You made it through winter, spring is moving in and kiting is on your mind. All those great times on the water are coming back soon! Here are some ideas to try to get the most out of your time back on the water.
First, check your gear
The goal is to avoid breakage or loss of control while you are out kiting. Kite gear can be under tremendous loads and will wear out over time. We can have the tendency to ignore or put off repairs, this can result in accelerated wear, lost gear and injured kiters. If your gear needs fixing, do it without delay. People considering buying used gear should particularly look things over.
Inflate your kite and see if all the bladders hold air. Kite leaks can cause problems, sometimes serious ones. If you have bladder leaks repair or replace them if not readily patchable. Pulling and replacing bladders can be pain but your speed improves with practice! Make sure none of the bladders are twisted within the kite pockets.
Check your bridle lines, pulleys and pigtails. This stuff doesn't last forever and needs to be periodically replaced. It is important to remember that breakage of components can not only impact control but it also may limit or remove critical depowering. Emergencies can come with heavy loading of your gear and loss of depowering in such a case is not what you want to happen. If there is discoloration or visible abrasion wear on pigtails or bridles look to replace them. It can be surprising how they can break much more easily with some visible wear. Make sure your bridles move well through the pulleys which should be free from corrosion or grit. They shouldn't be bent or otherwise deformed, if so, change them out with appropriate replacements. Not all pulleys are the same so use the right ones.
ricki
