Caring for your kite is important if you want it to last and have a good resale value when you are ready to upgrade or just buy something different. Ironically, it is the three things your kite comes into contact with that destroy your kite fastest. The sun and it's UV rays deteriorate the resins in the cloth quickly which will allow the kite to stretch and become slower than it was when new. The wind is also a big contributor to trailing edge degradation as the flapping of the trailing edge in the wind when the kite is left on the beach does enormous damage to the strength of the cloth and can be seen in the form of greyish/white wrinkles running parallel to the trailing edge mostly between the 2nd and 3rd struts along the TE.

The other thing that damages kites is sand which is unfortunate because our beaches are covered in the stuff. Sand caught behind the leading edge against the canopy and also along the top of struts against the canopy, wears the material almost imperceptively. Is sand paper destructive to a kite? What is sand paper made of .....Sand! Try and keep sand out of your kite and do not brush sand off the canopy. Either hose it off, blow it off or shake it off.

Salt water will not harm your kite so if it is wet with salt water try and dry it, if you can't, pack it away and dry it when you can, it will be fine. Fresh water however is different as mould can grow in fresh water. If your kite is damp from rain or you have washed it in fresh water, make sure you completely dry the kite before packing it away. Mould is almost impossible to completely remove and makes your kite look terrible, not to mention the smell......