Someone on here used the old term 100% depower again.

I have thought that 100% depower is impossible while still being attached to the kite all along.

What is this 100% depower thingy !!!!!

This same person suggests that new Bow / Hybrids have this 100% depower. Even more 100% that the twin skins ?
I need to get some time in on inflatos?

Maybe I don't understand Depower after all ?Is depower what is available via trim / bar settings or is it the power left once you have gone to safety ?
Can someone please describe how depower is accomplished / quantified ? :ticking:

the only time my foil or LEI are 100% depower is when they are in the bag.

Most of my gear are top of the line 2009 Flysurfer or Cabrinha recent models

Sorry if this doesn't further the discussion, but I saw this video a year or so back and its right on topic. I found it quite funny!
100% Depower Myth
There is some strong language...

100% DEPOWER:

Quote:

Originally posted by WadoGal Sorry if this doesn't further the discussion, but I saw this video a year or so back and its right on topic. I found it quite funny! 100% Depower Myth There is some strong language...

omg dude that was great!

My dear, it will never be as bad as the 06 waroo.

hahahaha

that was pretty funny.

Sorry for the hijack but man that video is just awsome! it's the funniest thing I have seen in ?????????
Thank you, I'm still laughing

I'll take a different approach to this... Absolute 100% depower is a myth on production kites of today when you expect to be able to instantly repower the kite into a useable power. So pull the safty and you won't be flying it... saftey's are even 100% depower; you've got a surface with fluid forces, might be small but there's power. But I would state that even "near" 100% depower is more than sufficient. I won't define near, I'll leave that to the imagination of the reader! "Near" 100% is not a myth, however the closer you get to the mythical 100% depower the less usable and re-usable after depower the kite becomes. As the kite depowers it will lose all effective stearing and drop somewhere into the window, you won't be able to just repower the kite with practical results. Likewise on today's kites if you can depower them to "near" 100% you probably won't be able to reach the bar, or well I couldn't

I'm not sure why people are hung up on 100% depower... near 100% in my oppinion is sufficiently safe and moreover as you get into more advanced flying, like jumps, you want predictible control and wouldn't want to easily able to remove that much power so quickly from your kite, outside of a safty.

Practiucally speaking, I find that 75% depower is really the max I want. If it's not, I'm probably flying the wrong kite. I could imagine a high-gust safty mechanism that would depower the kite to "nearer" 100%, but it would seem frought with usability issues. Maybe an option as a backup safly for a free-ride beginner, or then again maybe just don't fly your kite in those conditions , but likely a complete hinderance and danger to the advanced flyer. I love dangerous safty systems!

Rather than focusing on 100% depwoer, I'd say focus on the ammonut of depower you really need to power the kite below useable power for your body and wind conditions.

We the term 100% depower is used, or absolute depower, complete depower obviously you wont have 0 pull on the kite. There is still a kite out there making drag. Many kite producers us these terms, Slingshot, Cabrinha, Eclispe ect.
When the first Cabs came out and tried one out at a demo. The rep had me ripe the kite through the power zone and let go of the bar. I dive across and just about get yanked off me feet when i let go. I thought it was amazing. im still standing there as the kite hapilly walks itself over to the edge of the window. Thats 100% depower, thats total depower.
I asked a few qusetions about Arcs, how they fly up to zenith. A video was posted of a landboarder wiping out doing a back roll. The trick was missed, he hit the ground, and then was dragged for what looked like 30-40 feet while the kite moved to zenith. Now i do that with one of my kites that have 100% depower and that dosent happen. when i let go of the bar everything stops, no getting dragged. All of the realitive power is gone. I gather myself grab the bar again and away i go.

Thats what their talking about

snobdr I know basically nothing of the kites you mentioned. What happens to the kite when you crash? does it come down also or does it go to the zenith?

comes down

I have heard how much more de-power the inflatables have over the foils. I look forward to trying one some day.

I think I get it now.
I DO need to get a feel for this.
Odds are I can only demo O.R. ,Naish, or North.
What should I try?

Try them all if you can. I have a few 07 norths, but they do not completely dopower like the others. The new 09 kites i think do.

I've tried the 09 OR rises. they have lots of depower but I wasn't a huge fan of them. especially the larger sizes.

I did really like the 8m rise though. I may still get one of those at some point so I can get out in the gusty winter storms around here.

one thing you'll notice is how the power feels much more mechanical and a jerky which some people refer to as no/off power. its pretty much a must have to ride in conditions like say 20-35mph winds so you can shut the kite off in those 35mph gusts but it just wasn't very fun. I had to control my riding by sheeting the bar instead of edging and it just felt really jerky overall.

sending the kite is more of a harsh rip or yank you of the water feeling as well. I did this in cold weather when my muscles were tight and it actually tore my abs up pretty good. couldn't jump again for about a month.

some people like the rip you off the water feeling but I've really grown accustomed to the softer floatier feeling flysurfers deliver. its just more comfortable in my opinion

it definitely is hard to beat the stability/depower/relaunch combo of an SLE for nuking gusty shifting winds though. Those are my least favorite conditions to ride in and luckily for me those are some of the rarest conditions around here. but still I prefer an SLE over a flysurfer or peterlynn for those crap conditions because its easier to get a hand with a launch/land relaunch is foolproof depower range is huge and if the wind suddenly shifts or lulls the kite probably wont fall out of the sky and if it does it can be depowered without accelerating to warp speed.

my rule of thumb is flysurfer up to peak gusts of 30mph as long as the gusts are less than 10mph above the average wind speed. If the gusts start going over 30mph switch to an SLE or stay home because its probably pretty nasty or unpredictable outside :tumble:

I think the on/off feel that you talk about is because of the extra amount of depower you have. I know when the first bows came out this was a complaint. Once you fly them for a while you get used to the throw of the bar and you get used to using smaller bar movements.

Hey Sailors,

It's the Science of Marketing vs the Science of Aerodynamics.

They say "100% de-power" because the consumer wants to hear it.
It has nothing to do with the truth.
The marketplace doesn't want to hear the truth.

The marketplace simply wants bigger numbers.

The simple truth is that no gimmick or tool or piece of gear brings you back.
It is skills and knowledge.

"... brings you back."
Think for a second what that implies...
We play at a sport where much time can be spent alone in remote places.
"Getting back" is more than just the ability to go upwind and return to your starting point, it is also the ability to read and recognize the wind and weather.

I don't care if you buy Eric Clapton's guitar.
You still need to learn how to play it.
Even then... Completely different music will come out of you.

One thing I love about kiting is that we don't control our power source.
We first learn humility before the wind.
Then we learn to play with it.

Old saying:
Level 1 flyer says: - "What the heck is this kite going to do next?"
Level 2 flyer says: - "I've been flying kites for two weeks now. I've mastered it."
Level 3 flyer - Kite and flyer become one with the wind.

In conclusion, the marketing of de-power relies on both myth and legend.
The myth about the "gimmick that makes it easy" and the legendary belief that finding your wallet is somehow a substitute for intelligence.

I make most of this up.


Safen Up! Buggy On!

"Often wrong... Never in doubt"

the coreylama

What?

Naturally there are 100% de-powerable power kites, you guys on the water just won't be using them or seeing them as much, because your kites are heavy, so need more lift to fly, and these kites do not float. The easiest example is a Rev(oh sorry, one of the water kite manufacturers ripped that name off too)Revolution Sport kite, which for the uninitiated is a framed kite that is flown with handles and four lines. If the de power is not 100% it is near 98% because it won't steer but it will stay in the sky, and you can hold it with two fingers no problem.

There are a bunch of hybrids (these came about in the 90's and are not what are known now as hybrids but are land traction kites) that are really fast and pull like stink that are also near 100%, and yes they take skill to fly, but wow, do they cover the wind range.

Personally i fly old school twin skins, but i'm over 50, and started kite traction in the 80's so i've sort of seen a few kites. If you ever want to see pretty much every kind of traction kite made, drop by nabx next year, we welcome all kite flyers, water, land, snow, boats, blades, boards, and we have a blast.

Oh, and i've seen that Vid a half dozen times but that was one of the funniest versions, well done!

Here's a couple links. http://www.revkites.com/main/ nabx.net