Hi - looking for a bit of advice
Yesterday out in a very gusty southerly - anything from 20-35knts on a 7.5m
After psyching myself up I went for a big big kite loop (I can and have done them in lighter winds)
Not entirely sure what went wrong - mate reckons he got it on go pro so will post a link for everyone's amusement
The kite got through the loop but was way below me, basically felt like it just didn't come back up to catch me at all and I ended up dropping onto the water from about 15m
All ok but a massive crash and some serious bruises - any idea what went wrong or just a bad idea to go for it?!
Hesitation/ lack of commitment... I'm getting into them at the moment and find that the biggest crashes happen when I hesitate and don't keep the bar pulled in and turning.
I've found the easiest way to combat this is to just fishpole it... Both hand on one side of the bar, towards the outside.
yesterday {in Sydeny anyway} wasn't really a day to safely loop a kite unless your first name is Lenton
Yeah I did half wonder if the responses would be predominantly why were u doing that!
Video will be up when I get my hands on it & definitely wasn't a lack of commitment had the bar hard over
Cheers guys
After the full loop the kites gonna head back up and catch you.
Do you reckon you may have double looped the kite!!?
I do small backroll kite loops and overlooping the kite is pretty common, if I just keep holding the bar it loops again either when I'm landing or just before it
But I'm barely 2 m off the water so no major damage
Sounds to me like you're going hard and in that kind of wind all types of **** is gonna hit the fan - but I am impressed!!!
Curious what kite you're on?
Also a kite like my SS Rally loops so quickly it hardly develops any pull and does tend to over turn on loops. Next year I'm chasing maybe a proper C kite which gives a more powered turn and needs to be controlled properly, then I may enter the world of the big boys ( and the big pain)
"Hi - looking for a bit of advice
The kite got through the loop but was way below me, basically felt like it just didn't come back up to catch me at all and I ended up dropping onto the water from about 15m any idea what went wrong or just a bad idea to go for it?!"
My 2 cents worth:
What works for me: Shorter lines can make it easier to kite loop ( 25m 17m 15m )
Go high with speed keeping the kite forward to get forward momentum to cancel out the back loop, at the top of the jump commit and yank a back loop, try to land with the kite directly above you, you may need to turn the kite down after to loop to soften the landing. All kites loop differently.
If your kite is below you after a loop, your not looping the kite right, you might be looping too slow so the kite goes under you but not back up above your head.
What i see happen often is: Some people half loop or don't loop evenly through the loop, they hard pull first half of the loop then freak out and only partly or softly pull on the 2nd half of the loop, making the kite dive down but not come back up.
1 min quick kite looping video yesterday south of Sydney in 25 o 30 knots 9m and 7m in waves.
Re kite designer great video and some very nice riding thanks.
The only thing I can think of right now is that I started the loop fast and let the bar out, It's the only thing really that makes sense with what the kite did but I thought I pulled pretty hard throughout
The kite is a wainman mr green
Never used a rally but the mr green definitely generates pull through the loop!!
I'm pretty sure it didn't go round twice as I think the bar only un-spun once
Hoping I can figure it out from the video when I get it !
by your description it sounds like you didn't fish pole enough and went for a mega loop instead?
It felt pretty mega
Kite was definitely lower than I was at one point ( I think - this is the part when I get the go pro footage and I was only 1m off the water and being a chicken lol
)
In gusty conditions its very possible that you started the loop in a gust and halfway through lost the gust hence kite speed and turning stopped. If you say it was as gusty as it was I would think this is a strong reason it happened. And letting the bar out as it turns shouldn't change anything. The kite will exhaust better as your not stalling flow over the trailing edge and should turn easier.
Thanks for all the responses guys, unfortunately my mates go pro was too fogged up by the time this happened to make anything out so I guess I will just have to wait til next time!!
This fishing pole business is wrong for hooked in kiteloops as is not pushing the bar out.. If you're unhooked then you put the depower line between your ring and middle fingers on your back hand and then bring your front hand behind and steer the kite through the loop (fishing pole). With hooked in loops you send your kite up to 12 and just before you hit the apex of your jump pull HARD with your back hand, bar in, and steer the kite through the loop. As soon as your kite has completed it's rotation and the middle of the LE is pointed straight to 12.. Push your bar out so that it will catch you. You'll usually swing underneath the kite so you'll want to gently give pressure on that back hand and pull the bar in a bit after the kite is above you again so it loops softly above you and softens your landing. Point your board downwind and you should be good to go. You'll wanna be really powered too because if you don't get the height the kite won't catch you properly. Cheers.
For those interested I was trying these again last night - same kite but a much calmer steady - ish 25 knots
No dramas at all this time lande two clean and a couple messy ones
I can only think that last time the wind was squirrely enough that I either caught a massive gust or a bit of a lull whilst the kite was 180 ish degrees through the turn
All about commitment !
Drury is on the money Bar out and the kite will come up. If you're 15m up a 7 will catch you no worries.
Make sure you have vertical trajectory also rather than a long jump before you loop also as if you're moving fast downwind the apparent wind will be down in you're kite.
Make sure you're bar is tuned right on also.
