Kite Gear Care and Pre Flight Checks
The main things to check on your kite materials are that:
- You have no knots in any of your lines
- You have no tangles or unwanted knots in the bridle
- Your kite and kite materials are in good condition
If you have any knots in your lines or bridle I would recommend you to get them out before you start flying your kite. A knot in the line will reduce the strength of the line at that point by 50%, leading to to greatly increased chance of the line snapping while you are flying. A great little trick for getting knots out of lines is to take and old piece of cloth and wrap it around the section of line with the knot. Then place the cloth containing the line and knot onto a hard surface (an old book works great) take a hammer and start hitting the knot through the cloth. Do this for about 20 seconds then take another 20 seconds to try to pry the knot loose. Repeat this until the knot works itself loose. Note for the first few minutes it will probably look as if nothing is happening, the key here is patience, this does work just give it a bit of time!
Your kite should be in one piece (fairly obviously!) if there are any small rips or tears in the canopy do not fly the kite but either apply a patch (a bit of duct tape will do) to both sides of the tear or for larger tears take the kite to get repaired. A small tear or hole will very quickly become a big tear if not patched or repaired straight away. Also check that the bridle is firmly attached to the kite at all points. If you see the bridle pulling away from the kite at any point again stop and take the kite to be repaired before flying.
Care of your Kite Gear
The main things to be careful here are:
- Putting your kite gear away dry and clean
- Avoid areas with sharp rocks or plants when flying your kite
Putting your kite gear away dry and clean is essential to preserving its life span. If you can't pack it away like this at the time (because its raining or the weather doesn't allow) then get out all your kite gear and dry it off at the next posible opportunity. For those of you who are practicing on the beach, sand is the single biggest kite killer of all time. Make sure you get all the sand off your kite gear before packing it away. Or if not possible again do so at the next possible opportunity. Sand will rub against the stitching and the canopy of the kite wearing both out in a very short time. It will also get into the lines and weaken them from within. Flying wet kites (wet foil kites that is, LEI's are designed to deal with the water) is not advisable as it adds to the weight of the kite and puts a lot more strain on the structure of the kite and bridle and can lead to damage to the kite.
Avoiding areas with sharp rocks is fairly obvious but also be aware of plants with sharp branches or thorns. These are often quite difficult to spot but will trash your kite just as quickly.