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Demystifying Design: Kites
By Paul Lang

It never fails. Whenever we bring new gear to the beach to test out, it feels like we’re immediately surrounded by people who like to comment on how it will or won’t work based entirely on how it looks. Everybody seems to have a different opinion on how the kite will perform based on the size of the leading edge, the length of the bridles, how rigid the kite feels, the number of struts, and anything else they can point out.
Now be honest: Do you really know what any of the visual clues on a new kite actually tell you about how it rides? I’ll admit that I don’t have a clue when it comes to the subtle visual clues that you can find on a kite, so we decided to ask the designers to let us know what we can expect to learn by looking at a piece of gear.

Remember, there is no substitute for actually riding a kite to find out if it’s the one for you, but hopefully the information here will help you know what you can expect from a new piece of gear.
What are the most obvious visual clues on a kite that might tell you a bit about how it will perform?

“You can look at the aspect ratio (AR). High AR means a punchy kite that flies to the edge of wind window. Low AR leads to constant power and a kite that sits deeper in the window,” Peter Stiewe, Best Kiteboarding.

“The bigger the kite, the more aerodynamically efficient it needs to be in order to perform well. Therefore, larger kites should have a really good match between leading edge arc and trailing edge arc. In smaller kites, too much aerodynamic efficiency makes them hard to handle and gives them a harsh feel. In those sizes we intentionally cause a bit of a mismatch between leading edge arc and trailing edge arc specifically to take the edge off the kite’s handling,” Ken Winner, North Kiteboarding.

“I would say look at its overall outline. For example a kite with a more compact look (lower Aspect Ratio) should tend to turn faster, be more forgiving, and should be easy to jump. A higher aspect ratio kite should make longer jumps and be more efficient,” Damien Girardin, Naish Kiteboarding.

“The most obvious clue is the general shape of the kite, meaning how “C’d” up the hoop shape is, the amount the LE is swept back (the amount of rake), and also the wingtip shape. Generally, the more C-shape a kite is, the less depower it has, and the kite will have a tendency to carve through turns. The more open a kite is, the more depower potential it has and the kite will pivot in turns more. Lots of rake in the LE tends to mean that the kite will depower more than a kite with little rake. A fuller, squarer wingtip will usually mean that the kite will carve through turns versus a pointier, narrower wingtip which would tend to pivot more through turns,” Amery Bernard, Slingshot Kiteboarding.

“Look at the arc shape of the kite and how swept back the wingtips are. This would give you hints on how the kite basically flies and turns,” Julien Fillion, Liquid Force Kiteboarding.

How does the size of the leading edge affect the kite’s characteristics?

“Generally, a big LE diameter means more stability and a slower turning kite that flies deeper in the window. A small LE diameter means a less stable but faster turning kite,” Peter Stiewe.

“Several companies increase the size of the LE at the end of the design process when the bridle geometry is not adequate to hold the arc of the LE in place. This will definitely slow down the speed at which the kite flies across the wind window, but most importantly this will add lots of weight on the front top axis section of the kite and make it less stable, increasing the tendency for it to fall light wind. On the other hand, some of the high performance kites out there are equipped with a very solid bridle structure, and for this reason have a much smaller LE, which creates good speed and a lightweight feel, but it could make the kite overfly and difficult to relaunch. My goal is usually to find the middle ground between LE size, weight, and bridle arc structure,” Julien Fillion.

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