So yesterday was a beautiful sunny day with a light breeze, what better time to try out my new (new to me) kite. I appologize in advance for the newbie questions.

6 M closed cell foil winds +/-10mph (Static Flying)

The pull on this is exceptional compared to my 3m beamer, however I have a few questions/concerns.

Turning on this seems VERY slow and required a huge amount of bar input to turn, and even required grabbing one of the brake lines (trailing edge on the sides of my bar) and pulling on the line to get enough input to turn quickly enough.

It appears as if the lines on the trailing edge are too slack (I could be wrong), when I let the bar out to depower there is zero tension on the trailing lines and are simply hanging there, should there at least be a little tension here? I beleive this is why turning is so slow/difficult, because the slack has to be taken up before the trailing edge catches the wind. When in power mode (bar pulled all the way in) the rear lines do gain tension and I can see the trailing edge come down closer to me.

I have not quite figured out how to adjust the trim strap, this will be session #2. For now I only flew static yesterday as I dont want to add the element of snowboarding before I figure out the ins and outs of this new system. I'm sure the static flying didn't help with the responsiveness or lack thereof so i'm hoping with more flying time I will get the hang of this thing.

Any feedback would be appreciated!

it does sound like your back lines are abit slack, but it would help if you told us the make and model of the kite.

10 mph for a 6m de-power is pushing the low end most likely, especially flying static. The kite won't come alive and respond normally until it is put into motion and benefit from its own apparent wind. Slack lines with bar out in light winds can be normal and I've had to reach out and grab a brake line in light winds to horse the kite around. Git 'er moving and it's all good.

Yeah, it would help if we knew what kite. Flysurfer? Which one?

i didn't post the brand/model as it is an obscure kite with little to no info on the internet

6m North Husky (the one that was FS in the classifieds on this site).

Thanks for the replies!

My first time on a depower I had the same thought as you - "Man these things turn slow". This thought was almost always followed by a tip dragging on the ground as I was trying to turn it back upwards, ending in an reverse launch lesson.

Fixed bridles turn on a dime and are amazing. Depowers? Not so much. Assuming you're all set up proper you can increase the rate of turn by both turning the kite by pivoting the ar as well as pulling the bar in as you do so. This will tighten the turns significantly.

Some depower kites turn faster than others. I found the same thing to be true when I first started flying depower. Slow turns.

Howevever, once you get used to it, it is well worth the trade off. At least in my opinion. Another thing I do, sometimes, to make the kite turn faster, is to turn away from it, using my weight and momentum to pull it upwards. This can be risky though, as if a gust catches it at that moment, you will definitely pop right out of the buggy. On low wind days, this works fine. Higher winds, do at your own risk. :evil:

Also I noticed with my last kite (Pansh Blaze II 10m) that it liked to be flown with the bar in the middle. There's a sweet spot where the kite likes to fly sometimes, I'm guessing.

at 10mph I'm sure the kite was just able to fly.

It sounds like you had it set almost right.

The trick in those winds is to have the kite almost totally depowered on the trim strap. This makes the back, steering lines a bit loose and sloppy.

When the kite is traveling through the window let the bar out all the way so it flies faster. Feel the pull from your harness. Just before you get to the edge pull the bar in to tighten the rear lines and speed up the turn. Then back out to speed along again. You can let a bit out on the trim strap as the wind picks up. It will increase your turning but slow that rush through the window down. It's a trade off.

That kite will perform better and better as the wind picks up.

helps me to think of the trim strap as a 'transmission' and the bar as the 'throttle'.
adjust trim strap for current wind conditions and/or traction requirements and use throttle accordingly.
as i beginner i never really fiddled with settings and just left everything i could possibly leave alone, alone. i am starting to evolve out of this shell. i'll adjust trim strap (it's gusty changey wind here most of the time) many times per hour. i'll even make trim strap adjustments on a reach:bigok:
*also, i am going to incorporate the following ideas into my kiting adventures so i hope i'm not mistaken:
-kite will 'turn' faster with bar in but will fly slower.
-kite will fly faster with bar out (and also trimmed so leading edge is closer to bar) but will pull less.
Paul

So yesterday was my second flight on depower this time with snowboard! :wee:

Kite was a little underpowered again, however at times the wind would come up and away we go! Had my snowboard strapped on and once I got the hang of it and managed to find a sweet spot where subtle bar movements kept me in the window and kite flying parallel to the ground with a small sine movement up and down.

Of course being new to this I did overfly the window a number of times which resulted in the kite crumbling to the ground. I think this will come with practice. After a crash it was a little troublesome reverse launching and flipping the kite upright, but managed with a little coaxing of the lines. My only beef here was that I was flying on a barren area and there were small twigs and such sticking out of the snow for the lines to get hooked in, which several times required me to unstrap and go get the lines untangled. This along with the tangle I had caused the last time I packed up the kite were my two worse moments.

I watched the "how to snowkite volume 1" last week and highly recommend it to newcomers to snowkiting and/or depower flight, most of it is basic knowledge but there were some things like landing the kite and ideas on how to use different safety releases and techniques. For the ski/snowboard part it showed me a few things about what to expect and how to respond on the snowboard.

I could go on about this all day, im F-in hooked but I dont wanna drag my post on, since I hate reading LONG posts and dont expect you to!!! Thanks PKF for all the help!

On a second note, I am still having some issues with adjusting the trim strap, I'm not sure if it is not setup correctly. It has two handles which you pull to shorten or lengthen the front lines. When I pull on the top one to assume-ably shorten the front lines they do shorten but its as if the strap is not in the buckle correctly and as soon as I let the handle go it immediately returns to what I think is the longest position.

I will play with it again when I go out next, and take a picture or video to show what I am experiencing since its hard to describe with just words.

cheers!

Quote:

Originally posted by Brent_P When I pull on the top one to assume-ably shorten the front lines they do shorten but its as if the strap is not in the buckle correctly and as soon as I let the handle go it immediately returns to what I think is the longest position. cheers!

Then you pulled the de-power strap, which has that property of seeming like it is shortening it but lets it all out when you let go. The other one will shorten and stay. Confusing at first for sure. Memorize the color tabs on the straps or add your own with bits of yarn or colored line pigtails.

With some kites you lengthen the lines in steps but can depower in one shot.

Is it possible that when you power up you are gaining a bit each time and not noticing ?