Few Tips On Coping With The Wind

I came across a useful discussion on the way to cope with the difficulty of bringing the kite down safely in heavy wind.

Crisp explained how he applied a creative solution of Henry Jebe to the problem.

Henry made two modifications to the standard block. He filed smooth a set of gripping ridges in the interior of the block sheave and he replaced the standard closed shackle with an arrangement that behaved like a split pulley. This was genius.

Using the solution was relatively simple from the described procedure:

This has been a handy bit of gear for the situation Pierre describes. Usage goes like this. I secure a climber’s strap to something sturdy. The ratcheting block gets 1-1/2 turns of kite line around it with care that the inhauling direction engages the ratchet (it is freewheeling in the other direction). I then secure the block by clipping the block’s Kevlar loops to the climber’s strap with a carabiner. The whole process is very quick.

Once the gear is in place I inhaul line by walking away from the block, perhaps only a couple of steps in a confined situation. When I walk back toward the block the ratchet freezes the block rotation thus griping the line. I can then stow the line on my side of the block on my halo reel at near slack tension. It is so much easier to use my body mass for inhauling than my arm muscles.

Hope we can all learn a thing or two.

Thank you Henry and thank you crisp.