Light wind line length

I never thought I would become interested in discussing line length and its effect on sailing in light winds...
This factor is critical to light wind navigation due to being able to drive the kite for longer sweeps thus enabling the foil to gain speed and help the kite generate enough apparent wind to facilitate practical use. I weigh 92Kgs consequently I need a good even burst of power to drive the board up onto the plane - with short lines in light wind I have found this very difficult to master.

By adding extension lines of 10m, increasing the wind window by 20m I get a huge increase of power. On reflection we have concluded that the ideal extension length is probably between 5 and 7m due to the increased delay that longer lines deliver.

interesting. i've wondered about this, but never played with length on the foil. I have 23m's, and they are too short. The kite flies too fast without the power to get me going sometimes.
I might try your 4-7m extension to see how it works and report back!


looks like there's a lot more action going on in the french side...wish i could read french!

tinyE a écrit:

interesting. i've wondered about this, but never played with length on the foil. I have 23m's, and they are too short. The kite flies too fast without the power to get me going sometimes.
I might try your 4-7m extension to see how it works and report back!


looks like there's a lot more action going on in the french side...wish i could read french!

I am the one who loves long lines in light winds, you will be able to foil 2 or 3 knot earlier, not bad ? You have to find the ideal length according to your weight, size of kite and expected desired minimum wind range. For instance my length on My Cabrinha Switchblade IDS 14 m² is 31 m and I can ride my 72 kg with 6 knots. Tried with 40 metres, could sail but no upwind anymore. So stuck at 31 now.

Hey, I bet the english side of the forum will have more messages then the french one in less than a month. Do you take the bet ?

Ha - give it two weeks Laurent...

Brett try it and pass the word on to as many foilboarders that you know - that the French gauntlet has been laid down

That's the only thing I can suggest - as i said in my earlier post 10m works fine but you have to adjust your flying method to deal with the delay in the kite response - it doesn't take much, if I can do you'll be fine. Give it a whirl and let us know.

Laurent Ness a écrit:

Hey, I bet the english side of the forum will have more messages then the french one in less than a month. Do you take the bet ?

oh man.... had to throw that down huh?
I'll see what I can drum up. There's not too many of us kite foilers.... so I'll have to dig a bit.

There's a few of us around the globe - I guess its very much like the early days of kitesurfing and swapping notes about going up wind. I can recall chatting with people from all four corners of the world try this and that - but at the end of the day it's the positive spirit that counts in getting out there and giving it a go. Have a great weekend.

Well, getting back to the point of the thread - otherwise Lolo may well spank us for the OT !- I think I might too begin fiddling with my line length.
Yep, even though I'm still on my twin tip :p
I already know for sure that going up from 20 to 25 on a Hydra has a very noticeable impact on low end grunt ; but I haven't tried 30 m yet.
Why not ?!

Absolutley Arno - it's all in the length... So I am told

I could never take it


So, if anything good comes out (talking about line length obviously ) I'll let you know.
What's worrying me a little is how to swap easily from say 20 to 25 and then 30m ?
Currently I use two bars so it's no big deal but if I end up in need of a third option, I can't avoid actually putting and removing line extensions. A bit of a hassle, ain't it ? How do you manage that with Lolo (as the two of you seem to do it on a regular basis) ?

Arno a écrit:

I could never take it


So, if anything good comes out (talking about line length obviously ) I'll let you know.
What's worrying me a little is how to swap easily from say 20 to 25 and then 30m ?
Currently I use two bars so it's no big deal but if I end up in need of a third option, I can't avoid actually putting and removing line extensions. A bit of a hassle, ain't it ? How do you manage that with Lolo (as the two of you seem to do it on a regular basis) ?

It probably takes me 5 mn to do. I will show you when we meet on the beach.
But you never know what to do with this damn extra lengths of lines ...
Zeeko kites have invented a little velcro pouch to store the lines in the kite, look at that: http://www.zeeko-kites.com/photos-videos.php The video called "focus produit: Les rallonges de lignes intégrées"

Quite smart actually, well thought-out I dare hope (otherwise you can wave good bye to your lines extensions !)
I often simply stuff them in my shorty or full wet suit, squizzed between my skin and the neoprene, it's OK.

Hi,
I simply leave my 10 meter thin line extensions attached to my 14, stored on a small plastic winder so I can use the same WIDE bar for my 12 with 27M.
David
Yes longer is better to a point, test for your self!
Thats what she said!

I also use extension on my Peter Lynn Aero 14m for light wind.
I have 3,5 and 10m line extensions to put on my 15m line that's really increase the low wind range of the kite and allow me to skip the Aero 17m