Big thanks to the guy (Cant remember name after cursing the whole way home sorry) to attempting to not only fix my kite that had rolled over itself (yay north 5 line) for a good 5 mins and then after the 5th line tore through the kite and bladder body dragged me in and took my board in - i really appreciate it.
Great to see lots of good guys on the water so please let me know who u are and will organise a surprise for you.
As for fkn 5th line kites - ffs..... each time that kite starts to drop in power in the wind (im 100kegs on a 10mtr 08 rebel) it just rolls over faster than a $2 hooker and each time i have had to do self rescue was simply cause of this! atleast 4 lines you can still fly (albeit badly) if they roll over to get back to the beach to unroll....
anyway - never again north..... let me know when you dont have a 5th line and dont have battens... till then.
Any 4 line kite that has equal length lines all the way to the bar from the kite flies normally when the kite does a roll through, steering may feel slightly tight if there are 2 or more twists, but with 1 twist I've kept kiting for 30 mins before I came in and sorted it.
Watched Leo Loro self land his 4 line 6M kite in 40 knots in WA last week, none of the serious wave riders we were with use 5 line kite and I really cannot see why they still exist.
Davereid,
Its nice to see a guy thats just started being old school. Beer, Wine Spirits. BWS. Im not pimping.
Old School values and thoughtfull posts always.
likewise mate, i can understand why they think they are useful and sure, keeping the centre line tight at all times stops any roll over, but sometimes its just not possible as today there was a bit of a lul out past the groynes and yeah kite decided "oh hurro i dont fly anymore" and just roll thru whilst falling...
saw it happening and was just thinking to myself "wouldnt happen on a 4 line...."
Because the fith is tensioned and the most drag is at the middle of the kite being the widest point, when the back lines have no tension they are more prone to roll over either in the air due to a lull, or when they hit the water.
Its a bit to do with rider error but a lot to do with kite design.
