Water relaunching kite with tangled lines

Sometimes when you crash your kite and are still travelling towards it, the kite can flip, invert and the lines end up crossed. Keeping tension on the lines can avoid this but sometimes it happens and can be difficult to resolve.

5 line kites can also end up with the 5th line wrapped around the kite which will prevent it from flying.

Use this procedure to fix tangled/crossed line

• • Immediately release your safety

  • Wait until the kite flags onto the safety line - when it does, line tangles may be fixed

  • Pull your safety line hand over hand until you get to the bar

  • Reset the chicken loop safety

  • Re-attached the chicken loop to your harness hook

  • Feed the safety line back through the bar

  • Relaunch your kite following the normal procedure

  • You can fly still the kite if your back lines (either of both) are wrapped around the front lines but note that the control inputs may be altered due to reduced length of the rear lines. If in doubt, body drag back to shore

  • Once on shore you can land your kite and reattach your lines.

Some reasons for following this procedure rather than immediately trying to relaunch an inverted kite:

• You won't always be able to relaunch and fly your kite after an inversion, especially if one or both bridles are wrapped around the kite's wing tip or if your canopy inverts and your kite starts to power up with the canopy inside out

• Tangled lines might cause your kite to fly out of control - you might possibly end up in a "death loop" and tangle your lines more and even jam your safety system and end up releasing the whole kite

• When the canopy is inverted and/or when your bridles are caught around the kite, you'll find yourself drifting downwind

Recovering from a kite inversion / bridle tangle using your safety system from Australian Kiteboarding School on Vimeo.

See Also

• Relaunching a kite