Length and width are essential measures, much more important than what you think, but not always longer and wider is better, sometimes you have to choose the smaller size.
What are we talking about? Of the width of your kitesurf bar, and the length of your lines, of course .
Too often underestimated, these measures are both fundamental for the right setting of your kite and in this article we will explain everything you need to know to get the best performance from your kitesurf sail at all times.
Moreover to understand the importance of these measures it is sufficient to do a couple of tests during a session, changing the size of the bar and the lines, to immediately notice how the behavior of the kite and its feeling change accordingly.
Whether you are an expert kiter looking for the best configuration to suit your style or a simple beginner looking for ways to make the kite more manageable in different conditions, understand how the size of your bar and your lines modify the behavior of the Your kite will certainly help you make better use of your equipment and progress. But let's go in order and see the fundamental concepts to understand in order not to make mistakes ever again.
THE KITESURF BAR
The operation of the kitesurf bar is similar to that of a leverwhich revolves around a fulcrum. Moving the bar will pull the tip of the kite so it rotates. Thinking of the bar as a lever, it soon becomes clear that for the same force that we imprint on the bar, a long bar will transmit a greater amount of movement to our kite. And in fact not all kitesurf bars are the same length but the brands generally offer us at least a couple of bars: one to use with small kites and one to use with larger kites, but some brands also offer more than two measures. Fortunately, many bars have systems that allow you to be mounted at a narrow or wide pitch, so you can use the same coffin for your small kite and for your larger kite, adjusting its width.
A short bar offers you less leverage than a longer bar and this in itself is neither a good nor a bad thing but a parameter to consider together with the size of the sail, the wind and our preferences.
The general rule is: small short bar kite, large big bar kite.
A small kite is faster and more responsive while a larger kite spins slower and requires more force to be applied to our controls. The small sails are too snappy and a wide bar makes them even faster, often too much, while a short bar slows their reaction time making them more docile. Big kites, on the other hand, often have the problem of being too slow and tiring to manage, so widening the lever will help us on the contrary to increase the strength of our commands.
Of course it almost never happens that you have to increase the speed of a small kite, on the contrary, using a small bar on an intermediate size kite or a smaller bar on a large kite is often very useful for beginners and wakestyle riders that benefit from a less responsive, slower kite that requires more input from the pilot to move. To recap
NARROW BAR:
It is used with small kites and strong winds or with medium to large kites in particular conditions (beginners and wakestyle). It
slows the kite's steering speed.
Less reactive kite
Useful for beginners, makes the kite more stable and docile.
Useful for learning new wakestyle maneuvers
WIDE BAR:
More leverage, use with larger kites
Makes the kite more responsive and faster
Makes the kite less hard and tiring
Useful for jumping high (faster kite movement)
Increases kite turning speed
THE LINES
Now we come to the length of the lines that connect our bar to the kite. Generally the lines are available in lengths ranging from a minimum of 19 meters to 27, although the most used sizes are those from 22 to 24 meters. Many brands sell their bars with short lines more than 3-meter extensions to be assembled as needed.
Let's see what affects the length of the lines and when it is advisable to use one length rather than another.
The length of the lines is directly proportional to the size of the wind window.
The shorter the lines, the smaller the window. Short lines mean less potential to generate energy, lower jumping capacity but also faster steering, narrower kiteloops and more responsive handling. Translated with short lines your kite will be less powerful but faster and more responsive. Short lines are generally used with a narrow bar and are the ideal configuration for waveriding, freestyle and wakestyle.
On the contrary, the longer your lines are, the bigger your wind window is. This means more potential energy production, greater jumping capacity, but also slower and less reactive management. Longer lines also allow your kite to fly higher where the wind tends to be stronger. Long lines combine with wider bars. Very long lines (27 meters) guarantee you a huge lift.
These performance differences can be seen as good or bad, it all depends on the type of driver you are, the size of the kite and the wind. For example, some beginners prefer to use shorter lines in order to have a less powerful kite that immediately responds to commands, other beginners prefer to use longer lines so as to have a more "steady" kite.
The ideal is to always have extension cords with you and try first hand what changes in the behavior of the kite with short or long lines, in order to decide based on your preferences and the conditions of the day. Ricapitolanto
SHORT LINES
Less power Faster
rotation speed
Faster and narrower kiteloops
Easier relaunch
More reactive bar
Better for super gusty wind
More suited to surfing
LONG LINES
More power
Greater jumping potential
Less reactive bar
Slowest kite
Better performance with light or laundry wind
Pubblicato il 11 aprile 2019 | Blog > Technique: KITESURF