Greetings,
My son Mike has reached an age (and weight) where he likes the challenge of pulling down my kites when it's time to go. Eventually he's worked his way up to my biggest, a new Gomberg Skyform 450, which he tackled in light wind the other night.
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2274542270054094352lNYfrkWhen I looked at his picture, it reminded me of an ongoing thought I've had about kite pull downs for years. I've always used the same method for big soft kites that I began using years ago - walk the kite down offwind at about a 45 degree angle, then collapse it by pulling down on the upwind bridle line. Other folks seem to walk them straight downwind from the anchor. I started doing it to the side after the pull down strap slipped out of my hands once and the kite relaunched immediately after yanking on the anchor something fierce when the slack in the line was taken out.
When I walk a big foil down off to the side some, and then release the line as if it's slipped, the extra slack in the line and the off-angle of the wind causes it to nearly always collapse before it can reinflate (only tested this with my old Sutton 125 and with half the line in). That said, I've often thought that if they did recover after taking the slack out, or were a different kind of kite, they might power sweep across the window and auger into the ground.
For ease and safety, which way do you go when pulling down kites, straight downwind or off to the side of the window?
Todd
PS. By the way, the Gomberg Skyform 450 rocks! Another view with a 150' banner tail. It's HUGE!
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2798953340054094352DwyryZ
