something is not clicking in my head..ok so when the AOA is low the kite is faster....That I understand...but does that mean that the kite just zips around in its own little window really fast..or does that mean that the wing will pull you along really fast..I just don't get it....plus with the angle high the kite has more lift right? well does that mean that on the edge of the window you will get more lateral pull for a faster reach and upwind travel...as if the lift that normally makes you go up in the air makes you go sideways because the kite is on its side...if so then does a lifty kite generate more upwind pull when tilted sideways....like a sail on a boat?

I hate to ask what may sound like an obvious question but I am a bit thick headed sometimes...
DQ

Oh boy, there's a can of worms.

As someone in the aviation business for a bunch of years and as a former glider/ sailplane pilot (and bit of sailing done too), I always would have thoght of lift and pull as the same thing. When I heard them used in the kiting community as different things, I was confused too.

Someone with more experience with the nuances of kite design can tell more, but I can start

Yes, lift and pull come from the same aerodynamic forces, but with kites they are used in different applications and circumstances. Yes, take a lifty kite like a Bblade and put it on its side and it will indeed pull like a tractor. Those who go for air, like kitboarders and land board riders appreciate that.

In a buggy however you don't necessarily want a lot of lift overhead (unless you are a buggy jumper like Zloty). Kites like the Bullet, Rage and Reactor are designed to create thier lift when flying fast through the window. That's when they are on their side, so the lift is in effect, "pull".

When you start to move in a bug or on a 'board, the apparent wind moves from your side to your face, so "downwind" is now more behind you. Since the Window is always downwind, you now have to fly farther to the edge of the window in order to keep the kite from going behind you. When you are maxed out with the kite to your side and slightly in front of you, it is at the very edge of the window, in a form of stasis.

More AoA creates lift for sure, but also a lot of drag. A bedsheet on a bridle will create lift with enough AoA but also a lot of drag. It is not efficient in light air nor in trying to go upwind, as it won't get far towards the edge of the window where you need it to be when moving.

Efficient kites can create lift (and therefore pull) without a high amount of drag. Reducing the AoA is a big way to reduce drag. Other ways to d reduce drag is by reducing the number of bridle lines and / or increasing aspect ratio. When you increase aspect ratio, a smaller percentage of the kite's effective lifting area is lost to wing-tip drag.

Airfoil shape will have a lot to do with it too.

These are generalizations, for sure, but maybe others could offer more examples.

So does that mean you'd want to start out with a high angle of attack for a quick launch when buggying, then decrease your AOA to get in a "higher gear" once you get up to speed?

On a depowerable kite, pulling in the bar, increasing the AOA will give you a big burst of power and get you rolling at a fair clip pretty quickly, but it seems when you've got the bar in the kite will fall back somewhat in the window. What you want to do once you get moving is to slowly bar out a bit, too far and you'll lose the power you need to keep the speed up, if you get it just right you'll get ripping pretty good. Basically power out of a turn and when you're going, let the kite run for a bit. Same goes for a fixed bridal foil, yes you can work the kite and get pull out of it, working the kite will drop it back in the window and more into the power zone, when the kite's back in the window to make power though you'll get more downwind pull. Work the kite a bit to get power and some apparent wind, then let it run to get more crosswind speed.

As for the AOA thing, yes increasing the AOA will give you more power, kites like the Buster and the Blade have adjustments on them so you can do this, in strong winds you can turn up the AOA and the power, in lighter winds you can turn it down so the kite doesn't stall, all adjustments are fixed and done at the kite end though, so you pick what you want to fly with and then deal with it.

If you look at a race kite though, they've cleaned up the bridal, most only have bridal lines every 3 cells, really thin profile top to bottom, but they also use the wing profile instead of simply increasing the AOA. This keeps the AOA lower and reduces drag. Imagine taking a peice of plywood in some strong wind, tilting it will get it to start producing lift, but huge amounts of drag. then take a wing and it'll make lift simply by cutting through the air. Well, not that simple but it'll have way less drag than the plywood.

So some kites will have massive lift, but too much drag at speed, while something like a race kite will have a bit less lift flying static, but lift good when you're moving and don't fall back in the window when you're blasting along.

Thanks Pablo, that helped a lot. I'm sure you're aware that in hang gliders and nearly every other flying thing, the tips are set at a lower angle of attack than the area closer to the center of the wing, keeping the tips flying when in a turn. I imagine some kites may follow this same principle to help eliminate stalling the inside tip in a turn.

Yup, most are fairly flat, but some of the agressive kites I've flown have the washout, I know the Combat is quite noticable. Some of the larger Centuries have adjustments for the AOA only for the centre of the wing, so you can crank up the power and still have a somewhat stable kite, I believe it's the 7.5m and up, possibly 9 and up. I've not had the need to adjust my 13 for more power though, I'm usually digging in my heels trying to stop the thing.

Im hoping the 1" shortening adjustment compensated, for the bridle stretch of the Buster, considering the size of the kite & the sheer amount of time, fine tuning a piece of fabric that big, yet not really having enough wind to check it out properly, I did go all the way to the tip of the kite with the adjustment so the AoA is the same all the way across...A plus would be that in 2-3-4mph steady winds the Kite still goes to the top of the window...

I.E. JoJo RM+ flies even faster than the RM's did, and they were the ones that set the worlds record of 72.8 mph.
jellis

Wheres the AoA comment or question about this Jojo???