Snotter on front line?

[southseasailor]

Fired the safety release on my LF Havoc a few days ago, accidentally cue some messing about doing a packdown..tried to reset but was pretty much impossible.

Is there any way of stopping the bar and lines scooting up the front line and almost ending up with the kite? was reeling the line in and trying to tidy it all up. What a tedious procedure. Was thinking of a snotter on the relevant front line, say 6 mtrs up above the swivel. The idea being that the kite can flag out but the bar stops at the snotter point, rather than making a bid to end up with the kite.

Yes, I realise this is 'improving on a design' etc but anyone here with enough knowledge to object? My Flysurfer has this arrangement, albeit differently thought out. Theres a separate line with a knot, as its not load bearing as such it is just for the purpose of catching the bar before it ends up with the multitude of bridles that a typical Foil kite has.

[lucie]

Er. What's a snotter?! I always used to put a stopper ball on the flagging front line when I had waroos years ago. One of those balls with a hole through. Would just loop the line back over itself. My rule of thumb was a metre up the line for every metre of kite. So my 7m roo bar had a stopper ball 7m up the line. If you fly multiple kites on one bar I guess you play safe and give it max flag out. I was given this advice by someone 6 years ago now, advice may have changed since.

[southseasailor]

Snotter, same idea as the ball you mentioned:) My idea would be some whipping twine, doubled over and tied in a series of hitches to form a 'stop' for the swivel to hit up against. Just such a pain with the bar shooting up to the kite, or when in the water as I pull the line to get to the bar it just makes a tangle.

Interesting point on the kite size and distance up the line. Must measure my Flysurfer, wouldn't be surprised if its set at 12mtr up the line..being a 12mtr kite.

[waverider]

Snotter ?

Hi Rob, all the kites I ever owned either already had a ball fitted to the safety line or I retro-fitted one, i've also retro-fitted balls to pals kites. You can do this with a wine bottle cork by drilling the cork an interference fit then cutting it on one side so you can slide it over then glue it in place once you decided on the correct position.

You'll need to do some dummy-runs on the beach to make sure the kite flags as much as it can though bridles kites don't flag-out in the true meaning of the word.

It's why I prefer using a bar that releases to both fronts, if you get the stopper right this system will actually allow you to re-ride. Whilst I often use a single line release I only use this when the wind is cross-on or on-shore. If i'm riding out-back which I rarely these days I always-always use a bar that releases to both fronts because I know i'm going to re-launch. With the single line release I find it convenient for self-landing and parking. Thats it, I just don't see any other benefit for me.

[Dave_T]

I have these things fitted on my flag out line... they do the job nicely

http://www.powerkiteshop.com/accessorie ... erball.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[southseasailor]

Cheers for the link Dave T, will get a couple of those to fit and then try the setting up as mentioned by Waverider; in a gentle breeze and see how it works out.

The event that got me thinking, I was heading out in a great breeze and went to adjust the below bar depower and brushed the quick release a bit hard and off went the kite. Tide was up so nice and deep. Had a heck of a tangle to sort out later on:)