Back in the early days, kiteboarding was a dark place. Learners feared crashing their kites, pro's hated the drawl of trying to coax a c-shaped piece of nylon back into the air, but the sport was pretty fun so everyone got over it. Meanwhile, designers slowly changed the geometry of kites so they relaunched easier, but that sacrificed performance for the elite few that ride unhooked, so C-Kites still prevail in the freestyle circles.

If you own a C-Kite - something like a C4, Torch, Vegas, Chaos, or Razor, then you know the feeling when it's laying face down on the water. What if you could just pull a rear line, like the learner kiteboarders do, and watch it rise from the water on its own accord? Guess what! You can! It just takes forgetting one simple trick that your instructor taught you years ago.

Hybrid kites and bow kites, require the bar to be let out before a kite will relaunch. Keeping tension on both back lines will ensure the kite stays firmly face-planted on the water, slowly dragging you downwind. On a C kite however, pushing the bar out does nothing to help you, instead allowing precious wind to escape over the trailing edge of the kite, slowing down your relaunch in all but the strongest winds.

Instead of letting the bar out on a C-Kite - Pull it IN!

Increasing rear line tension on a C kite, cups the trailing edge and allows the kite to pivot up on its wingtip. It effectively back stalls the kite, similar to the way the old Cabrinha Elements used to, with the Recon system (We're showing our age now!). Remember, relaunching like this means you're in for a hot launch, so prepare to get dragged a little. It's better than sitting in the water, or swimming towards your kite to get it back up though!

To watch it done like a pro, watch Jake Kelsick as he talks you through each step of relaunching the new Ozone C4, a 5 line/4 line convertible C kite for freestylers.

#News #Kitesurfing #Kiteboarding #Cabrinha #Ozone