Packing your kite is an important step as it is what decides how long you get flying the next time you take out the kite. Time needs to be taken about how you pack your lines and there are several methods which all work well, its up to you which to choose. All the methods here involve leaving the lines on the kite which is definitely the best thing to do as this almost guarantees there to be no major twists when you unpack the kite, it also stops the kites bridle tangling.
1. Folding the kite
There two main ways to fold the kite, some people put the two wingtips together then fold it smaller and smaller, tuck the bridles in and roll it. The other technique is fold the tips into the middle then in again then fold the kite over tucking in the bridles then roll. Both these methods work well, the latter can sometimes be easier when packing away on a windy beach.
2. Packing the lines
There are two main ways to pack up your lines, one basically involves stuffing them into the bag (parapacking) and the other involves wrapping them around the handles, bar or winder.
Parapacking is called such as it is the main method of packing a parachute. This is definitely the fastest way to go from arriving on the beach to having a kite in the air and is quite fast on the packing but some people just don’t trust it. When it goes wrong it can go seriously wrong!
To Pack:
- Secure your kite onto the ground,
- Fold/roll up your kite into the correct size for your kite bag ensuring all bridles are inside and not tangled,
- Put the kite in the bag and zip the zips up around it, but leave the top open with plenty of space for your hand, now take the lines in your left hand (or right depending on what you prefer),
- Use your other hand to pull all the lines from the bag end of your hand down into the inside of the bag on one side of the kite, letting the lines run loose through your first hand,
- Repeat this until you reach the handles or bar, you can either do it while walking back or walk back first and then start,
- Once all the line is in the bag, put your handles together (or bar) and place them on the opposite side of the kite from your lines or in a separate pocket of the kite bag if provided.
To Unpack:
- Stake your bar out upwind and walk back downwind with your kite bag carefully so that the lines come out gently,
- If there are any small knots give the lines a quick shake, otherwise have a closer look, it is generally only a small line looped through another if at all and is easy to fix so don’t go mad!
- Once all lines are deployed, take the kite out of the bag, unfold it and secure it to the ground in someway if necessary
- Walk back to the handles/bar and fly!
Wrapping the lines is viewed as a much safer option by most people. The lines can either be wrapped around the tops of the handles, a figure of eight around the bar or onto the winder, either around or as a figure of eight.
To Pack:
- Fold the kite and put it in the bag, leaving the lines attached
- Start from the control end wrapping the lines around the tops of the handles or around the bar. If winding around the winder then start from where the leaders end and the lines begin, otherwise wrap the leaders first followed by the lines. Try to keep the lines quite tightly wrapped as this will prevent them slipping off when they are in the bag, this would cause a massive birds nest. DO NOT CHANGE HANDS or you WILL end up with one large birds nest when you come to take the lines off!
- When you reach the bag secure the lines by either pinching them between the handles or by wrapping them around the bar/winder a couple of times.
To Unpack:
- Take the handles/bar/winder and unwrap the lines – make sure you hold the lines in the SAME hand as when you wrapped them up, this is VERY important as if you don’t you will end up with massive twists in the lines.
- When you have unwound all the lines stake out the handles/bar, go back to the bag and take the kite out. Unfold it and let it sit there ready to fly. A few good tugs on the lines will get most of the twists out, you should have at most a couple of spins of the bar/handles to get clear lines!
