Sonds like a good way to get a sang anchor in the scone. learn to self launch

Saul, what sort of kite are you flying?

Attaching the chicken loop to a (nearly) static object is, IMHO, a very safe way to launch and land kites when you are kiting solo and don't have the option of an assistant. On Magnetic Island and Lizard Island we always use a simple gym bag filled with sand that had about 1m of rope attached and a quick clip carabiner for easy attachment and detachment of the chicken loop. Never had a problem.

BUT.

Some kite designs are stable at the edge of the window while attached by only the chicken loop, while others are not.

Generally, delta kites, and low and medium aspect, hi-depower, bridled kites will sit fairly stable (eg. cab switchblade, nomad, vector, convert, etc.) but higher aspect kites (eg cab crossbow) and more C shaped kites with minimal bridles (eg. Ozone C4, reo ) will not, they usually roll forward and end up on the leading edge, then they can woosh back through the window along the sand trying to get to directly down wind, which is not so good.

If you have a suitable kite, I actually prefer the sandbag method of launching and landing over using an assistant, because it eliminates the human error at the assistant end, which has caused a lot of accidents over the years. Especially on the launch, you can set the kite at the edge of the window, and personally check all the lines and attachment points, before walking back to the bar and hooking in.

I have used this method hundreds of times with cab switchblades, in winds up to 35knots with an 8m, and up to 25kn with a 12m, and never had a kite misbehave or drag the launchbag.

Having said that, I do think that attaching something hard and metallic to your chicken loop is perhaps not the best idea....if things did go wrong then you are in a dangerous situation for yourself and bystanders.

Hope this helps.

Christ how big did he go. He'd cover 300m just on the float side.

Exactly Suniboy................but the Darwin award has to go to somebody.

Personally i'd like to see the guy with the weight belt theory self launch his 12m kite in 30 knots using a boat anchor [}:)]

This is the setup I was discussing.

Good to have experience with a few different self launch / landing options, especially for solo kiting on beaches with lots of coral / rocks / sticks.

If you are always kiting on sandy white beaches with all your homies, by all means keep tapping your head or sliding away.

I was after some ideas as have found a secret spot with no land launch possible have been using drift launch .
Just thought that someone might have a better launching option

And I can self launch and land when there is room to do so also with no whoooooooosh

Keep the comment comming there must be other ways to do it

eppo said...

Christ how big did he go. He'd cover 300m just on the float side.

Not much higher than normal, couldn't really hold on. The main difference to normal wind was that after landing it took a good 20seconds to slow down or at least stop cartwheeling.

The idea sound good apart from one thing, and that is it will all be ok unless the kite starts to lift, if it were to go to the top of the window an 8kg anchor , which could easily hold 70-80kg horizontal pull, will now only have its 8kg weight holding it down. Your kite would easily lift this off the ground and go flying off down the beach dragging an 8kg anchor behind it.
Get a sandbag, much cheeper and work better than a Anchor

AquaPlow said...

Ok - lets run this as theoretical.
Assume U can handle the kite in normal conditions -
Assume this is not about a lack of competency -
this is a requirement to meet some site restrictions.
The anchor is heavy enough to not shift with say 50-60 KGs on it
1 assumption is that the safety flags the kite enough to take the guts out of the pull.
2 assumption anchor is fairly solid and not relying on being set into the ground at a certain angle but easily dislodged by being pulled at a different angle (i.e a boat anchor) .

Attach kite safety leash to your anchor of choice so it will flag the kite if required.
Attach chicken loop to anchor of choice with a weak link. The weak link needs to go before any movement in the anchor - suggest 20 - 30 kg's would be a good start.

All good?

Cheers
AP

or you could run 2 anchors 1 x lightish one hooked to chicken loop 2 x solid anchor to mini 5th
your idea sounds better , could it work with a bungee cord ?
love my local with sandy beach and grassy landing !

everyone did

now when you know what you're doing, you can self launch and the kite will pivot off a wing tip to the edge of the window and wait for you to turn it up into the air...

no need to tie it to a towbar, no need to use a bag of bricks or a sand anchor of all things....

toenail kites....

If you cant self launch your kite, what do you do when you drop it in the water?