Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1993 08:19:38 -1000 From: andrew@tug.com (Andrew Beattie) Message-Id: Organization: /usr/lib/news/organisation Subject: Untangling R.J.Green-SE1@cs.bham.ac.uk (Robin J Green) writes: > the ... Hey, I know what I mean. And cross > bridling makes for WONDERFUL unknotting puzzles, especially in high > winds, which is when you really need to unknot anything. I've been meaning to do a post on untangling cross-bridles.... The most difficult thing about untangling a cross bridle is that it *looks* frightening. First, keep calm. Resolve not to loose your temper. Untangling is one of the Zen things about kite flying. With practice, is is easy, relaxing and satisfying. Having removed the kite from the pounding surf or evil hawthorn tree, :-) take it to a suitable place to untangle. The place should be devoid of twigs and thorns that may want to ensnare the lines. Another thing to avoid is a concrete or tarmac surface, because they are littered with small but unyielding protrusions that snag the lines. Remove the flying lines, but hold onto the bridle points, as dropping them throught the bridle will make things worse. Lay out the canopy in an orderly, untwisted fashion, with the leading edge downwards and the bridle upwind. Pull the bridle so that it is no longer slack. We are now ready to start properly. Check the bridle for any pieces of twig or leaf. These cause trouble out off all proportion to their size - removing them can lessen the problem significantly. Next, check to see if the bridle is twisted. If it *looks* twisted then it *is* twisted. Use your judgement - twist the bridle points either together or separately until it looks less twisted. Then look at the tangle. Look at the place where the lines from one particular bridle point go into the mess. See where they all go under (or over) that bunch of lines (or single line) there? Pull the bunch out and feed the bridle through, so that it isn't caught by that particular bunch of lines. The main part of untangling simply consists of repeating this procedure - pull it taught again, look for the particular thing that it in the way and feed the bridle round it. Keep your eye open of where the tangle is twisted - if it looks twisted, untwist it and it'll look a lot clearer. If the ball gets tight, put your fingers in and ease it apart - the more loose it is, the easier it is to work with. Don't loose heart - have faith in yourself and keep going and you will see the knot get smaller and smaller. Towards the end, you will find tangles which are merely where a single bridle line has formed a loop that weaves through the other lines or where a set of parallel lines have twisted together. These are easily removed by applying light tension and running your fingers down the lines to pull them out. Suddenly you will notice that it is all coming together and the knot has shaken out. Do not stop yet - keep going, until the lines are all neatly interwoven and untwisted. The final part is to look at both of the bridle points individually. You will note that they are platted :-( For this portion, look for the part of the plat furthest from the bridle-point, and pass the pridle point back through that loop. Repeat repeatedly, working back towards the bridle point. Look out for the position where the plat is partly divided in half, one half twisting clock-wise and the other anticlockwise, where you can take the bridle point and pass it through between the division, untwisting both halfs together. Keep going until the bridle is perfect. Prevention: ~~~~~~~~~~~ Don't let the bridle-points pass through the bridle! [When I stuff the kite into a stuff bag, I leave then ends *outside* the bag] Use smooth knots in the bridle during construction. This can be done be sleeving the line inside it's self to create the loop. Peels are made with a simple knot that I havn't learnt to tie. [Anne: if you recognise the knot that is used to join the 4 lines (two loops) coming from the ribs of a peel to the main part of the cross bridle, could you kindly post a description?] Learn how to braid the bridle: Take hold of both bridle points in one hand and run the bridle through your other hand to gather it into a bundle, stretching the bundle into a sort of rope, as long as is reasonable. Without letting go of the bridle points, tie an over-hand knot in the rope. Because you don't let go, the end doesn't go through the knot as usual, but must lie back through the knot, creating a loop (loop 1). If you pull the knot tight correctly, it should hold the loop fast. (this is a sort of magic knot, because if you pull the ends of the rope sharply, the loop will be pulled back through the knot and the knot will dissapear). Hold the bridle points up high with hand A, to keep a small amount of tension on the line. Put hand B through the loop(1), grab the upper portion of the rope and pull it through the loop(1) to create a new loop (2). Put your hand (B) through this loop (2) and grab another portion of rope, to create another loop(3). Countinue until you are near the end of the rope. The best way to finish is difficult to describe but involves creating another "magic" knot out of the last knot. If you get it right, you can undo it all by grabbing the bridle point and pulling. Once, I gave up and untied the bridle loops. This didn't help much, because no lines end at the bridle - they only loop round it. It took me about an hour to untangle the ensuing mess :-( Andrew -- Work: gaffer@rec.com Phone: +44 793 614 110 Fax: +44 793 614 297 Play: andrew@tug.com Phone: +44 256 464 912 Interested in kite traction? mail kites@tug.com = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =