Deadmans Turn

Tips from the people who know what they are doing

– You start off with a relative big kite and not to much wind because the more wind there is the more it can blow away the kite when you are turning.
– You have to have a flat and hard beach because you need a lot of speed and you don’t have a lot off wind.
– Speed must be approximately 30 mph.
– The best course is going a nice downwind course because you need the speed.
– When there is no one around you and you see a nice patch off hard beach you turn your kite up high to make room for the loop and then you make a very aggressive front loop.
– When the kite is in this loop and facing the other way comes the tricky part. You have to take control of your kite and get it out of the loop and make sure it’s goes in the opposite direction. You steer you buggy downwind.
– Put a little bit of brake on the lines
– Turn the kite al little bit upward to make room if the pressure in the kite falls away.
– Now its all about the steering of your buggy. With your steering you control the amount of pressure in your kite and this is tricky.
– when the kite is almost 360 degrees it comes back in to the wind an takes a lot off pressure, so make sure your steering is a lot more in the end of you turn because when you are to late with your steering you go out of your buggy.

When you make good deadman turns you can try it with smaller kites and more wind.

Good luck kevin van gorp

Travelling on a reach (Cross wind) get the kite up to top speed (So you can not acceleration any more) with the kite at about 2o’clock. When you are at speed, down turn the kite and keep it travelling in the opposite direction you are travelling. After the kite has made its turn, start yours. (Remember you will not be able to just buggy in a big circle). As you are making your turn make sure you keep tension on the lines, if you feel yourself slowing down from the pull of the kite, you need to turn more. If the lines are losing tension stop turning until tension is restored. Keep doing this until the full 360 has been completed, and good luck!

BTW I did this on a Depower, so should be easier with a race kite, as they are faster through the window. Paul Westlake

Well, really the whole manoeuvre is as previously said, about keeping apparent wind acting on the kite throughout the manoeuvre by keeping tension on the lines and pointing the buggy to the correct angle away from the kite at all times without losing any speed.

Initially the turns instigated while going at a good speed directly across wind or ever so slight broad of a cross wind reach at full speed, the kite should be flying forwards as normal and when ready simply downturn the kite so that its flying underneath itself and back in the opposite direction from the one you’re moving, almost instantly after this moment you need to turn the buggy downwind quickly and smoothly (without powersliding). As the kite starts to come round directly upwind of you you need to be starting to tighten your turn quite significantly until just as the kite gets to the far edge of the wind window you’re turning almost on the spot to point the way you were originally going.

Timing and how far downwind you’re heading at any particular moment is vital. Initially you may find you’re starting to lose tension on the lines while you’re still heading very downwind, and it luffs out, if this is happening its probably because you’re trying to keep tension on the lines too much (by heading rapidly downwind more than necessary), instead of concentrating on completing the turn and using your speed to get yourself around the kite and back upwind of it. The Flying Scotsman

A point to add:-

When you have almost completed the 360 in your buggy, the kite will have also completed it’s rotation moving into the wind again(full power..)
If at this point you haven’t completed your turn there is a good chance of blowing your power lines. (As a couple of us experienced yesterday :-()
You will find as said earlier the latter part of your buggy turn is done quickly to avoid this.
Hope this helps may avoid you buying some new lines.

Ps It is a quite a simple manoeuvre 😉 Tommy

The following video ends with a couple of 1st person perspective Deadmans turns. The first is a standard Deadmans where the buggy turns 540 degrees, the 2nd is a Lazyboy Deadmans where you lay back as the kite goes behind you and the buggy does 180 Degrees.

My biggest tip is to not try this when your over powered, it’s the momentum of the buggy that allow you to pull the kite round when it in the negative window and the more power you have the quicker you will be slowed down as you tow it round the negative.  Adrian Levelle