WA
1097 posts
Was just reading one of the euro mags in the newsagent (they are too dear to buy so u gotta use the library system) and it had an article on the ghost "Lou Wainmen". A true legend indeed, truly the most popular yet he does the least amount of comps, photo shoots, tours etc.
Anyways, he says now that he uses lines between 5 and 10 metres long. Yes thats right, insane isnt it!! He says as u progress and get used to the kite u wanna get closer to it and have less delay time, especially on wave riding, jumping, kiteloops etc.
Just wondering if anyone has experimented with their line lengths? I went from 30 to 27 and found a slight difference, but i think there wood be a dramatic difference down to these small lengths...
I have flown stunt kites and the difference is big, the kites are more twitchy and waay faster.
Another thing is kite size. The editor asked if he needs huge kites for these small lines. He says he uses an 8m and changes board sizes from 90cm upwards.
Man he must be kiting in pretty strong winds...
or we are missing something...
kite on lou, keep us thinkin.
WA
15 posts
I got a 2nd hand 7.5 ARX, bar & lines off a pro-kiter from over east last season, he shipped it with what turned out to be 18M lines :) From my experience it reduced my wind range to near nothing (which was despressing being underpower in anything down from 20knots), however it did have its redeeming features. Mainly the overall response from the kite was superb, which made jumps extremely easy to pull into and land. Although I didn't get much done, I'd envision that the guy before me would have had this kite for the sole purpose of waveriding for the sheer response of the setup.
I wouldn't recommend shortened lines on bigger kites though, I tried them on a 12M and I could hardly keep it in the air most of the time (maybe I just needed more wind). Sick of the low wind range I ended up getting longer lines, but if I had the money spare I'd probably keep a set of shorter lines for when the winds REALLY howling.
-SCARAB
WA
1119 posts
read the article too (actually have that mag :)
he mentions he uses 10m lines and an 8m kite and just adjusts his board to suit the conditions
short lines make the kite faster with less power stroke, but his board is supposed to be really out there... (no fins concave design that "hovers" over the water)
