Do a lot of fliers have several different length lines for different conditions?
For general flying the standard lengths are fine IMO. People with more specific requirements often have different lengths, but I would say that's the
exception.
those should be 200/100kg x 20m which is good. I certainly would not go any longer lines. I personally like 17.5m and others will even go 15m on the
smaller size kites like this one.
Different length handles for large and small kites but not different for different conditions. Larger kites need longer handles to leverage them
through the turns on the brakes. Tiny handles don't turn big kites well and really long handles can make small kites twitchy and unstable by adding
too much leverage to the trailing edge / brake bridle.
Depower Quiver: 14m Gin Eskimo, 10m Gin Eskimo III, 6m Gin Yeti, 4.5m Gin Yeti (custom bridle and mixer)
Fixed Bridle Quiver: MAC Bego 400, JOJO ET Instinct 2.5 & 5.5, Lil Devil 1.5, Sting 1.2
Rides: Ground Industries
I run 25m flexifoil lines on all my fixed bridle foils. As long as all 4 lines are the same length you can do any fine tuning for specific kites on
the bridle pig tails.
I seem to need to slacken the brake lines on my blade for example.
generally big kites and light winds are best with longer lines and small kites and strong winds are more manageable with shorter lines.
Shorter lines increase control and response but decrease max power as you are effectively reducing the size of the wind window. longer lines have the
opposite effect.
If you fly at locations with lots of rotor, longer lines will help get you above. I fly 30m lines on all my kites except my 2m.
S
Is it possible to design for strength, if the designer doesn't really understand what strength is?
8m speed wings.
Ozone Samurai 3m
Sky Country Reflex 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10m new 6m!
Sky Country NaSCa 2 11m
Sky Country Alasca 10m - sold
Rhombus Firebee 3m (ret).
Libre Vampir Race Pro 2.6m
Jojo Rage 8m
What size kite would you consider longer handles for? I have a 3.5 m Reactor II with longer handles. Could I just as easily get away with shorter
handles on that one?
I personally like small on anything under 6m. I know others will like long on 5m and up.
I am working on a response for the long line / short line thing. Just having a tough time not making it a novel. Everyone has their different
preferences. Location and type of riding plays a big roll in developing these preferences I believe. on the lake bed with a race kite ... shorter is
better for most. In a small grass field surrounded by trees with a lower aspect kite. Longer might be liked better to get over those trees into
cleaner winds and bigger wind widow to get a power stroke to get moving on the grass.
With a 30m line set on any kite, it takes an exquisitely long time for mistakes to be over. Think super-slo-mo, 1000 frames per second kind of long.
I've got the same problem as Dino, too much to cover on such a topic. I fell into the trap of swapping stuff around just to see what would happen
before I was truly cognizant and comfortable with what was happening already as well as what could happen if I got behind the curve with my inputs.
The terms strain, sprain, abrasion, contusion, laceration and connective tissue damage come to mind in all their glorious permutations.
As you get comfortable with making a particular wing react to you rather than reacting to the wing, then is a good time to play with different
combinations. Until you get comfortable with EVERYTHING a particular wing does, WHY it does it and what input it needs to enhance or limit those
characteristics, line and handle selection should probably stay close to what ever the wing ships with new. Most spec sheet will tell you what you
need to know there.
Ken Shaw
Riding the wild sastrugi of the Sonoran Desert
Flexifoil : Blurr 3.5m, 5m
HQ : Beamer IV 5m : Montana V 9.5m : Crossfire II 3m
Ozone : Haka 5m : Cult 2.5m : Flow 2m : Imp 1.5m
Peter Lynn : Core 6.7m, 5.1m, 4m, 3m
Revolution : Speed series Blast : 1.5 SLE
Most spec sheet will tell you what you need to know there.
I would love it if more kite manufacturers provided easy to find, thorough and consistently laid out spec sheets. This would be immensely useful
especially for kites obtained on the secondary market. However.... it's very hit or miss in a lot of cases.
Trying to readily find line specs for some kites.... especially those that are often also made available KO is a major PITA.