Sorry to hear about your kite

Any kite that is depowered to the max and/or in gusty conditions can be made unstable by wind hitting it at a downward angle, and it will drop out of the sky. Leading edge pressure has nothing to do with this kind of crash, and there is little you can do about it apart from selecting a smaller kite so that it is not always at the top of the depower range.

That being said, you might not have closed the valves properly and/or developed a leak, and then the kite seems to fly normally until it gets in to some gusty air and/or you load/unload the lines and the kite then looks like it is trying to turn itself in to a taco.

Either way, once a kite spins up or luff-bangs through the power zone you always run serious risk of doing damage to the kite.

How was the leading edge pressure after you got back to the beach?

Kites can react crazy in the air when way under inflated ,but usually they have to be way under inflated,if your unsure of how hard to inflate,grab a pressure gauge for your pump,they are only about $20.

sounds like you been there. that's pretty much what happened

still, it was worth it till it tore... the beer and porn will always be there

yep sounds like a gust problem rather than a leading edge problem.

If your kite is sitting at the zenith or edge of the wind in gusty conditions your in danger of pushing the kite out of the wind window.

heres what happens. The wind window is approximatly 180degrees. But it shrinks and grows several degrees as the wind degreases/increases.

So a gust hits and your kite shoots forward to the to the edge of the new wind window. then after the gust a lull hits. All of a sudden your kite is now outside the lull wind window and it luffs and starts to fall out of the sky. Worst place for the kite in this instance is at the zenith. Can twist and fall back into the powerzone all stuffed up.

The fix?

when ever your kite is parked. get it as low as possible at the edge of the window. let the bar out when the gust hits. as soon as you feel the lull pull the bar in hard. this will stall the kite and let it drift back into the wind window.

After a bit of expereince you can do this automatically without even looking.

Gusty wind is difficult but can be very rewarding. my best session this year has been in 20-40 knots of gusty crazyness. difficult as hell but loved every minute off it.

PS having a stable low aspect storm kite for these days is a good idea. i use an ozone 8m light for these days. on cleaner days i'm rocking the c4 and edge but reach for the light it silly silly conditions.

Arrhhhh... The happy ending of another kite

Also worth getting a demo on a Chimera 8 or 6.5, i have both and in gusty conditions they excell,last ride on my 6.5 was in 20 gusting 43 knots ,was a sweet 4hr session with explosive gusts well worth a test fly.

gordknot said...


Might need to look into a low aspect kite. I'm using revs, but will take a look at the light

Hi Gordknot, the Light evolved into the Catalyst, and is now approaching its third iteration. Everyone who flies them loves them for their stability, drift and forgiving nature.