For those who dont know Wallaroo north beach SA its a 2 km stretch of 2wd access beach about half km wide when tide is out. There was prob about 30 cars on the beach today ,majority on the southern end as normal so i went up the north end and put a distance of 100 -150 meters between me and the closest car. The wind was almost directly onshore but i was hoping it would pick up a bit more or it wouldnt be worth going onto the water.I set the kite up any way as i wanted to do my first self launch from the towbar and convert my bar to the 1:1 setting and see how different it flew. Along came a car so i took my kite up to 12 as it drove past 20 mtrs downwind, went 50 meters past did u turn,i had dropped the kite to 9 and thought 1 would leave it there and see if they gave me a wider berth,
NO ,,,,,STRAIGHT BACK PAST
LESS THAN 10 METERS AWAY (AS I TOOK THE KITE BACK TO 12)
(driver was female)
General public that dont kite dont know or understand.
We have always gotta give them right of way even if it seems that they should have more common scense.
You see it all the time.
Someone stands on the edge of the water watching you turning/jumping in the same deep beach gutter for half an hour, then , they jump in the same spot and have a swim when you are on a deserted beach with kilometers of emptyness.
But, we have to give them(no commen scensers) right of way.
Its like when you park your 4x4 on the beach in the middle of no where with miles of empty beach, and
some city slicker parks 5 meters beside you??????
They must be from the city and are not use too being more than 3 meters of other people.
You humans are a a social animal you tend to group together for no apparent reason other then to be close to each other
The only problem I have surfing at a nude beach is,
getting the wax out of my pubes.
Attach chicken loop to tow ball via D shackle.
Walk to kite, hold it up like you are helping someone launch and lines are tight.
Let go of kite and it will sit there on its wing tip. Walk back to bar.
Hook in and launch.
Really safe easy way to self launch.
Unless you own a waveslave launch pad that is
I have some Kiwi friends that do a similar launch from a fence post at one of their local beaches.
They have a similar method for self landing in stronger winds where they use the tow bar or fence post and basically reverse the steps mention by Lotofwind.
self land and launch is a core skill. You have to think that if you can't do it, are you an individual competent kiter?
As for the towball trick I have seen someone do this with awesome results. The chicken loop fired and the kite flew away. I asked him afterwards where he learned the technique and he said you tube! He was like 'that's never happened before and I have done it 10 times or more'. Yeah but that 1 time it does happen what about people you take out on the beach with your runaway kite and bar/lines.
but each to their own.
Been shackling to toe bar or post for a few years now. Easy and safe but I'm not a fan of landing them this way..
However you get lazy and when the kite trip somewhere happens with no where to hook you will find yourself ( as I did) trying to self launch correctly again in foreign conditions on a foreign beach, this is where your self launch has to spot on.
Trust me on this, it is a safe and gentle on your kite, but every second or third time self launch, don't get dependent on it.
Pretty good system, but when it's gusty the kite tends to surge forward then just flip over and self land. Sand on the bottom tip tends to help a bit.
tied to a post securely there's no way the kite could free itself.
if there's no post / tow ball you can bury your board under a pile of sand and hook to your handle.
if self landing in overpowered and gusty conditions (winter) this can be lowest risk
just make sure there's plenty of weight on the board before you walk up
^^look at the video ^^tow ball(the thing your trailer hooks onto)
fence post or anything else as described in comments.
as a beginner first thing i wanted to learn is self launch/land cant really go past this one easy as works a treat
I use a similar setup for drift launching from a boat, using an oversize stainless clip and a rope just over one metre long which is tied off to a cleat at the back of the boat. When the kite gets to the end of its drift, starts to power up, and then move to the edge of the window, there's no danger moments, or unplanned departures from the boat 
. When the kite is good to go, disconnect the clip from the chicken loop, connect the chicken loop to your harness, and off you go.
. When the kite is good to go, disconnect the clip from the chicken loop, connect the chicken loop to your harness, and off you go.
Hate to agree with RPM but self launch is a core skill.
The funniest thing i have seen is a tethered launch go wrong with the kite tomohawking from left to right as a gust came through and then the kite self destructing.
With a tow ball or post if it goes t!ts up, it happens so quickley and you have no chance of getting back to the bar and flagging the kite.
4 weeks ago we saw a 2 month old, 2011 rebel which had been ripped to shreds because of this method of relaunch. It alternated between the beach debris and the hard thorny bush at Shoalwater in Safety Bay, when asked if we could repair i suggested that the guy check his insurance!
^^^ seen the same thing but the blokes missus and kid were taken out by the kite as it raced across the window. Then again I have seen some pretty funny self launches too.
Anyone got tips on self landing a Slingshot Rally when its windy? Ive recently gone back to SS after a couple of years on a Bandit and finding it just wants to flyyyy. My old tecnique of crash and pull the windward side back line to make it sit down doesn't seem to work as well. Or do i need to post this in the nooob section ?
