Yesterday I used the 15m speed 3 for the first time on the water. I jumped higher than I had ever jumped and higher than everyone else that was kiting here according to the cameraman. My landings werent very good but the speed just floated back into the window and forgave me for not redirecting soon enough. On the last occasion I fell right before jumping so I did a pendulum under the kite and the kite drifted and the left wing tip came over and onto the bridle. I tried to fix it by dumping the kite in the water and relaunching but when it came nose down on the water the tangle came out but then it bowtied and it was over. Maybe I should have backed it down onto the water to undo the tangle? What is the proper technique to fix a wingtip over the bridle scenario?

Here is a video of the fall and tangle:

http://youtu.be/q0uezSQq1go

And another one of a nice jump:

http://youtu.be/s7VuijDHplA

You can recover bow ties... with a bit of luck and enough wind and space. And patience.

Redirection is key - you gotta time it right for a start, assuming you've got the load n' pop down. It's usually closer to the water than you think. Do it too soon and the kite pulls laterally too much, you get yanked at it then the lines go slack and... trouble.

Slack lines and foils are bad mmm-kay. When desperate, pull something - anything! - to get tension in a line and get control back. You had a window of a couple of seconds there to prevent the tangle...

And don't sheet out on the way down! The Triple Depower does its thing and makes the kite go C-shaped which exacerbates the problem...

Tip tangles... If you can't get it sorted by yanking lines, landing it LE down is a good idea; IIRC you want the twisted tip more downwind than the good one, or be real careful to keep tension on the steering lines. Try releasing the safety as a last ditch method, or just fly it back to the beach, land and recover.

It looks like you also tried what I would do. Get the kite up and then shake it like a polaroid picture.

Maybe if you can't shake it out but can control it enough to drag back to land might be better than dropping it ? Too much thrashing and you can cut your kite with the bridle line.

slam it in to boost and keep it in! for tip kink--> get stable, reverse it down , maybe a shake or snatch, quick slack and load. or LE drop and try to sort with snatch then rev around. they will fly half whacked so if its really bad get back in... whatever it takes! reaching up on the back lines whatever.

the trick is INPUT. esp. after pop. give input immediately and hold. the second it goes slack it can fold.

BAR IN HARD + INPUT and HOLD. you want it ALL!

Thanks guys. Got another tip tangle yeterday with slack lines bar fully in wasn't enough that time, tried to back it down to fix it and it bowtied. Not used to jumping so high with a slow kite so sometimes my redirect is late, getting better though. Someone came over and untwisted it for me so it wasn't a session killer. I was out when people were on 9s and 10s and then still out when the zephyrs and infinities were out. I was going downwind and teabagging quite a bit towards the end but the zephyr and infinity guys were just standing/walking back to shore at that point. I made it all the way to the downwind pickup spot (salvo day use) so I did zero walking

Don't be afraid to each up and grab a rear leader line, over the bar...

Last two sessions, I had a tip tangle each time... Sunday, managed to double the twist trying to fix it so "flew" it to the beach and fixed it on the ground.

Today, the right tip tangled and I couldn't untangle it on the water. Relaunched with the aim of sailing to shore, but thought I'd try down looping the kite and see if the speed or tip tuck would pull it out... instead, it almost got around the other direction before hitting the water and -- untangling!

Lo-o-o-ng body drag back to the board. :alien:

you'll figure out the right technique. I've flying these kites for years, never happens anymore..... The bigger sizes I don't really send back far, the lift comes from a little bit different technique.

Did you get it new or used? Could need some tuning also. Plenty of that info on foilzone.

Thanks. It was used. Im going to do a mixer test soon. The safety line looks kind of frayed at the junction with the centerline and also at the safety ring. I was thinking of moding it to FDS when replacing the lines, do you think its better than FLS? I have a bunch of qpowerline pro laying around so Im thinking of using that for the 4 lines and using one of the original steering lines as the FDS. The original lines look nice other than at those two points. But it is the most important line since any failure would cause a runaway kite.

Does the 15 have loops for FDS? The 12 does for sure...
According to Armin, the Speed3 isn't designed for FDS; FLS performs the best in their tests.

I used FLS and FDS on my Speed2 19 and so, IMO here are the pros and cons:
FDS
Obviously, FDS adds bridles and another line. Doesn't sound like much but it pops up at odd times as a niggling nuisance; like at set up (the FDS is longer than the flying lines), untangling lines when you've dunked the kite...
When you throw the safety, the recovery can be more troublesome as the tips like to tangle the bridle or the pulleys get wrapped up in... everything. That's the biggest thing against FDS, I think.
The other really big thing that bugs me about FDS is it still hovers, and it tends to spin... adding to the tangles.

FLS
The Speed3 FLS is a mini-5th - the Speed2 used a "true" FLS which is better IMO but is harder to implement and tougher on the front line.
The advantage with the mini-5th is that the safety line can be easily changed out.
Disadvantage is if the lines stretch - or shrink then the length of the FLS can be a problem... my S3 21 currently has what I consider to be a too short mini-5th and I'm very loath to just buy a new one - as it was a new one recently.
Kite still flaps around but is, IMO, a little more easily recovered than FDS on the Speeds.

In the end, it comes down to personal choice :D

The frayed lines - are the fraying at the aluminum block? That thing is horrid... I replaced mine with the barrel-style unit from the Infinity 2 bars...

The fraying is at two places:

1. the safety ring in the chicken loop (FLS line rubbing)

2. the centerline at the join with the FLS (not the FLS line)

#1 looks like I need to fix it sonner rather than later.
#2 seems ok for a while and might just look weird to me because of how FS/liros joined the lines, I'll post a picture of it soon.

I'm thinking of cuting and re-splicing the FLS line at the chicken loop. It is significantly longer than the front lines anyways.

Good, longer is better than shorter.

Got a pic? They get furry, for sure...

I put a little ball thing, from a sailing store, over the larS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s head above the ring, so there's no wear on that knot.

Generally lots of backline tension when ever a flysurfer messes up in the air. Having a bar setup with some back stall can help. I usually hold it deep down wind and wiggle the bar and the problems will come out. As you discovered having the kite nose down on the water will help get the tips untangled easiest. Bow ties are usually because you let the rear line tension off at the wrong time. Unbowtieing is not easy and usually relies on pulling a rear line till the kite straightens out or pulling it in till your hands can straighten it out.

IN the video you needed to hold the bar in and or you had too much depower. You could have easily fixed it by just using the rear line balls to back stall the kite deep in the window and hold it there, some times turning it upside down can help.

You need to be more aggressive when sending the kite and redirection if you want to jump with any height.

Worn FLS, in future route outside of the bar hole and it won't wear.

Here are some high res pictures of the lines:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/66664730@N07/sets/721576446386...

The lines at the aluminum block are perfect.

I just replaced the quick release with the infinity 2.0 QR and noticed the old one had a sharp ridge that shreds the FDS line right there. The infinity 2.0 has a nice smooth surface in the same place so maybe it's a non-issue now. It did cut one of the braids fully as shown in the pictures, the other seem to be just a bit fuzzy.

Looking at the centerline splice with the FDS through the macro pictures allows a better view and I think it looks good. With the naked eye it looks loose and fuzzy but zoomed in looks fine to me.

They look better than any of my lines

A ball on top of the steel ring will stop that wearing...

thanks Kami! I guess I am too picky about my gear... thats what happens when I get a long stretch of time where I can't kite. I'll put a ball above it to eliminate additional wear.