How to water re-launch a bow shape kiteboarding kite

There are many different shapes and models of kiteboarding kites.
Each one may have a particular trick to an easy re-launch.
With a little practice you can find out the "sweet spot" to get just about any kite out of the water.

Read your kite instruction manual and safety instructions, watch instructional videos and practice with a  trainer kite or with a real kite to work on your launching skills.

Kite Shapes:

Some are more "delta" shape and usually re-launch easier. These usually have pointed wing tips and a round shape if looking at them from the front.
Ocean Rodeo Prodigy, Slingshot Rally and Wainman Hawaii are some examples

Other bow kites are a little flat in the middle. (Hq Symphony and others)

Some are "C" shaped and have a bridle and also re-launch okay
The Slingshot RPM kite is one example,

"C" Kite (not a bow kite) is a little different but with practice can re-launch just as easy.
These are not recommended for beginners due to the narrow wind range and strong power and lack of de-power for safety.

 Each kite is a little different in how it re-launches.

"How you get your kite back out of the water will depend on what position it is in.
In some light wind conditions there may not be enough wind to get it back up.

Flip the kite: An inflatable kite is likely to crash in a leading edge down position.  

To get an inflatable to get into the vertical crescent moon position, the kiter first needs to get the kite on its back by swimming toward it.  

However, in strong wind, the pull of the kite is so strong that makes swimming toward the kite useless as the distance you swim toward the kite is easily absorbed by the pull of the kite.  In such case, it is necessary to pull on the middle leader line (which is connected to the front lines) of the kite while swimming toward it.  After you have pulled in around 2m of the middle leader line, suddenly release it and hold on to the control bar.  The kite will immediately get on to its back. 

  The other method is to pull the bar back over your head and suddenly push the bar rapidly in front of your body.

Fly one tip:  Select 1 tip of the kite as a top tip and try to fly it by pulling on the back line on the same tip.

Pull the bottom tip: Once the top tip has caught the wind, keep pulling the bottom tip (or the line which is attached to the tip of the kite nearest to the water) until the kite slides toward the edge of the wind window

Launch: Pull on the top line (the line attached to the tip of the kite farthest from the water) to launch the kite." credit: kitebaoardingschool

Here are a few tips:

Learn your safety systems read your owner manual and practice in your mind where the safety release is and make sure it works. Don't wait until your kite is hopelessly tangled to try to figure out where these are!

You want to "sheet out" on the control bar first as the kite will be hard to re-launch with you pulling in on the bar.

Try not to slack the lines before or when re-launching keep tension on them if possible.

You will want to get the kite to the edge of the wind window.
 You can do this by pulling the wingtip or steering line in the direction that you want the kite to go to, generally the side that is nearest to the edge of the window.

If the bar is flipped over 180 degrees you will be pulling the opposite wingtip, Notice the color code when you set the kite up on the beach.Use the color code (red is usually on the left) so that you are pulling the correct side or wing tip.

If your kite is straight downwind try pulling on the middle two lines and then releasing to get it out of the water a little.

Another advanced method on some kites is to pull the two outside lines together above the bar at the same time, enough to get the kite out of the water a little then grab the outside steering line.
This works on some kites but caution is advised.

For the "C" kite shapes the above methods work and it is easier to launch any kite if there is good wind for the kite size of course.
With a C kite you would usually want to swim so that the kite is at the edge of the window and then pull the wing tip of the direction that you want the kite to launch.
Pulling in on the two front lines and releasing may help get it up a little too.

Light wind launching
In super light winds ou will be flying a very large kite and there is not allot of wind. In these conditions it would be best to not crash your kite at all if possible. But of course this does happen so have a backup plan.

Where will I end up if I can't get my kite launched? Are there any hazards downwind currents or obstacles? Will I be close enough to swim in if the kite does not re-launch?
These are just a few of the questions that you should ask yourself in a light wind session.

Sometimes there may be enough wind to get out but not enough to get back n.
If the wind looks like it is dropping may want to wait or not go too far out or any further than you would want to swim in.