Bow kites and the demise of kite flying skills

take out a big kite, depower it in big winds, bog squat, pull the trigger and wow you're jumping. Everyone keeps asking all the guys who are jumping twice as high on kites half their size whats the secret...
Have the bow/hybrid kites made it so easy that being exact with the kite doesnt matter?

elmo...
take your pic from any of these [pun intended] http://my.mmoabc.com/article/Michael/2460/Failure-is-not-an-option.html?login=no

bow kites are not safer for learners, they make them over confident and progress with out learning what happens when you have more power than control. a guy at peli went into the trees today [once just the kite when launching and second kitemare style but he got the release in time], hopefully his kite is ruined and he never comes back as it was clear he didn't have any lessons [he pumped up inside his kite ffs ] [and to add, i was on a 7, he tried with a 12]

sorry that was really off topic, carry on

This is just like when calculators came out and ruined everyone's abacus skills. The world has never been the same...

I think maybe it is time to move over to a bow kite then?

Just means that some people dont have to buy 2 kites for a given wind range

Bowkites also have this neat little red button... it says "push to jump" and woo, it flys just to the right spot and back... it even makes your board land under your feet for you

Hi Dave,

I tend to agree with most of what Steve has said, although I think what you really mean is the Demise of board skills like "edging". The instant depower and ability to dump power at will, has created a lot of lazy kiters who rely on the depower of the kite rather than the edging skills on the board and good body position to handle big gusts and stronger winds.

Riders regularly ride kites way in excess of requirements for given wind speeds. We regularly see riders on 12m kites in 25 to 30 knots of wind with the trim pulled fully in and them reaching far forward to hold the bar on the overpowered kite. This leads to massive and overstated "Poo Stance" which is just plain ugly and screams "Learner Noob barely in control".

Yesterday was a classic example, I was way lit on a 10m Vapor becasue I wanted to do some big boosting and there were riders on 12's. I could have happily been more than powered enough on a 7m.

Noobs riding on 12m Kites in strong winds feel jumping is bringing the kite to 12 o'clock and then sheeting in and lifting their legs up. This is not jumping, this is embarrassing. You will always jump much higher with a smaller kite and good edging and timing (two critical skills lost with the invent of Bows).

If you want to learn to jump, come and see me when I have nothing to do and I can teach you how to jump properly in 10 minutes, but please bring an appropriate sized kite for the wind conditions.

For an 80kg rider on an SLE/Hybrid/bow this should be ~:

12m kite - 13-22 knots
10m Kite - 15-26 knots
7m kite - 18-30 knots

I reckon bow/hybrid/SLE kites are great, but lets not try and use them as a one size fits all situations as when they get seriously overpowered, they do nasty things.

Good winds,

What about foil kites

Steve,can I borrow your flame suit for a bit

In all seriousness,dave... do you think foil kiters have "real" kite skills

Yeah, a lotofwind, I do, due to the limited depower compared to bow kites, foils when put in the wrong spot have a lot of power and you cant just let the bar out, you have to learn to edge. Most guys who ride foils know how to launch and land their kites, not insist on a kite bitch.

LOL! What I said was 100% sarcasm, my fault for assuming that someone would pick up on it haha (I was wondering that when I was writing it, but obviously not ). I was just illustrating through such exaggeration that it does not really matter what kite you use, there are so many other facets to this awesome sport that at the end of the day it is more dependant upon one's own taste.

Sorry to those fellow bow-kiters I offended... it was sarcasm

My baby is a TD2 anyway lol

I think it sums it up when i offer my 05 Nitro to anyone riding bows(not only where i normally kite but while i was overseas as well). They get scared cos they might go too high and require a bit of skill to land without getting nailed.
Now riding an Ion 2 and can jump just as high on one size down in the same wind.
It's All about technique.
Edge and Pop. An art that is becoming less and less common
Also when you look at the water during a deadman or tabletop on a bow i don't like the feeling of potentially losing my head because they tend to jump so flat.

Maybe we should take the stance of the english... chop of the first two fingers of all bow users.

I think inverted has got it....I learnt on a hybrid 14m and just used the bar to control speed. It wasn't until I got on a high aspect high performnace bow style kite that I realized that this wasn't enough, things happen way to fast, and I had to learn to control my speed by edging my board and improving my stance, my original instructor did warn me of this when he was teaching me and he was right. Now days I would rather be powered up on a smaller kite than stuggling to hold a larger kite. And I agree with the technique comments, you can definitely boost better with good technique rather than just pulling on the bar on a big kite. SO I would like to add that kites like the North Rhino and the Ozone Edge also go better with good board edging skills, its not just a C kite thing. For any new guys on hybrids and bows wondering what this is all about (I wondered what the hype was about the last time this thread went around) get on a north rebel and hook into the micro loop and see if you can just use the board only to control your speed ....thats about as close as you can get to the feel of flying a "C" kite.

too many beers kills erection skills