Power Kite Forum - UP WIND!!!!!!

O.K. here's how it works. First, many first time riders make the mistake of thinking the kite should pull you downwind! Straight downwind is in fact, the most difficult way to go (and still keep your kite in the air) unless you have an excessive amount of drag. Plus, your speed is limited to just slightly below windspeed. Lets start from scratch. Hop off your board. Now launch your kite. If you move the kite to the far edge of your wind window on either side about 80 degrees either way off of straight down wind, you will notice that the kite pulls in that direction (although not as hard). Now bring the kite back up to 12 o'clock (straight above you). Now with your back to the wind, and your board facing perpendicular to the wind, mount your board. Now move your kite gently to one side until you start moving in that direction. Be sure to maintain a direction that is roughly 90 degrees off of downwind. Resist the urge to be pulled downwind, this will only lower your speed. As you get going you will notice the power steadily increasing!! - lean back to compensate. This direction relative to the wind is your most optimum. Your overall speed can far exceed the actually windspeed. Boarders and buggiers can commonly get 4 to 5 times the actual windspeed in this position!! Your speed is controlled by how far off of 12 o'clock you position the kite.

Now for upwind: Boarders and buggiers can easily go upwind for the same reason that high performance sailboats can, "off axis power" Remember how you got the kite to pull you up to 80 degrees off of axis. You essentially redirected the wind's power 80 degrees!! But that is still not upwind?!? is it? We still need redirect that energy a few more degrees if we want to achieve true upwind pull.

Now if you did the exercise above and managed to maintain a direction perpendicular to wind, you will have realized that your board does not have to travel in the same direction as the kite wants to pull. As long as the kite is slightly off of 12 o'oclock relative to your body, you can move. By using the board's ability to hold a line, you can further redirect the winds energy 60, 70, or even 80 degrees more!! 80 plus 80 = 160 degrees!! Thats only 20 degrees off of straight upwind!! More commonly, you should be able to hold 30 to 50 degrees past perpendicular easily, provided you have the right sized kite (too small, and you won't generate enough power at the edge of the window - Too large, will prevent you from holding a line by dragging you downwind) This is why most boarders and buggiers carry with them, several kites.

Now thats the science of it, here's how to put it into practice. Get back on your board, and work on maintaining a line perpendicular to the wind. Once you've got that, continue leaning back until you begin moving slightly upwind. Continue to push your line further and further upwind until you begin to lose substantial speed, then ease your line until you regain it. Remember that speed = power, so you may want to experiment with fluctuating your line to maintain both speed and a decent angle upwind.

To cover lots of ground, simply tack back and forth in this manner.

Hope that helps!