What’s the best method to relaunch North Rhino 07 9m LE down and facing me, on it’s belly (from a same position as rigging upwind on the beach).
I have relaunched couple on times just yanking front lines. That has worked nicely in medium/high winds. In high winds it feels a bit rough for the kite, since kite relaunches in the middle of a powerzone. Today at Point Walther wind dropped and a current was pushing me towards the kite. Tried to swim away from the kite and yank front lines, but it didn’t work.
Never have had problems on relaunching this kite so I wasn’t worried at all. Desided to pull one back line. Worked, but had to pull quite a bit of line. Didn’t seem best of methods, since lines were all over. Probably other back line was tangled around trim (metal piece in North kites) or there was a knot in a back line.
After two loops I pulled safety and self-rescued. Thanks for the guy who brought my board back. It was also a nice gesture from windsurfers to ask do I need help.
For sure next time I will swim much harder and won’t let those lines to get tangled.
this is always a problem for a 5-line kite
if it's a 4 line kite, you can just swim around to one side of it so that it "catches" the wind and relaunch. the lines may be tangled, but at least it will get up into the air so you can kite back to the beach and reset the lines.
Try the 5th line relaunch... might work on the rhino... let go of bar... grab some 5th line up above of you pull in also grab the steering line side that you want to re-launch the kite too and pull that as well ... the kite should/might lift off a little and onto its back and twist till it starts to skim off the water to the edge of the wind window...as it does this “skimming” across let go of the 5th and grab hold of the bar and pull in to power it up...
Also helps to paddle away in strong currents to keep some line tension, no mater what type of kite... slack lines will cause it to have a cow!
remember when with the old 4 line c kites you used to swim towards the kite doing the crazy arm in the air with the center lines to put it on its back ...pulling the 5th is kind of the same thing i guess....
well if its lying face down in the rigging position then all you have to do is be hooked into your CL then pull in a lot of one of the turning lines, this brings the wingtip into the wind, it catches wind and swings around so its in the LE down crash position and keep pulling until its on the edge of the window on one wingtip ready to launch. simple.
I dont mean to sound rude.
Try to meet a person who did a how to relaunch clinic at kitestock.
If it's facing you LE down, just pull A back line and the kite will start to swing around , when the back line side you are pulling is nearest you the far tip will start to catch the breeze and you should relax the back line you are holding and it will swing around to being leading edge down as per a normal crash
* you do have to pull a fair ammount of back line so make sure your place it to one side of you in the water so you don't get tangled
The pulling one turning line method should work. You might need to grab the line as just pulling the bar might no be enough. Pull it and hold..the kite doesn't always respond straight away. As the kite rolls on to its side dont steer it up too fast. Try to balance it on a tip and it wll taxi itself to the edge of the window where you can steer it up without getting pulled.
If you end up doing a hot launch with a 5th line you can always pull in some of the 5th and hold it to take the power out of the kite. Just grab the leash below your bar and don't wrap the line around your fingers! The kite will flatten out into a weird shape and kind of float up. The trick is not to let the 5th out too fast and definitely don't just let go of it all at once when the kite is in the power zone or you will be yanked very hard. This tip is very handy if you are launching trailing edge down straight downwind (hot). Just pull and hold the 5th and the kite will float up.
POP
Yeti,
if you are based around Perth, try to catch up with Daniel from windsurfing Perth. he knows very well those kites and maybe can give you tips on how to relaunch.
Thanks for the comments!
you can also pull a bit of 5th line in, as well as a back line to help relaunch in light winds. It will get the rhino to the wind window easier
Let the bar go pull 1 of the turning lines until the kite starts to lift on 1 edge then grab the 5th line above the clam cleet and pull that in also. Alterate the pull on the steering line and the 5th line this will kinda pump the kite around when the kite relaunces let go the steering line and keep hold of the 5th line using the bar steer the kite up but maintain resonable presure on the 5th line. This works for an 07 model.
