Power Kite Forum

Ozone Flow 4m locked in on Chicken Loop

dallas! - 24-6-2009 at 12:47 PM

Hi there I'm after some advice,

I've been static kiting for a year on a flexifoil 3.3m Sting and really enjoyed it, last year I had a landboard lesson and bought a flexifoil G2A Flexdeck....not sure it's a good begineer board but thats another story.

I also bought at the end of last year a flexifoil extreme bar to 'future proof' myself (it was cheap) and a seat type harness.

Recently I've been experimenting with the sting and bar and have been successfully flying with the lease attached to the harness.

Anyway, I recently bought the Ozone flow 4m and have put them all together now and figured out the chicken loop locked in thing?(is that the right terminology)

Problem is though, I went out last night for the first time with the Chicken loop locked in and didn't realise that it essentially complete hooks me to the bar and thus to the power lines. I'd assumed it worked along the principles of depower, where I push the bar away (or let go) to brake, and pull the bar for power. As a consequence I went very fast and not entirely controlled...which was a little frightening.

So.....I'll get to the question.....should I really be locked in to the chicken loop+bar or fly unhooked(is that the term), giving me more freedom to immeadiately eject and thus the kite brakes, leaving me safe to bail or stop on the landboard.

Or...would I actually prefer a de-power....or is it too soon to go that route and instead stay with the traction kite (ozone) option.

Advise is greatly appreciated.

Cheers
dallas

Flexifoil Sting 3.3m
Ozone Flow 4m

Flying on Hackney Marshes

USA_Eli_A - 24-6-2009 at 01:09 PM

no chicken loops on fixed bridled kites.

Its all good otherwise, you'll want to fly some depowers to dial in on the size, fixed kites are good, you really should have several of each and know when and when not to use them
you should take some lessons with your gear.

Jason-G - 24-6-2009 at 01:14 PM

Harness loop or chicken loop on a fixed bar is good. Just practice pulling the chicken loop quick release until it is second nature.

USA_Eli_A - 24-6-2009 at 01:31 PM

you mean the Mega Tron Harness Loop?

awindofchange - 24-6-2009 at 01:40 PM

Hopefully this will help clear things up a little for you.

The Flow is a fixed bridle foil kite and is not depowerable. You can fly it on handles or a control bar but if you fly it on a depowerable control bar you may run into some problems like what you experienced in your post.

To properly hook the bar up to the Flow, you will want to attach your lines opposite than with a depowerable kite - meaning that you will want to put the brake lines (lower lines / trailing edge lines) to the CENTER of the bar and put the main flying lines (leading edge lines / power lines/ top lines) to the OUTSIDE of the bar. When you slide the bar out, it will pull the brakes. Letting go of the bar will collapse the kite onto its back just like a kite killer works. You should also use a kite leash that connects to the brake lines in the event that you lose the bar and are not hooked in. You can safely fly this kite not hooked into the harness and the harness is not necessary to fly but makes it nice. You will probably need to do some leader line adjustments as well to properly tune the bar to the kite for proper flight and angle of attack.

Hooking up a fixed bridled kite like a depowerable kite will make it so that if you lose the bar you will be on full power - not safe at all.

You can fly the Flow on a bar and it will work fine but it will be different than a true depowerable kite.

Hope this helps.

Jason-G - 24-6-2009 at 02:21 PM

The flexifoil extreme bar is not a depower bar and should work fine - just learn to use the safety while hooked in.

flexifoilcontrolbarextreme.jpg - 27kB

dallas! - 24-6-2009 at 02:27 PM

Hi there,

Thanks for all your replies, please see my comments


USA_Eli_A

Yep...getting the idea of a quivver and having kites for different conditions....but not going to run before I can walk etc.....perhaps the next kite would be a small de-power.
Also...lessons.....might take a lesson using my set-up to make sure I have the correct technic and understanding.


Jason_G

Yep, I can see the idea of the quick release thing with the extreme bar....but for me, at the moment it's one action too many in an emergency, I'd rather ditch the bar completely to brake the kit and get out of trouble.


awindofchange

The Flow is a fixed bridle foil kite and is not depowerable. You can fly it on handles or a control bar but if you fly it on a depowerable control bar you may run into some problems like what you experienced in your post.

>>>Yep, been reading up and a de-powerable bar will do something different to my flexifoil extreme bar

To properly hook the bar up to the Flow, you will want to attach your lines opposite than with a depowerable kite - meaning that you will want to put the brake lines (lower lines / trailing edge lines) to the CENTER of the bar and put the main flying lines (leading edge lines / power lines/ top lines) to the OUTSIDE of the bar. When you slide the bar out, it will pull the brakes. Letting go of the bar will collapse the kite onto its back just like a kite killer works.

>>>Yep, this is exactly how I set it up...and works very well....unhooked...but with the leash attached to me on harness-side.

You should also use a kite leash that connects to the brake lines in the event that you lose the bar and are not hooked in. You can safely fly this kite not hooked into the harness and the harness is not necessary to fly but makes it nice.

>>>Yep, the extreme comes with a leash attached to the brakes and this is attached as mentioned to me on the harness side.

You will probably need to do some leader line adjustments as well to properly tune the bar to the kite for proper flight and angle of attack.

>>>Yep, been playing with the best brake line set up....but AoA....I didn't think I could influence that too much on a fixed bridle???

Hooking up a fixed bridled kite like a depowerable kite will make it so that if you lose the bar you will be on full power - not safe at all.

>>>As I've learned.....I think I can see why this might be advantageous once I've got used to riding with the flow and bar...and I assume this hooked-in set up is for a more hands-free/tricks/air-time set up...giving constant power etc...not for me yet for sure.....I'm just looking for cruising and getting the up-wind theory dialed.

You can fly the Flow on a bar and it will work fine but it will be different than a true depowerable kite.

>>>Yep....understood a little better now.....to be honest this has all made sense and is pretty much as I suspected...so re-assuring that I do know what I'm talking about and getting into correctly.

Thanks loads everyone.

dallas!

Aaron p - 26-6-2009 at 02:18 AM

Just a small hi-jack ( sorry! )! What do you think of the flow? Is it very lifty/difficult to control? Love how it looks and think a 3-4m would make a good first "proper" power kite for myself! Aaron

awindofchange - 26-6-2009 at 12:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by dallas!


You will probably need to do some leader line adjustments as well to properly tune the bar to the kite for proper flight and angle of attack.

>>>Yep, been playing with the best brake line set up....but AoA....I didn't think I could influence that too much on a fixed bridle???

dallas!


You can change the angle of attack by how loose / tight your brake lines are compared to the flying lines. This is the overall angle of attack of the sail. Unlike a depower where you can change angle of attack and change the physical curvature of the sail during flight.

dallas! - 28-6-2009 at 04:18 PM

Aaron P

Its really easy to control and has easily has enough pull, however I have the 4 mtr and in light winds it's not too easy to get much up-wind action...unless I'm doing it wrong.

I might suggest the 5m if your medium weight and intermediate experience.

Windofchange

Yep, have considered that and need to fine tune it a bit when I'm next out.


Cheers
Rich