AKSonline said...
Hi Bene313,
Shorter lines are better for getting more horizontal with your kite which produces a much more savage loop. I've been pulled so hard looping on short lines that I was hurtling horizontally with slack in all four lines in one instance at mid point in the loop.
Longer lines are better for contreol and taking some of the sting out of the loop so that the loop can happen higher in the wind window. Consider it this way. The kite is the same size during both loops on long and short lines. By shortening lines, you decrease the distance from you to the kite which basically makes the wind window smaller.
Imagine the diameter of the loop or area the kite turns in is 10m. If you were flying on 15m lines and you strted the loop from 12 o'clock, theoretically the kite will be a little more than 5m above the ground at the lowest part of the loop. This means the kite gets pretty low in relationship to you. Do the same with 25m lines and you can see the kite will clear the water by almost 15m, meaning it's lowest point from the water will be more than 60% of the height of the lines or in other words, the kite will loop more in the upper part of the window instead of the lower part.
Lenton is mega looping, this is different scenario, he boosts for maximum height which needs longer lines, he also needs to loop the kite upwind of him to slow his descent. The kite on shorter lines becomes too fast and critical in it's control to be comfortable for mega-looping.
Short lines are 20m. This is an ideal length to experience full power of a nasty fast loop. 15m is essentially too short to get the power and jump height unless you are riding really overpowered. This works for experts, but certainly not for beginners. Check out the Core boys looping the GTS . Classic example.
To learn to loop, stick with longer lines and shorten them up if you get bored or really want to frighten yourself ;-)
DM
True words written here.... i loop on 20m lines and man ..... I know what a mesquito feels like when hitting a windscreen and sees his arshole......
Mr mad hatter len10 fly's his kites on 18m lines all of then just the bar size changes for kite size.....
start with a siesie loop on the way down from your axcess of the jump seems to work for me and REMEMBER CLOSE YOUR EYES HOLD THE BAR AND PRAY .........
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