
Sometimes when kiteing near airports like Sydney international the turbulence thrown out from landing or taking off 747's can cause the kite's to jellyfish randomly for a short period of time even if the kite has good pressure.
Helicopters also throw out huge amounts of turbulence.

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IanR said..

cauncy said..
Underinflation 1
maxed out range 2
lines outa wack 3
shidt kite 4

As cauncy has discrided these are the most often causes of jellyfishing
But the kite will be doing it consistently
But you should realise that wind is not always laminar (smooth), sometimes there can be huge turbulence in the wind.
Sometimes when kiteing near airports like Sydney international the turbulence thrown out from landing or taking off 747's can cause the kite's to jellyfish randomly for a short period of time even if the kite has good pressure.
Helicopters also throw out huge amounts of turbulence.

Yeh there has been a typhoon here and the wind is extreme gusty ranging between 20 to 40 + so not laminar at all,

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Peahi said..
not enough wind, kite falls backwards under its own weight

That's what's called backstalling

Yeah just way out of its wind range.. that gusty stuff added will funk you up - jumping is ok but don't ever Megaloop when its that bad - I've had a wingtip fold up while jellyfish rippling midway through loop and it just opened up in time to catch me.
Brown undie award that one

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SaveTheWhales said..
Yeah just way out of its wind range.. that gusty stuff added will funk you up - jumping is ok but don't ever Megaloop when its that bad - I've had a wingtip fold up while jellyfish rippling midway through loop and it just opened up in time to catch me.
Brown undie award that one

Yep Roger dodger yesterday was the same conditions extreme gusty so I rented a 6m.

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IanR said..

cauncy said..
Underinflation 1
maxed out range 2
lines outa wack 3
shidt kite 4

As cauncy has discrided these are the most often causes of jellyfishing
But the kite will be doing it consistently
But you should realise that wind is not always laminar (smooth), sometimes there can be huge turbulence in the wind.
Sometimes when kiteing near airports like Sydney international the turbulence thrown out from landing or taking off 747's can cause the kite's to jellyfish randomly for a short period of time even if the kite has good pressure.
Helicopters also throw out huge amounts of turbulence.

Isn't kiting near airports illegal?

I'll give you helicopters, as Iv had a Westpac chopper or two fly close to me while I was rescuing a fellow kiter.

I had a Switch N3 that had a serious case of collapsing wingtips when put under high load whilst boosting. Calibrating the bar helped a lot but from memory didn't completely fix the problem. In the end I think I put it down to a worn out kite or a rubbish design

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Adam''KiteRepair said...
Isn't kiting near airports illegal?

I'll give you helicopters, as Iv had a Westpac chopper or two fly close to me while I was rescuing a fellow kiter.

Rather poor attempt to discredit me.
Go to the KA NSW site and look how close the exclusion zone is to the end of the runway's at Kingsford Smith Airport.
The FAA and most other international aircraft regulator body's including CASA say no kites within 5 Kilometres of an international airport, and do not allow other aircraft to land or take off within 4 minutes of a large jets because of the turbulence they create.
I have been struck by some huge turbulence when kiting outside the CASA defined exclusion zone of 5 kilometres both at Towra and Kurnell
Do you have any idea how heavy a Dreamliner or 747 is and how much thrust it takes to get them into the air or bring them to a stop

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IanR said..

Adam''KiteRepair said...
Isn't kiting near airports illegal?

I'll give you helicopters, as Iv had a Westpac chopper or two fly close to me while I was rescuing a fellow kiter.

Rather poor attempt to discredit me.
Go to the KA NSW site and look how close the exclusion zone is to the end of the runway's at Kingsford Smith Airport.
The FAA and most other international aircraft regulator body's including CASA say no kites within 5 Kilometres of an international airport, and do not allow other aircraft to land or take off within 4 minutes of a large jets because of the turbulence they create.
I have been struck by some huge turbulence when kiting outside the CASA defined exclusion zone of 5 kilometres both at Towra and Kurnell
Do you have any idea how heavy a Dreamliner or 747 is and how much thrust it takes to get them into the air or bring them to a stop

Bit paranoid mate?Was a question, only a question. I'd have no idea what a 747 weighs, and couldn't be bothered googling it either. I am still rather sceptical about turbulence outside of an exclusions zone though. We also kite next to an airport here. Definetly never noticed and turbulence.

Buy an 2000 flexifoil c kite and then u can see accordion not jelly fish :-) fun fun times

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Adam''KiteRepair said..
Bit paranoid mate?Was a question, only a question. I'd have no idea what a 747 weighs, and couldn't be bothered googling it either. I am still rather sceptical about turbulence outside of an exclusions zone though. We also kite next to an airport here. Definetly never noticed and turbulence.

Bit rich coming from the guy who almost always preface there posts stating that they are not a pimp.
Maybe you didn't do fluid dynamic in your engineering coarse. If your upwind of the airport your not going to notice any turblance because there is no turbulence.
The exclusion zones are not for our safety it for the aircrafts safety

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IanR said..

Adam''KiteRepair said..
Bit paranoid mate?Was a question, only a question. I'd have no idea what a 747 weighs, and couldn't be bothered googling it either. I am still rather sceptical about turbulence outside of an exclusions zone though. We also kite next to an airport here. Definetly never noticed and turbulence.

Bit rich coming from the guy who almost always preface there posts stating that they are not a pimp.
Maybe you didn't do fluid dynamic in your engineering coarse. If your upwind of the airport your not going to notice any turblance because there is no turbulence.
The exclusion zones are not for our safety it for the aircrafts safety

Lol. When have I said I'm not a pimp? I tell my mates I'm a pimp every day. Iv stated that I support alot of brands. I just seem to argue with you about ozone.
I did do fluid dynamics, though I'll admit, it was a hard course for me. I only scraped through by memory. I struggled with writing reports, and fluid dynamics requires alot of writing. I blame US schools and their horrible approach to English grammar.
I still doubt the turbulence levels off of a large jet on a kite outside of an exclusion zone, and if you could, I'd argue that the exclusion zone should be moved further away.
All this negativity over me asking a question?

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Adam''KiteRepair said..

IanR said..

Adam''KiteRepair said..
Bit paranoid mate?Was a question, only a question. I'd have no idea what a 747 weighs, and couldn't be bothered googling it either. I am still rather sceptical about turbulence outside of an exclusions zone though. We also kite next to an airport here. Definetly never noticed and turbulence.

Bit rich coming from the guy who almost always preface there posts stating that they are not a pimp.
Maybe you didn't do fluid dynamic in your engineering coarse. If your upwind of the airport your not going to notice any turblance because there is no turbulence.
The exclusion zones are not for our safety it for the aircrafts safety

Lol. When have I said I'm not a pimp? I tell my mates I'm a pimp every day. Iv stated that I support alot of brands. I just seem to argue with you about ozone.
I did do fluid dynamics, though I'll admit, it was a hard course for me. I only scraped through by memory. I struggled with writing reports, and fluid dynamics requires alot of writing. I blame US schools and their horrible approach to English grammar.
I still doubt the turbulence levels off of a large jet on a kite outside of an exclusion zone, and if you could, I'd argue that the exclusion zone should be moved further away.
All this negativity over me asking a question?

Just to follow up my last comment, I had a Sydney mate reach out to me and concure that large turbulent gusts do affect kiters in the bay. Spins me out, as Iv never kited in a place like that, not that IV kited everywhere. Either way, sounds like folks should be safe out there. And a reminder that sometimes a question is just a question.

I was quite surprised seeing the larger planes generate water spouts just prior to landing over Botany Bay.

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bigtone667 said..
I was quite surprised seeing the larger planes generate water spouts just prior to landing over Botany Bay.

There chemical trails
check seabreeze heavy weather, there's thousands of arguments about this

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IanR said..

Rather poor attempt to discredit me.
Go to the KA NSW site and look how close the exclusion zone is to the end of the runway's at Kingsford Smith Airport.
The FAA and most other international aircraft regulator body's including CASA say no kites within 5 Kilometres of an international airport, and do not allow other aircraft to land or take off within 4 minutes of a large jets because of the turbulence they create.
I have been struck by some huge turbulence when kiting outside the CASA defined exclusion zone of 5 kilometres both at Towra and Kurnell
Do you have any idea how heavy a Dreamliner or 747 is and how much thrust it takes to get them into the air or bring them to a stop

Do you have any idea how much it takes to stop a keyboard warrior?

Well Adam I'm impressed. At least you have the moral fibre to admit that you are wrong.
But the question you asked I saw as real dumb, particularly from someone who runs a kiteboarding business so close to an international airport. I thought you would have been well aware of the exclusion zones.

So I will say to you what I have said to McTool on many occasions.
If you don't say (or write) anything on here that is stupid, wrong or overtly biased I will not feel the need to high light it.

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IanR said..
Well Adam I'm impressed. At least you have the moral fibre to admit that you are wrong.
But the question you asked I saw as real dumb, particularly from someone who runs a kiteboarding business so close to an international airport. I thought you would have been well aware of the exclusion zones.

So I will say to you what I have said to McTool on many occasions.
If you don't say (or write) anything on here that is stupid, wrong or overtly biased I will not feel the need to high light it.

Kinda sad attacking someone personely for asking a question. Years of teaching apprentices, iv always stuck to "there is no such thing as a stupid question. If you dont know, ask, that's how we all learn"
Even worse that you felt you needed to involve Steve in this somehow. Why? He isnt involved, But more so, that after I waived a white flag, you still wanted to kick me. That's a sign of bad character. Good luck with your life mate. I got nothing but good vibes. I'm not cut out for this internet bashing stuff.

I'll comment on my local though, so you don't accidentally sway people in the wrong direction. It is very illegal to be kiteing between tugan and Johnston st. If you do, you will be pulled up by airport security, or federal police. Maybe not every time, but it will happen. That area is a flight path and requires a 4klm exclusion zone which means you need to be an est. Of 3.5 klm out to see.
Iv had that very same conversation on here before.
Peace out

^^^^^So what was the point of question if you knew full well that it is illegal to kite within 4 kilometres of a airport?