Launching kites from a pontoon

[Eric Bro]

In an attempt to access the less trafficked and closer-in kiting opportunities of our local lakes:

I have a 22' pontoon boat I've been rigging for kite launching;

There's a 4' open sun deck on the front of the pontoon. I installed a short clip-on line in the middle of the deck for the chicken loop. You clip it on the loop, attach your leash to another short line, drift launch off the front and fly the kite overhead, transfer the chicken loop and leash to your harness, put on your board, and slide off the front into the water. For pick up a partner can toss in a 50' line with a float and clip on the end so that you can kite just downwind of the pontoon, land the kite, transfer the chicken loop and/or flag line from your harness to the clip, and swim back to the pontoon, then pull the kite in from the boat. If you have difficulty staying upwind your pontoon partner can follow you.

The nicer alternative is to discover some sand bars to launch and land on in shallow water.

My "plan" is to frequent some east side lakes (Big Marine, Lake St Croix, etc)

Does anyone have any suggestions/experience launching off pontoons or other boats?

Eric

[Tighe]

Sounds like a decent plan though you may find that it works much better in light winds.

Most of my Kitesurfing 202 classes involve numerous launches off of the back of our jetski. Here are some things I have learned.

If you're launching the kite off the front of the boat, you'll want to slowly motor backwards into the wind as you take your lines off the bar. This way the lines will get pulled out by the water and minimize tangling.

When you put your lines on the kite on shore, be sure not to wind them back on and place the bar near the LE from the underside of the kite. When you flip the kite and lift the bar up and out you've essentially rolled the bar through the lines. Hard to explain. Best to roll up lines till you have a "v" coming off the wingtips, then slide the bar and lines around one side under the LE. (you could also swing the bar and lines under the base of the "v" before putting it near the LE)

The pick up is the toughest part. In any decent wind, water craft float faster downwind than a kiter or even a flagged kite. We always attempt to save the rigging so we can just head upwind and start over so I grab the kite as the student wraps the lines but it presents challenges. Not sure how your float idea is going to work. If you don't mind a short trip to shore between sessions to fix your lines, it'll be easier, cause then you can flag your kite.

There are options for keeping your rigging correct but it will depend on your gear, how windy it is and the boat. Darlene taught me the trick of flying the kite overhead as you head back upwind ( I guess they do that a lot at Real). I've used it a few times and it definitely safes time. You only want to do it off the rear of any boat/ski just in case you get yanked off.

Minimize cracks and seams on your boat anywhere the lines can go. Even if you just put duct tape over them. One line caught between a trim and the boat for example could slice your line or put your kite out of control.

The other person on the boat will need to know a considerable amount about the process. Keep a well stocked cooler of their favorite beverage.

You'll learn a lot as you start doing these. I've only eaten two sets of lines in the Jetski, in the learning process. While your method will have some challenges most are not safety challenges rather just headaches. And overall it is much safer than launching near tree lined shores.

Once you have a system dialed, post a report. I'll throw it in the Knowledge section. Good luck.

[WildBill]

Eric, I think you have done this solo for awhile. How do you keep the kite on the pontoon when going out to your spot? How do you safely get back into to the pontoon when you're by yourself without the lines getting all caught up?

I thought about doing this but haven't attempted it yet.

[scottman]

Check out real kiteboarding, they have some pretty good procedures for launching off boats being they do it in the BVI a lot when out there on a moorings, I have a video from them that even shows you how to do it if you would like to borrow it that would be cool.

[Eric Bro]

Tighe: Thanks for the great suggestions!!

I have found it necessary to have an experienced driver back up the pontoon gently into the wind while the kite is in the water to keep lines, board, kites and humans in front of the boat. Otherwise the many sharp edges of the boat will take their toll. The huge wind profile of a pontoon makes anchoring a hit and miss endeavor, and an uncontrolled boat will quickly pass over everything downwind of it.

I finally have a technique for rigging onshore and drift launching off the front that is pretty reliable, and it works well to keep the kite attached to the boat until its overhead and behaving itself!

I haven't used the pick-up line yet; its still in the development stage! I think it might work well to have two clips on the line, one on the end and the second about 10' back from the end. You first clip your flagging line on the one 10' back, then attach the chicken loop to the one on the end. That should make the kite behave and keep line tangling to a minimum. Swim back to the boat and pull it all in. I don't see anyway around having to rerig onshore, short of handing the bar directly to someone on the boat (try that!!).

Bill:

I really can't see going this alone, a partner to control the boat is necessary. Someone stays on the boat unless you find a nice big sand bar to safely secure the boat and you can play around in shallow water, and someone is a good enough kiter to get back to the boat!

As for the kite, after rigging and folding it carefully onshore, and keeping the bar to kite orientation consistent, I lay the kite inside the pontoon boat and lay an extra mushroom anchor on it to keep it secure while motoring out. Then, when ready to inflate, back the boat gently into the wind, lay the kite leading edge upwind on the front platform of the boat, and pump away. Then place the kite leading edge down in the water, attach chicken loop and flagging line independently to the boat, and unwrap the lines as you let the kite drift away leading edge forward and slightly sideways to the wind. This is where the meticulous line wrapping around the bar pays off.

Eric

[mdh01]

Eric,
I've done this a lot with my pontoon boat. I have a similar setup as you ...inflate the struts (if it isn't a one pump) and store kite on boat. Park the boat back end into the wind with an anchor or use two drift socks or sea anchors to slow the drift of the boat. Most often, I do this alone, so I anchor on a sand bar or shallow area (if possible) with two anchors to hold the boat straight down wind.

Once anchored, pump up the kite and set it to drift. To make it easier to feed out the lines, I use a Turbo Launcher http://www.kitelauncher.com/, I've seen others use a bucket to hold the lines too. I'm able to make it back to the boat when finished, where I hook the flag line of the kite onto a line attached to the front of the boat and depower the kite.

The pontoon I use is our family boat, if it wasn't, I would remove all the rails to make a large, flat barge for my "kite boat". It does get a little tricky inflating the kite on a "stock" boat and not have it snag anything!

Mark

[Eric Bro]

Thanks, Mark!

Looks like it should work. Do you have any favorite lakes with shallow areas?

I'm considering pulling off all forward rails on the pontoon but I'm not sure if the DNR would approve of that. It would be nice to have a larger platform for the pump up stage, though it seems to be tolerable as it is.

Eric

[Mike G.]

I've been doing this for the past two weekends on Cedar (Star Prairie, WI) which has a nice large sand bar, but only accessible by boat. I used my bass boat since it has a nice flat platform and not a lot to get hooked on.. just covered the outboard with a canvas cover and covered the well to keep the grease from soiling the kite.
The turbolauncher sounds like it would help address the line issue I encountered.. Mark, did you attach the lines on land then? I attached in the shallow water which was a PITA. I set a small bouy line length upwind of the boat with a short length of rope and attached the chicken loop to this, then connected one line at a time to the kite which was in the water leading edge down tethered to a short line off the rear side of the boat and down low to keep it from launching. Time consuming, and had to quadruple check to make sure lines were connected properly and not crossed. I have my doubts whether this approach would be workable in higher winds.

[mdh01]

I setup my lines on land first. The Turbo launcher has a line holder, so you can wind the lines up, and still have them separated at the connections correctly. I have my lines connected to the kite on land and put the kite and bar on the boat, then inflate it when ready to go.

If you don't want the lines attached to the kite, the turbo launcher or line manager http://www.kitelobster.com/ makes it really easy to keep the lines straight.

Mark