Hi Willis,

Once the kite stalls, it is no longer producing useful power so by trimming the kite down a bit until you can sheet the bar in fully without it stalling then you are achieving maximum power at fully sheeted in position with the bar. By increasing the angle of attack by powering the trim up further, you are going past the point of maximum lift and creating a seperation of the laminar flow over the top of the wing surface. This results in a stall and is not useable power or pull.

To set the bar at maximum, place the kite at 12 o'clock and sheet in fully. If the kite stalls, trim in a couple of inches on the trim strap until it stops stalling, that is max. If you haven't already, connect your back lines to the knots furthest away from the kite, this will help to prevent stalling.

You may find that you feel you are losing power because you regularly ride with the bar 6 or more inches from fully sheeted in position, and at this position it may be set for full power. By then sheeting in further you are oversheeting the bar and stalling the kite.

By all means drop into Pinnaroo in the next sea breeze and I am happy to look at it for you and check it is set up for optimal riding.

Good winds,

The very first of the crossbow 3 kites had a bridle issue with pulley attachment on the front bridle to leading edge. Reg did a fix which didn't work too good. Cabrinha then sent out some small loops to attach the pulleys - after this modification, the kites were fine. Prior to this fix, my kite flew a bit like yours. If your kite is a recent purchase, this shouldn't be an issue, and Darren's approach is the way to go.

just went out and checked kite and it does have a little black extension from the pulley back to the original pulley connection. must just be the way i am tuning it

willis said...

just went out and checked kite and it does have a little black extension from the pulley back to the original pulley connection. must just be the way i am tuning it

If you are in WA Willis see if you can catch up with Darren or someone that has extensive experience with kites.
Your problem has nothing to do with the bridle, an that issue only affected the very first batch of kites late last year.
You may not even have a problem, what wind strength did this happen in? Very light to light winds?

Pulling on the red ball of the TRIM system will correct a stalling problem, because doing that will restore your front line lengths to be equal or slightly shorter than the rears. You will not be losing power by pulling on the red trimmer ball, you are just adjusting the bar position and trim of the kite to be optimal for you and the conditions at the time. Depower and power are poorly chosen words for the trim system toggles on kites, unfortunately they have stuck and its near on impossible to get people to think TRIM system terminology.

Same with the stupidly named chicken loop! Does it resemble a chicken? Does it taste like chicken? Were chickens used in its manufacture? Nope, but you were a chicken if you used one back in the old days of tough guy windsurfers who took up kiting! LOL's
Same with power and depower, should really be trimmer on and trimmer off, or something similar to more accurately describe what is happening.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve

Ok thought so, its only in light winds.
So don't hold the bar in until the kite stalls.
Push the bar out a bit as soon as it is pointing upwards
Dive the kite down and up again more steeply - going to to the left/port tack dive the kite almost vertically down towards the water from 1 o'clock, and point it back up towards 11 o'clock - avoid sweeping the kite across the window from 3 o'clock to 9/10 o'clock.
Its a common mistake to sweep the kite and not dive it down steeply.
If the kite is stalling at the bottom of the dive pull the trimmer on a bit until it stops doing that, but also ease off on pulling on the bar, power comes from the speed of the kite, so keep the kite flying fast.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve

No worries Jason, the trimmer is the speed adjusting trimmer, not the power and depower thingy.
Trim for speed and comfortable bar position, always. A little bit of trimmer ON is almost always a good thing especially on older kites where the front lines have stretched. Sometimes the same effect can be got by Darrens advice - use the knot furthest from the kite.

I see so may experienced kiters letting the trimmer out for "more power", but all they end up doing is slowing the kite down and stalling it, then they say its a ****e kite.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve