'ay breezers, looking for some advice. I've just got a new North click bar with wave attachment and some 2018 Neo's (thanks bitcoin!)

My usual technique for self-landing doesnt seem to work as well in higher winds. With the old bar, i'd unhook, pull the safety line above the bar, and work up to the V and then pull that down from upwind. Worked every time up to 45kts. Doesn't work with the new bar as i can't really reach the centreline easily and can't unhook without popping the safety. I can get it to drop down in light winds by just pulling on the centreline but in heavier winds it doesn't seem to work.

Any tips?

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jackforbes said..
'ay breezers, looking for some advice. I've just got a new North click bar with wave attachment and some 2018 Neo's (thanks bitcoin!)

Any tips?

Should have kept your BTC

Love the Bitcoin plug. Funny a f .

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jackforbes said..
'ay breezers, looking for some advice. I've just got a new North click bar with wave attachment and some 2018 Neo's (thanks bitcoin!)

My usual technique for self-landing doesnt seem to work as well in higher winds. With the old bar, i'd unhook, pull the safety line above the bar, and work up to the V and then pull that down from upwind. Worked every time up to 45kts. Doesn't work with the new bar as i can't really reach the centreline easily and can't unhook without popping the safety. I can get it to drop down in light winds by just pulling on the centreline but in heavier winds it doesn't seem to work.

Any tips?

Hmmmmm, love these quotes " up to 45 kts" Darryl Kerrigan lives on

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MrFreeze said..

jackforbes said..
'ay breezers, looking for some advice. I've just got a new North click bar with wave attachment and some 2018 Neo's (thanks bitcoin!)

My usual technique for self-landing doesnt seem to work as well in higher winds. With the old bar, i'd unhook, pull the safety line above the bar, and work up to the V and then pull that down from upwind. Worked every time up to 45kts. Doesn't work with the new bar as i can't really reach the centreline easily and can't unhook without popping the safety. I can get it to drop down in light winds by just pulling on the centreline but in heavier winds it doesn't seem to work.

Any tips?

Hmmmmm, love these quotes " up to 45 kts" Darryl Kerrigan lives on

Ok, 38, gusting 45. Do any of you internet muppets actually kite and can answer my question??

What was the question? I just see btc...

I was taught the safe self landing from Cbulota. It works great on a 4 line kite with single FLS.

Same concept as what you describe - land kite side of window, let go of bar, unhook, walk upwind and pull safety leash (which has to be connected to top front line) and kite will flip down onto the sand.

Click bar bar is still single FLS isn't it ?

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jamesperth said..
I was taught the safe self landing from Cbulota. It works great on a 4 line kite with single FLS.

Same concept as what you describe - land kite side of window, let go of bar, unhook, walk upwind and pull safety leash (which has to be connected to top front line) and kite will flip down onto the sand.

Click bar bar is still single FLS isn't it ?

Thanks James (and happy 500th!), yep, thats how i usually do it as well, but I can't unhook without punching the safety as I'm using the rope harness kit. Combined with the quite huge throw on the plastic section, it is challenging to get the bar out to depower and then pull in enough on the safety leash to prevent the kite from drifting back into the window.

I'll get out and spend an hour bashing it into the sand but was hoping for some easy tips before I torture my new babies. If anyone else wants to throw their 2cents/0.00000107BTC on it then let me know!!

Foilboard is on the way so more stupid questions to come.

There is a way to setup the click bar so it flags to the fifth line, it doesn't come like that as standard. If you can't reach the fifth you would be best to set it up to flag to fifth and then self landing will be easy again.

When I had it I could reach the loop on the start of the fifth so never bothered changing anything.

I self land by climbing the centre lines. I unhook anyway so that if all goes wrong it will flag so having to pull the QR shouldn't matter - you just have to hold above the QR when releasing, same as when you unhook.

Not flying Neos but has been working for me. Can't say I have tried in 30+ knots though. Probably 25-28 knots max.
38knots is a bit much for my skill levels at the moment. Those kites must be proper buzzy wasp with the slightest twitch on the bar

Can't you just pull both center lines toward you till you reach the line you want?

Hi Jack

You need to slightly adapt your technique here is how I suggest you get it done.

-Once the kite is sitting at the edge of the wind window, let go of the bar and trim to the max (especially helpful in strong/very strong winds)

-Release your chicken loop while keeping HOLD of it. This way you now have your unhooked chicken loop in your hands ready to flag out your kite if anything goes pear shape.

-Walk UPWIND to increase the surface area of the LE in contact with the sand as per image from the Youtube video above.

-While walking upwind you are holding the chicken loop with the downwind hand and your safety line from the upwind hand.

-While walking upwind you start to tension the safety line.

-Once you're happy with the kite position and there is plenty of tension on the safety line, let go of the chicken loop and pull very hard upwind on the safety line.

-When rigging your kite, you need to plan in advance so that the safety line is the upper front line on the side of the wind window where you plan to self-land

Practice the technique above in lower winds and gradually try it in stronger winds.

Christian

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jackforbes said..
'ay breezers, looking for some advice. I've just got a new North click bar with wave attachment and some 2018 Neo's (thanks bitcoin!)

My usual technique for self-landing doesnt seem to work as well in higher winds. With the old bar, i'd unhook, pull the safety line above the bar, and work up to the V and then pull that down from upwind. Worked every time up to 45kts. Doesn't work with the new bar as i can't really reach the centreline easily and can't unhook without popping the safety. I can get it to drop down in light winds by just pulling on the centreline but in heavier winds it doesn't seem to work.

Any tips?

... hey JF, you kind of answered you're own question in that I believe you are doing the right steps already but having said that, I found a few little nuisances that make it slight different to the normal 4 line bars when self landing.

I've had the click bar for a month now and quickly discovered it is quite different to self land compared to my normal 5 line north bar or my Ozone bar with its lower V point or even my modified med low Y north bar set up on my Ozone kite.

I set up my click bar with the Y point high (used on Evo and Dyno) so of course to get to the top front line you have to walk up the front lines some distance before you finally get to the top line. Not so easy when its windy because if you don't grab both lines, the kite gets slightly distorted especially if one of the lines slips in your hands compared to each other and therefore the kite starts to put extra pressures on you. Seems to more important keeping the front lines even with bigger kites too. I found you have to make sure you grab both lines evenly all the way up to the Y, then with a good couple yanks on the top line once past the Y of course with the kite dropping onto its nose easily.

I also don't unhook but just settle kite on the ground with bar out and depowered, then once the kite has completely settled, walk up the front lines, still all attached but ready to get out of the way and punch out if things go wrong.

I haven't had the chance to self land in above 35 knots yet so I don't know if what I say works but I suggest if in doubt, punch out!

Good luck,

Robbie

Thanks guys for all your points, much appreciated!!

Robbie, that sounds pretty much like what i am experiencing (I don't really need to perfectly self-land in super strong wind, it is more the fact that it always kinda worked with the previous setup that I was a bit caught out when i tried the first time with the new rig).

I'll try your tips and Christian's advice, when i have done it in light winds it seems to flip straight down just with a yank on the safety line, but not so easy when it increases.

Wishy, i assume that you mean for a five-line setup? I am running the 4 line.

See ya on the water, now is the time to sell ripple!

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jackforbes said..

See ya on the water, now is the time to sell ripple!

Yep, LOL

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jackforbes said..
Thanks guys for all your points, much appreciated!!

Robbie, that sounds pretty much like what i am experiencing (I don't really need to perfectly self-land in super strong wind, it is more the fact that it always kinda worked with the previous setup that I was a bit caught out when i tried the first time with the new rig).

I'll try your tips and Christian's advice, when i have done it in light winds it seems to flip straight down just with a yank on the safety line, but not so easy when it increases.

Wishy, i assume that you mean for a five-line setup? I am running the 4 line.

See ya on the water, now is the time to sell ripple!

Christian has some excellent videos that are well worth paying for on self landing by pulling on the safety. In stronger winds there is a little more technique to it than simply pulling. Moving upwind at the same time plays a big part in it. Send him a PM for a link to them. They were about the price of a beer last time I looked but the original versions I watched were really good. The key part to just hauling the safety line was being unhooked though so if anything went wrong you weren't dragged down the beach.

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weebitbreezy said..

In stronger winds there is a little more technique to it than simply pulling. Moving upwind at the same time plays a big part in it.

Well said. Many kiters don't pay enough attention to the details in my video when trying to self-land.

Jack: in strong winds, you are probably not walking upwind enough before trying to self-land and your kite is probably bouncing on it's wing tip. It will only work in strong winds if you are able to have a lot of surface area of the leading edge in contact with the sand before pulling onto the safety line