New Tech Kites

The Pontificator

Several kites I own have "bow lines":

Box of Tricks
KAOS
Prism Alien

While designed to reduce wing-wrap problems, they also hinder a flyer from doing a lot of tricks such back flips, lazy suzans, etc.

Do most very experienced flyers simply remove them?

spence602 · Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 7:15 am Post subject:

If the "bow line" (or trick line) keeps the wingtips of your kite at a specific width then you can't remove them entirely.

Measure the distance between the wing tips with the bow line on and off. If there isn't much of a difference (<1cm) then it's ok to remove it.

If there is a difference, it's there for a reason.

You can modify the bow line into an "M" style by making a couple of small loops (~3") and larksheading them to the bottom of the (inner) standoffs. You will need a new bow line (since it will be longer) that starts at one wingtip, goes through the loop at the standoff, through the tail (in the nock if you have one), through the other loop at the other standoff, and back to the other wingtip. The distance between the wingtips must stay the same as it was originally.

By moving the location/shape of the bow line along the TE, this will enable tricks like a Turtle, Lazy Susan, etc. It allows the bridle/lines to be closer to the TE.

If you remove the bow line altogether and start doing tricks, you'll eventually end up tearing up the TE. The bridle/lines rest on the TE when you're doing 'on the back' based tricks.

HTH
_________________
Spence
http://www.kiteshark.org