Self launch and land

[Travis Cook]

How often do you find yourself alone at your spot and in the situation of self launching and landing? What tips and tricks do you have for this? Do you use a kite anchor? Sandbags?

[Mark Johnson]

If you are a beginner I would avoid doing this, you might find some vids on Youtube.

[hedquista]

I am with mark. Self launch is a no go... Like i mentioned before go to a park and learn how to do it yourself in an area large enough so you can toss yourself around. I dont like to self launch when water kiting. There is no sand to be forgiving on the kite. you can try with weighted bags but the ground seems to tear kites easy in utah. On snow I do tend to self launch more. I think this is due to the over abundance of riding spots around the state so there is less people to help launch. I use the same technique as if i was at the beach in cali. I dont like to use the stake in utah because it is gusty and the kite does not sit at the edge of the window very well.

Find some one willing to help you launch land and catch while you practice somewhere. try to do it all yourself while having someone to catch the kite if the shit hits the fan.

mostly just have a buddy with you. its easier i find.

[bigwavedave]

Maybe I'm completely off . . but even if you have a buddy, and he launches you . . who's launching him? And someone's got to land first before helping the other land. Seems like someone's always going to have to self-launch and land unless you've got a spectator who knows how to do it (seems like when I was in high school I could always sucker friends into just going somwhere and doing nothing other than watching me have fun . . that doesn't happen anymore). Snowkiting I self launch and land all the time. I don't water-kite, but should I, this is one thing I'd be a little curious about myself.

[JimSouthwick]

Not a problem with foils - one of their great advantages as snow kites.