I've never used a bar ! How do you use them to turn

Oh the humanity. I had a nice post typed up and I wasn't logged in so the post went into the bit bucked

Long story short If you are on a bar and using a harness then you want to make sure that your body is holding the weight of the kite, not your arms. There's no arm wreslting in kite flying, unless you're flying with handles and no harness! You generally do not need much steering force to turn the kite, this does varry per kite but is a good general rule. So if you find yourself wrestling with the kite, stop, put the kites power back on the harness (center lines) and think of your arms as delicate sterring instruments.

I tried to look for a good picture on hand placements, below is the best I could find. "Proper" form is to keep your hands need the center of the bar. Typically when someone would just pickup a bar, the would grab the far ends, but this will lead you to jerky stearing and twisting motions when you try to turn the kite. Keeping your hands in the center will allow you to control the kite much more smoothly and it will keep your body more square to the kite and the direction of its pull. Always good to drill in good technique. If you move on to more advanced styles like jumping and spins then you'll be well perpared to be able to control the kite with one hand and keep good control of the kite while upside down and backwards!

Once your hands are on the bar, as Bob said, just think of it like turning a bike!

http://www.tinyurl.com/koc7em

Quote:

Originally posted by gurnard I have never used a bar. So how do you break? Are the breaks on naturally and when you pull the bar towards you they are off? Or is it something else? :dunno: cheers

Exactly

Speaking of bars i need some advice, ive been flying with an ozone bar on a fixed bridle 4 line 6 foil and its been working great, one thing that bothers me though is how slowly it turns the kite at the edge of the window, is the any way i can get the bar to be more responsive?? i need it to turn the kite quicker. i havent flown with it in anything above 10mph yet, could the low win speeds be making it slow? help would be much appreciated

Quote:

Originally posted by Jack1988 Exactly Speaking of bars i need some advice, ive been flying with an ozone bar on a fixed bridle 4 line 6 foil and its been working great, one thing that bothers me though is how slowly it turns the kite at the edge of the window, is the any way i can get the bar to be more responsive?? i need it to turn the kite quicker. i havent flown with it in anything above 10mph yet, could the low win speeds be making it slow? help would be much appreciated

That is what you give up with a standard control bar and a fixed bridle kite in low winds compared to handles - turning speed and light wind finesse.

The Ozone Turbo bar (pricey) will greatly amplify brake inputs and give you back some of that finesse. You need a harness for that though.

If you are flying a bar because you like a free hand for a moment, get a harness, fly the kite on handles for the finesse you get and put a strop between them for hooking in to the harness. Best of both worlds.