Should I self launch or get an assist?

tstansbury · Since 06 Jun 2006 649 Posts Rowena and P.C Addicted

you forgot the handsy tourist who walks up to you while the kites in the air starts talking then decides to pull on the bar to launch you.

kitezilla · Since 22 Jun 2006 453 Posts gorge Obsessed

Aeolus · Tue Apr 19, 11 8:16 am

tonyb · Tue Apr 19, 11 12:58 pm

Sometimes at Stevie the only way to get a good launch is for the launcher to be holding the kite very high, leading edge angled up at least 45 degrees and waiting for the gust to hit and fill in. Yes, the kiter can feel a pull but the kite needs to be held an extra second or two to make sure it gets up out of the shadow. Even then there are a fair number of launches that end up with a kite falling back down in to the rocks or out into the dead zone.

Holly's right that most places the kiter should be flying the kite out of the launchers hands. The thumbs up signal really means don't hold the kite back - but don't just toss it in the air and turn away.

Two to tango is a good way to put it. Both people are participating and both need to know what they are doing.

Tony

puckhog · Since 19 Apr 2011 9 Posts Kook

I have to say, everytime the sh*& has hit the fan, its been the result of an assisted launch gone wrong. Chuck the kite in the air.. drop it back on the trailing edge, release it when there's a tangle in the lines, etc..

For each incident, I'd have to say communication to the person launching the kite what my expectations were, hand signals, etc. probably would have helped.

In the case of the tangled line, this was a launch from a very experienced kiter, but he didn't even look at me before he released the kite; he said he just "felt the lines had the right tension and angle"; that would have been fine without the tangle, but instead resulted in a partial loop before I saved it.

Like Tony says, that positive "thumbs up" means the kite should be filled with air and power and the launcher should just "let go".

So I agree, takes two to tango and best to launch with someone you trust.

EdG · Since 19 Dec 2005 425 Posts Just a Kook that's Obsessed

Here in NY your expected to self launch since if it is windy and you kite, your on the water. It's a change from the Gorge but it's safer since not many people kite here. In PR they Hot Launch everyone!

SpaceRacer · Since 04 Nov 2007 434 Posts Obsessed

My .002 is to forget about "whose fault it is" and concentrate more on "whose problem is it" meaning if you are attached to your kite and someone tosses it for you and you die or get badly injured, what's more important? Who's problem is it or who was at fault?

I think that an assisted launch is always best so long as you communicate with your tosser:-) I.E. "Do you know how to launch a kite?" "Please do not let go of the kite until I give you the thumbs up." (Two things I admit I usually only think of when it is bumping 40 and I am on my 7m). But should do all of the time.

Lastly, I agree that knowing how to safely self-launch and self-land is important to know how to do and the first rule of this being that self-launching and self-landing are inherently dangerous and laced with the potential for failure and so you always have to be mindful of if you have to bail out, are people downwind of you safe.

JP