Any 4 line kite is a bitch at sub 15 knots.

Check that your line lengths are even.

If you are poo man riding try lengthening your rear lines or adding some length to the rear leader lines at the kite.

(or shorten the fronts)

Under 15 knot kiting is sketchy at best and I would recommend a larger kite (especially for larger people)

bigwavedave :)

I'm having the same problem with my 2010 11m Waroo; I'm 92kg.

Bit of background on my not extensive relaunching experience;
The school DNAs are beautiful for relaunch, they sit on their edge & relaunch like a dream.
The 2010 Switchblades (8 & 10m) I used in QLD were easy to relaunch as well, bit of a tug on the correct rear line & up they went.

The Waroo is new for me, so I understand there's a dialling in time required & I concede it's probably something I'm not doing right, but damn it's getting frustrating.

The last couple of times I've been out I just have not been able to relaunch the kite; it goes down and just doesn't want to get up.
It certainly doesn't automatically roll over on its edge, I pull on the appropriate rear line and it's like a tug of war.
I have gotten it onto its edge eventually, but like lortap says, it just doesn't seem to have enough power to lift off (sheeting in , sheeting out doesn't seem to make any difference); then it decides to roll over, sometimes on its leading edge, sometimes on its trailing edge, it also likes to do the half twist.

Pulling the front lines doesn't get it going, pulling the rear lines doesn't get it going; I believe I'm doing these things at the appropriate times.
I couldn't really swim towards the kite or around it, as it was still pulling me like a truck even though it was downed.

A bit of info on the trim state;
The kite sits nicely at 12, very stable and the bar is at a comfortable position when riding (for the short time I do anyway) and body dragging.
I pump the bladders up until I can't pump anymore- no leaks in the bladders either.

I really need to know what I'm doing wrong.
This problem is really cutting into my time on the water; just as I'm getting to hold a good edge & learning how to control the power of the kite- crash & game over for that arvo.
Last time it happened was yesterday arvo at Pinnaroo, I think it was blowing around 20+knots.

Advice would be greatly appreciated from anyone who flies this kite, any Best team riders or Best kite sellers.

Thanks in advance.

Fine, make it look easy!

It's a bit harder in the water though.
And the new Waroos are meant to be 'super fast' at relaunching due to the delta shape.
supposedly they're meant to roll over like the family dog.

I suppose if was expecting a difficult relaunch capability with the kite I wouldn't get so frustrated, but all the marketing spiel & reviews I've read say how easy the water relaunch is.

Thinking of going down deliberately dumping the kite in the water & making a day of practicing the water relaunch.

Saffer said...

oceanfire said...

I suppose if was expecting a difficult relaunch capability with the kite I wouldn't get so frustrated, but all the marketing spiel & reviews I've read say how easy the water relaunch is.

Thinking of going down deliberately dumping the kite in the water & making a day of practicing the water relaunch.

Its probably worth doing. Find some shallow water and play around perfecting your technique until you get the hang of it. The original marketing for most of the bow kites around easy relaunching stemmed from their comparison to C kites, but they do still require some technique so if you don't know what you're doing, you may battle.

Another thing I've noticed is sometimes water currents may effect how well the launch in one direction, so if pulling on one side doesn't do anything, try the other because sometimes it could be fighting against a water current to relaunch and you may find it flies to the other side and launches quickly.

Yep, I've definitely gotta work on the technique, it just feels weird having to work on it cause it was never an issue with the other kites I've flown.
Oh well, I love a challenge; I'm gonna beat it!

I had the 2010 Waroo 9 & 11mt last season. This is only my own personal opinion but they are crap in there lower end wind range if you are a beginner / intermediate and can be totally frustrating . Always backstall and will not relaunch. Had to do 2 self rescues in 1 week . Got the V2 kahoonas this season and it was like a miracle , have never experienced these problems again.

lortap said...

Thanks for all the responses. Anyone wanna buy a cheap 13m Waroo?

Get your lines checked they sound like the front lines are stretched.
If you can get the kite up on a tip, then there is enough wind for it to launch off the water.
Pull the trim strap in to shorten the front lines so you cannot stall the kite and make it fall backwards.

A better technique on kites that you can reach the front lines is to let the bar go and reach up and grab the opposite front line to the rear line you are pulling on, this should make the kite pivot on its tip very quickly and more in the centre of the window, once its up on the tip grab the bar and steer the kite off the water, but if the kite is stalling backwards use the trim strap to shorten the front lines.

It is not hard to launch 4 line kites in sub 15 knots, it just requires trying different techniques, and not all 4 line kites (or even 5 line) will relaunch using just one technique. Having 4 and 5 line kites in your quiver is not ideal in my opinion stick to one type.

lortap, don't give up!

It's just the technique you've got to work on; as I discovered.
I was out yesterday arvo at Pinnas, dropped the kite on one of my shaky runs, and taking into account the advice I've heard here and elsewhere on the net I was armed and ready for the battle.

So the kite went down, first thing I did was let go of the bar completely; so what happened?
The damn thing rolled over onto its wingtip straight away, I grabbed the bar and with minimal input from me, it sailed back up into the sky like a dream!
I couldn't believe it; it was like a different kite.

I think that if it crashes directly downwind of you, you probably need to get it across the window a bit more, not too sure about that as I didn't drop the kite much yesterday

It's gotta definitely be technique, well it seems it was for me, I think I was pulling on the bar too much in my previous relaunch attempts and choking the power out of it.

It could be stretched lines, for you, or it could be technique, but I guess the point is, don't give up man, it's a great kite, I'm really loving the power it has and more importantly, learning how to control the power.
As has been stated numerous times about kites, you've just gotta get dialled in to it.