Hey Guys,
I have a question, do many of you loop your kite whilst surfing and if so, at what point?
Ive been over running my kite bottom turning and wondered if trying to loop it at the same tim might fix this.
Just curious to what others game plan is?
Cheers!
You mean water starting by over spinning the kite and loosing tension on the lines?
In light winds, I do a loop to get a good boost water starting, but quickly re-set the kite to park it and let apparent wind kick in.
Looping will fix the over running, try this:
Try 20m lines or shorter, gives faster turns in the kite allowing for faster turning on the wave
15m are the shortest I would go, 18m lines are best for me on 7m to 10m sizing.
Turn the kite before you turn the board, follow the kite as you turn it
Keep the kite 45 degrees or lower if your doing fast down the line turns
Depends a lot on wind strength and direction
depending on conditions /wind direction but yes quite often do need to loop the kite.
particularly in cross/ on shore conditions running down the line often also after the bottom turn as you are about to hit the lip.. The kite is pointing out to sea and as you turn off the lip you are going in the opposite direction so a well timed down loop bjust befor hitting the lip brings the kite back into the power zone and into the direction of riding.
+ 1 for shorter lines.
I was having trouble until i changed to shorter lines. I run 16m lines now.
Takes a bit to get use to but it was the way to go for me.
For me, short lines only work on kites upto 10m kite.
I down turn on kites 12m and above.
Select to expand quoteKiteDesigner said...
Looping will fix the over running, try this:
Try 20m lines or shorter, gives faster turns in the kite allowing for faster turning on the wave
Turn the kite before you turn the board, follow the kite as you turn it
Keep the kite 45 degrees or lower if your doing fast down the line turns
Depends a lot on wind strength and direction
Had this discussion with my kite buddy, you see plenty of riders especially wave orientated on their bigger kites waiting for their kites through the turn, it's not as prevalent in the smaller sizes due to the responsiveness of the kite,
Watching a kite being expertly looped whilst riding a wave is great to watch, unsure of the blokes name but a kitepower rider on a c4 at kitestock made it look effortless
Looping down the line allows you much greater range of overshooting while keeping the kite in the power zone. Cross on conditions make it easy to over shoot and this technique will keep the kite moving with you without the kite flying over head. I don't find I have any issues when using 25 meter lines. Pretty much use one bar for all size kites. Look at the lines in this image. This is the point where I downloop and have the kite shoot back across while setting up for the next turn.....I find keeping the kite lower allows me to be in more critical spots longer.....my two cents ;)
I usually am in direct onshore conditions and a downloop prior to turning on a wave just adds the extra beans and speed for setting up the next one.
I can usually loop the kite one-handed with my right (going toeside goofy) I need to use both hands going the other way and I follow the kite around with the bar, hard habit to break.
Looping while surfing can stop your kite from stalling in situations where you over run your kite because you want to hit a critical section of the wave .Stalling your kite ends your wave experience by looping your kite it gives your more options to continue.Depending on your style having a full repertoire of loops will give you a longer wave riding experience .Bottom half down loops are snappy and quick and get you kite facing the other way in a split second or can take your falling kite to the correct angle of attack so you can manouver to the next section of the wave.
Over the top full 360 loops take longer to kick but these really come in to play when the wind is light and you want to get through some flat sections of the wave to the good bits.
I think the down winder is the best way to practice your loops .
On occasion I will do up to 4 loops on 1 wave and have no idea that Iam looping the kite until I have finished with the wave.
The combination of flying the kite and wave riding is king for me.
Not everyone likes it ,but if your over running your kite it is the answer!
LOOP- when you are going down the line OR when your kite is outside the window and you are kiting past it OR when you are in light wind OR if you are big guys and want the power. Also Cross on conditions when you flying towards your kite.
DONT LOOP - when you are on a cross off wave and you need to cutback.
A down Loop is the quickest most efficient turn the kite can make because it doesn't require a change in direction. On a bottom turn its causing down pressure instead of lift helping hold your rail powered.
To loop or not to loop that is the question.
It does depend on how much you are running towards your kite and how welll your kite drifts. As an example I do a lot of looping in the waves on my ozone edge but my better drifting reo and cat are usually wanged or drifted.
If you have a good drifting kite then drift it if possible.
Then wang it from side to side.
Then if that doesn't work. Loop it.
One disadvantage of the loop is when you cut back and retension the lines. Doing this mid loop will give you an unwanted power spike.
