How to launch and land a kite safely

Launching and landing are where riders get killed. In the worldwide analysis of kiteboarding fatalities from 2000 to mid-2006, launching accounted for 23% of deaths and landing for 31%, more than half the total, almost all of it within a few metres of hard ground.

A kite at the water's edge sits in the same wind as a kite 20 m up, except that here there are walls, cars and bystanders. Launch and landing are choreographed procedures, run on standard hand signals.

Assisted launch

1. Set up and check. The rider lays the lines out upwind of the kite, connects, hooks in and does a final line check.
2. The helper presents the kite. They hold it in a C shape, leading edge facing upwind, one wingtip on the ground, centre strut roughly parallel to the ground.
3. Walk to the edge of the window. The rider puts the kite at roughly 9 or 3 o'clock and takes tension. If the kite pulls hard or flaps violently, the position is wrong; it should sit calmly with the canopy lightly loaded.
4. Signal and release. The rider gives a clear thumbs-up, the helper releases the kite rather than throwing it, and the rider steers it slowly up the edge of the window toward 12.

Assisted landing

1. Signal the landing. The rider brings the kite low to the edge of the window and pats a flat hand repeatedly on top of the head. They repeat the signal back.
2. The helper catches the kite. They walk downwind of it, catch it by the centre of the leading edge and turn it leading-edge-down on the ground.
3. Secure it immediately. The rider unhooks at once, or the helper weights the kite with sand or a board.

Two more signals are worth memorising. A thumbs-down or a flat outstretched palm means stop, abort. Both arms waved slowly overhead means distress, come and help. Signals exist because at 24 m of line in 20 knots of wind nobody can hear anything.

Self-launch and self-land Intermediate

Solo techniques do exist. The safest self-launch uses a fixed anchor point, a post or a buried strap, which lets you tension and check the lines before you hook in. To self-land, fire the quick release, let the kite flag out, and walk hand-over-hand up the safety line to the kite. Neither is a beginner skill, and no school teaches them as one.