Sports kite bridle adjustments

[ozzymat]

Hi all

I've recently purchased a R-sky Diablis and have been playing with the bridle to tune the kite for the wind condition and my reflexes but the Diablis has a "Turbo bridle?".

The only other experience I've had with bridles are on my Prisim E2 and 3D and both only allow moving the tow point (pigtail) up and down the upper haul. The Diablis has the tow point attached at the in-haul and has a yoke (well I think that's what its called) so I can also move the tow point along the in-haul.

The arrangement of the bridle is also different in that on the E2 the main bridle line connects the upper haul to the centre of the kite at the lower spreader and the lower haul line is attached to the upper haul below the tow point connection, while the Diablis the upper and lower haul line is the same and the in-haul line connects via the yoke to the upper and lower haul line with a larkshead.

When I fly the E2 I start with the tow point up if the wind is light (<5kph) and slowly lower it to get a balance between how much running around I want to do and the pull on the kite, if the wind is a bit stronger I will start with the tow point in the middle and slowly move it down until I can get a steady stall.

So to cut a long story short, now I have this extra in-haul adjustment and I am not sure when I should move it and if the two adjustment should be done in unison.

Cheers

Mat

Port Augusta

[ozzymat]

Going to answer my own question, can someone comment on its correctness?

Moving the tow point vertically along the upper haul changes the vertical angle of the kite, nose froward will increase speed and nose back will increase the pull of the kite.

Moving the tow point horizontally along the in haul changes the sensitivity of the kite, sensitively increases as you move towards the centre.

For slack line tricks the bridle is set as low as possible without the kite being uncontrollable or falling out of the sky, to counteract the over-steer of a low bridle move the tow point out (towards the leading edge).

The bridle arrangement on the R-sky's is standard European with the upper and lower haul one piece while the E2 bridle uses the everywhere else standard.

Cheers

Mat

Port Augusta

[KaoS]

Hi Mat

You've pretty much sussed it out - well done!

For many years sport kites were bridled with a standard 3 point design. In other words, there were 3 points on the frame where bridle lines attached on each side of the kite, and the 3 lines came together at a single towpoint. The 3 legs of the bridle are known as the inhaul (the line going from the spine or T-Piece to the tow point), the upper outhaul (going from the upper leading edge connector to the tow point) and the lower outhaul (going from the lower leading edge connector to the tow point). On most kites, the two outhauls are a single piece of line to which the inhaul leg is attached. This is still a commonly used design.

In the late 1980s the dynamic or turbo bridle started to appear. It differs from the 3 point in that the inhaul is longer than on a 3 point bridle, and the towpoint is located on the inhaul some distance away from the inhaul/outhaul junction. This design allows a much faster turning rate than a 3 point design while still maintaining good precision (straight line control) and forward speed. This in turn allowed kites to be made with much deeper keels than before.

In simple terms, moving the inhaul/outhaul junction provides coarse adjustment to the bridle, wheras moving the towpoint along the inhaul provides a much finer adjustment.

For even more information on bridle designs and adjustments, check out Andy Wardley's site

Kevin

Willunga, S.A.

[Must86]

Hi Mat,

I've found with most of my kites that once I find the right adjustment for the bridle that suits me, I just leave it there. There seems to be a sweet spot that works through out the wind range of any given kite. This works for all of my Prism kites, new and old. Kites like the Sea Devil and Fearless, they say to never adjust, just fly the kite out of the box, the way that Lam sent it. The only European kite that I have is a Gemini, and I've never had to adjust the bridle on it since I got it.

This is just me, but whenever I've messed with the bridle, I always end up putting it back to the way it was.

~Rob.

[ozzymat]

You are right Rob with the E2 I found two spots on the upper haul I like to fly with, one for light winds <5mph and one for stronger winds.

The Diablis is real nice in light winds with the factory settings but after about 10mph its gets difficult to fade or roll up, most of the problem is poor technique and my reflexes so I am hoping to find a happy medium.

Also I am a curious person by nature and I find all this bridle stuff interesting.

To confuse matters even further for me last weekend I made up some brakes (Wah Pads?) from an article on the Internet and tried them out on the E2 in about 18 mph winds with surprising results so now I have two options on winder days.

Has anyone else experimented with brakes I would be interested in how their affect some of the tricks or if I am wasting my time with them.

http://www.kites.org/kitesandmusic/workshop.htm

Thanks Kevin for your explanation and link.

Cheers

Mat

[KaoS]

Air brakes, wah pads, fuzzy lines, etc. are all good for slowing kites down in strong wind. Some also reduce the amount of pull on the lines, and all of them reduce the width of the wind window. I've experimented with pretty much all of them over the years and have found them to be a compromise when trying to perform tricking.

Exactly how each accessory affects a kite is very kite dependent. Some kites seem to do pretty well with brakes between the standoffs, some are better with them below the tail, etc.

A well designed vented kite flies much better than the standard version that has some form of air brakes.

Kevin

Willunga, S.A