I've been kiting for 20 years and recently crashed my 5 line North Rebel into the water after a failed jump. The kite ended up upside down, trailing edge towards me and filled with water. It's a 12m and the wind was dropping, down to about 12-14kts and no matter how I tried, I could not get it to roll over and launch, resulting in a long swim in. First time ever for me in that situation and wondering if there is a specific technique that I could have tried?

Pull the front lines in hard to get it to flip back over onto the leading edge then use the fifth line to relaunch. If it won't flip back to the leading edge there really isn't enough wind.

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doonut said..
Pull the front lines in hard to get it to flip back over onto the leading edge then use the fifth line to relaunch. If it won't flip back to the leading edge there really isn't enough wind.

Thanks, but I did try that multiple times! With the trailing edge towards me, it was like dragging a giant bucket towards me through the water, plus the wind was dropping.

- Old 5-strut kites are very heavy.

- Old kites are typically much harder to relaunch compared to modern kites.

- The more worn out your canopy is the more it soaks up water which makes the kite even heavier and harder to relaunch.

- Any 5-strut kite isn't designed for low wind kiting. A 12m 5-strut kite is designed for a heavier twin-tip rider (95kg +) in moderate to strong winds (18-25 knots).

- Swimming backwards hard is essential in successfully flipping a kite from the trailing edge to the leading edge. If you just pull the front lines, there will be too much slack. It's super hard work, but the key is to alternate between hard front line pulls and hard swimming against the kite.

- Make sure you inflate your kite very firmly, particularly in low winds, this will make a huge difference in relaunching and prevent the leading edge from collapsing, making the kite much more efficient at relaunching.

- If kiting below 18 knots is something you do on a regular basis, get a kite that is more adapted to those conditions.

Hope this helps

Christian - KiteBud.

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KiteBud said..
- Old 5-strut kites are very heavy.

- Old kites are typically much harder to relaunch compared to modern kites.

- The more worn out your canopy is the more it soaks up water which makes the kite even heavier and harder to relaunch.

- Any 5-strut kite isn't designed for low wind kiting. A 12m 5-strut kite is designed for a heavier twin-tip rider (95kg +) in moderate to strong winds (18-25 knots).

- Swimming backwards hard is essential in successfully flipping a kite from the trailing edge to the leading edge. If you just pull the front lines, there will be too much slack. It's super hard work, but the key is to alternate between hard front line pulls and hard swimming against the kite.

- Make sure you inflate your kite very firmly, particularly in low winds, this will make a huge difference in relaunching and prevent the leading edge from collapsing, making the kite much more efficient at relaunching.

- If kiting below 18 knots is something you do on a regular basis, get a kite that is more adapted to those conditions.

Hope this helps

Christian - KiteBud.

Thanks Christian, sometimes you realize that whatever you do, you're probably not to be able to relaunch, plus I was starting to get really tired, so getting back to the beach became the priority. I have just bought a new Duotone Rebel as I really like the design and the 5 line safety, so will be really interesting to see how it goes as compared to my 12 year old Rebel!

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KiteBud said..
- Make sure you inflate your kite very firmly, ...

This is a good point. Most guys I've noticed pump up until it "pings", but that is not necessarily enough. The best method I use (if you don't have a pressure dial), is to try and bend the wing tips about 1/4 way in from the tip. You shouldn't be able to essentially. If you have a pressure guide, I always pump at 8psi or there abouts.

If the kite is directly obviously downwind of you, don't you swim say 10mtrs left or right and pull steering string furthest from you to get it to rise out of water??? .12 to 14 nots should be enough wind , 10 and under different story .