Hello,

I’d like to know what’s the safest way to self-land a Rise safely when being in shallow water at a safe distance from the shore?

I realized (the hard way) that pushing the safety release with the leash attached to the trim line and rolling the lines on the bar is not a safe self-land option since the kite has still a good amount of power and can reengage at any time when rolling the lines…

Pulling the handle located at the Y connection of the front lines and then pulling the front line until I can grab the leading edge and attach my leash to it is safe enough but it is hard on the hands to pull a front line all the way to the leading edge, especially when the wind is not light…

Another way would be to pull a good 4-5 meters of front line (with the handle at the Y), roll these 4-5 meters on the bar and then finish rolling the lines until I can reach the kite. I am not sure if this method is safe enough… Could the kite reengage?

Thanks for sharing your safest self-landing technique.

Vincent

The problem with self landing in water is that the kite will alway float down wind.  My guess is you are pretty much left with the self rescue techniques that it sound like you are using - though I could be wrong on this.

Self landing the kite on land will solve this problem.  These are a couple of techniques I use for this. 

1. Get kite to edge of wind window with leading edge touching the ground. Pull in some trim.  Reach up and grab the upper front line and give it a firm yank.  The kite should land leading edge down.  The caveat to this is that sometimes it doesn’t work the first time in which case you may need to relaunch/refly the kite and try again. 

2. Controlled crash - Again get the kite towards the edge of the window this time about 12 feet or so above the ground.  Dive it hard towards the beach in a crash.  Will frequently hit and then land leading edge down.  Again be prepared to re-fly the kite if it doesn’t take the first time.  Not good for rocky beaches obviously. 

3. Use and anchor/post - Once the kite is at the edge of the window you can attach the leash or chicken loop to the anchor/post then walk up to the kite as it sits there and land it. 

As always, it is preferable to have someone land you and make sure you have plenty of room down wind in case things go wrong. 

Hope this helps.

i self land all the time….option 1 in last post works great on land and water. the key is to pull 10-12 feet of one of the front lines….the kite will turn into the wind and stay leading edge down. the most important thing IS….no matter what, you HAVE to commit!! once you pull the front line, keep pulling until it flags out. even if the kite flips onto its back, it WILL still flag out and you can just walk up the line.

letting go mid way and having the kite relaunch/hot launch with slack in the line would be unpleasant with high penalty points.

another great OR rise design benefit, it works great…every time.

I do water landings and Launches the safest way

I attach the chicken loop to a carabiner which has a length of rope and a second carabiner which is hooked to a boat bouy in the water, the bouy is my immovable object. it works the same on land, hooked onto my truck bumper hitch, or anything really heavy.
I do not connected to the chicken loop until the kite is flying with one tip in the water and all is looking good.
The last thing I do after hooking into the chicken loop and leashing up, is to unhook the carabiner.
The landing is all in reverse of the launch.
There is no question, that landing and launching without you being attached to the kite is the safest way to land and launch.
I do it this way 100% of the time when kiting at my local beach. have been since Bow / SLE kites first came out.

there are all kinds of you tube posts on this topic.

have a look and safe landings

Pointmike

Note: use an immovable object not a sandbag as seen in the example video below, the sandbag will work, but not if the land or launch goes wrong.
P.S. I have added some vital information to the land & launch technique, further down the thread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSaEYB1dI4c

the only safe way i have ever found is the “oh shit handle”-the handle at the Y piece. i have never been able to self land otherwise!

Agreed—immovable object technique works the best and is safest.  If you don’t mind blowing $50, buy a kitebuddy—it screws into the ground and even holds in fairly loose sand.

Thanks a lot guys for your advices and comments.

When I self-land on the beach I usually use both #1 and #2 techniques of CAM’s techniques successively. I first control-crash the kite at the edge of the wind window and grab the upper front line just before the kite hit the ground (it has to be synchronized movement) and pull it hard until the kite sits comfortably on the leading edge perpendicular to the wind. I do that if the wind is less than 20 knots. Higher than that, it is not a safe technique IMO.

Using an immovable object works great when you are on the land or ice but it is not applicable when you are kiting at your local public spot, which is where I kite 90% of my time, because it is not possible (or convenient) to install a buoy and beaches are generally too narrow to use a sand anchor…

I will try jtrashy’s technique. But I’d better use gloves…
The inconvenient of self-landing by pulling the “oh shit handle” is that your lines will almost invariably get tangled. And it is unfortunate because it appears that it certainly is the safest technique for self-landing a Rise in shallow water…
Perhaps jtrashy’s technique will allow to avoid the tangling since it requires a pull of one front line without grabbing the “oh shit handle”.

If you have more advices or comments, feel free to contribute.

Vincent

jtrashy and CAM nailed it,

those are the ways of doing it, it will need a bit of practice to do it right, please always keep your eyes on the kitea and be ready in case it re-launch when trying to land it.

charley

I do water landings and Launches the safest way

I attach the chicken loop to a carabiner which has a length of rope and a second carabiner which is hooked to a boat bouy in the water, the bouy is my immovable object. it works the same on land, hooked onto my truck bumper hitch, or anything really heavy.
I do not connected my spreader bar to the chicken loop until the kite is flying with one tip in the water and all is looking good.
The last thing I do after hooking into the chicken loop and leashing up, is to unhook the carabiner.
The landing is all in reverse of the launch.
There is no question, that landing and launching without you being attached to the kite is the safest way to land and launch.
I do it this way 100% of the time when kiting at my local beach. I have been doing it this way since Bow / SLE kites first came out.
ADDED DETAILS TO LANDING & LAUNCH: The carabiner should be hooked through both the chicken loop & stainless leash ring at the same time, in case the chicken loop was to accidently release.
( a recent lofting accident was analysed and would have been overted with this simple added procedure )
- The lofting resulted from a kiter self launching, and chicken loop accidentaly releasing when the kiter rubbed against the red realese collar, The kiter also unintentionally stayed with the kite, had he let go of the bar emediately he would have been fine, since he was not connected to the kite.

there are all kinds of you tube posts on this topic.

have a look and safe landings

Pointmike

Note: use an immovable object not a sandbag as seen in the example video below, the sandbag will work, but not if the land or launch goes wrong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSaEYB1dI4c

I agree with it..immovable techniques are much safety and easier….There are no hustle anymore..

Regards

Albert

____
Pret immobilier