Kite Materials 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.
By following these few simple steps each time you set up your kite you will greatly increase the life of your kite materials.