I do think it's great and I really appreciate that we can tap our heads and have an available kiter help safely land our kites but why do so many people immediately kick a bucket full of sand on the canopy like a dog excitedly burying his bone??
Unless it's over about 25 knots its totally unnecessary and only causes wear and stretching of the canopy. Its especially annoying when the kite is wet..
Is it that inconvenient to ask?
Haha and I've witnessed, lately, the unsure (or lazy) handful of sand. Either don't put any sand on, or at least put an amount that will actually do something.
Small price to pay, just wrap your lines up then remove the sand.
would rather have sand on my kite than kites blowing across the beach. Although when landing a mate I usually wait with my foot securing their kite until they can secure it.
Stop moaning when somebody has done something nice for you.
2 observations:
1. Never seen a worn through stretched canopy from "over-sanding" (a word I just invented)
2. Kite boarding lesson #1 - Always safety first.
I am worried about the future of kiting!
Agreed, unnecessary unless there's a lot of wind or uneven ground.
Mostly I use my board on the leading edge to keep it down. I sometimes wonder if wax is detrimental to the material.
You can either get lands from other people and appreciate it or you can do it yourself.
I usually look over to the person for whom I've landed a kite and ask with a shoveling motion of the hands if they want sand on their kite.
If they're not looking I put sand on for safety reasons.
if it needs it i put sand on...
if it doesnt I dont.........
if im unsure I dont ...........but will keep my foot on the leading edge until the pilot approaches then I usually tell the person they may want to put some sand on.
I personally self launch and land and use my board as the weight, then harness if required. so rarely am I on the opposite end.
How bout....when its windy, I land your kite and I put my foot on it waiting for you...dont start messing around down there with your bar and lines, board, looking at the ocean, chatting etc etc
immediately after Ive landed your kite RUN up to your kite (with bar, lines, board - no need to detach first) and make sure your kite is secure before you start messing around with everything.
I dont want sand on my clean but wet hands 
lock tthe topic laurie
As I said I really appreciate the land and fyi i've launched and landed my fair share of kiters as I almost always hang around to watch and learn after my session.
Yep right on guys, land kite, signal using a shovelling motion or wait a few seconds for owner to rush up to kite and decide whether or not to put board or harness over the leading edge.
Agreed, if the kite owner is distracted, incredibly slow, stuffing around or not paying attention then sand it up for safety reasons.
Totally safe, totally easy!
just ask the guy if they want it or not..? when they do put sand on it they mean well and do that to ensure your safety not to damage your kite.
also people do it because they get taught to do this while doing lessons. And i must say it is probably a good thing that they do teach it. safety safety safety...
don't want kites ending up in powerlines (which is where we are talking about in another thread haha)
Putting sand on your kite is likely to increase its life, not decrease it. It reduces the flapping of the material which is probably the main deteriorating factor.
If the sand is wet from receding tide or beach is busy with bathers etc, I tend to catch the kite and flip it upside down taking a few steps towards the pilot to take tension out of the lines and then hand the kite to them to do whatever the fook they want to do with it- put sand on it, leave it on the beach to flap away, make a little sun-shelter/ wind break out of it. Some folk are understandably anal about getting gritty wet sand on their wet kite prior to them packing up.
Just some advice when landing a Naish sigma series kite. By putting sand at the middle because it sits off the ground will cause stretching of the canopy . Better to put sand nearer to both the wingtips on these.
What pisses me off is people who think their Hulk Hogan in the WWF and body slam your kite into the ground after they catch it for you
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A lot of things piss me off but if I have just finished a kite surf and someone goes to the effort and puts sand on it, so be it!! Take much more to wipe the smile off my face after a kite. If the sand is sticking to your kite stop crashing it. And I have seen a kite lift off when no one was a around. I bet you wear boardies over your wettie! Don't lie!!
Don't forget that if it's blowing 20 knots or more a pile of dry sand can quickly blow off a kite leaving the kite vulnerable to lifting off. Put your board on it or a bag of sand in strong conditions.
