If "c" kites are for the hardcore and generate more power than hybrid or bow kites, why aren't they being used by the elite speed kiters? Is it down to sponsorship of the kiters. or do c kites have a high end weakness for speed?
Switchblades, crossbows, Fone delta Dos, have been the weapon of choice of late. Is anyone speed kiting out there with a c kite.
I have seen plenty of footage of len10 on his Fuel, so we know they aren't for the faint hearted, freestyle kiting.

And "c" kites used predominately in competition riding, why the difference for speed?


Am interested on peoples opinions. no flaming of "c" vs bow etc.

KR

My opinion on this (and I'm no expert) is that bows/SLE's/Hybrids have lots of static grunt - You sheet the bar in and the kite will power up and continue building power and speed, and when you sheet the bar out the power is dumped just as quickly. This is why speed kiters choose this style of 'point and shoot' kite. This is also why many intermediate kiters prefer them (including myself), as you don't need a high amount of skill to tap into the power/potential of these kites.

C kites on the other hand need a lot of rider input, kite flying and board skills to tap into their true potential. They are however predictable in the power they produce; What you have hooked-in you have -un-hooked. This is what high level freestylers want, as they can turn the power on/off using board/kites skills, even when un-hooked and no bar sheeting is available. The top speed kiters are still highly skilled, but are not worried about a kite that performs and pulls consistently when un-hooked, they just want as much speed as they can get.

I think C kites are called hardcore because what ever power you have when flying one you have to just deal with it, you can't push the bar out and dump 90% of the power.

Overall it's more down to the riders skill: Good kiters are still good on crap kites, but crap kiters are still crap on great kites.

Disclaimer: I've had more beers than I should have before typing this post!!

Thanks for the insight guys.
TenBerri, your beer goggles worked well you made alot of sense.

Since c-kites don't have a bridle, they also need a thicker leading edge, which is bad for aerodynamics (->drag).
Squared wingtips cause vortexes (in addition to the extra weight) and are bad if you only want to ride in a straight line and don't need turning performance.

What's maybe even more significant is that they don't have a concave trailing edge (which doesn't match the arc), so the tips are sheeted in and cause significant drag. It's a deliberate choice to slow the kite down and make it smoother, less twitchy, but bad for upwind and top speed.
The 3rd picture illustrates that nicely:
http://www.cabrinhakites.com/kites-technology/bow-kite-advantages