There are numerous skills that will help you kite in lighter wind.
First we’ll look at getting the most power from your kite.
We start here because pretty much all beginners have a tendency to oversheet - pulling in
the steering lines too much. This happens because beginners think they
need to trim for full power, shortening the steering lines compared to the center lines.
And, they instinctively want to keep the bar in for extra power.
The result is that the steering lines are pulled in way too much.
This creates extra drag on the kite, which slows it down in light wind.
A slow moving kite has less air flow and less pull.
Eventually too much steering tension can cause the kite to backstall completely.
To see what this does to a kite’s power, let’s compare 2 different power dives, both
filmed in 6 to 7 knots of wind. In example 1, the kite is trimmed for full power.
The bar is in at all times.
You can see the kite moves slowly, and does not pull the rider far.
In example 2, the kite is depowered. The bar is out a little.
The kite moves freely and quickly. You can see that this gets the rider moving
easily even in light wind. In summary, when the wind is light you must
focus on getting the kite moving quickly. If the kite is slowing, don’t pull in the
bar, push out the bar and steer. Let’s look closer at those 2 waterstarts.
Here’s the one where the kite is being slowed. The kite does pick up the rider, but only
at a low board speed. At such low board speeds there is far more
drag from the water. Therefore, the rider sinks and has to power
dive again and again and again. Ultimately, they slowly grind downwind.
Let’s compare that to the waterstart where the kite moves quickly.
The rider quickly reaches an efficient riding speed.
With the board moving faster, it sits higher in the water and has far less drag.
The kiter can easily ride now with the kite parked, no more power dives are required.
For best results, the board is aimed slightly downwind while building speed.
Then as soon as speed is achieved the rider edges crosswind then slightly upwind.
You don’t want to keep riding downwind once you have good board speed, as you will head
towards the kite and reduce your line tension. Another tip to get more out of the board,
is to try to use more of it. If you are back-foot heavy, the tail will
sink into the water, using slightly less of the board and creating more drag.
If you shift a little weight to the front foot, you can use more of the board, ride
higher in the water and reduce drag. Of course, swapping to a larger board will
automatically help you ride higher in the water.
If the wind is extremely light a top tip is to keep your kite dry.
In marginal conditions once the kite touches the water the added weight upon the kite can
make it too heavy to fly. The following skills will help you keep your
kite high and dry. In light wind front stalling is a common way
that people’s kites drop. As your kite slows down at the edge of the
wind window it will have a bit less pull. If there’s a drop in the wind, the kite
could fall from the sky. To avoid this, you need to monitor your line
tension. When you feel plenty of tension in the center
lines that means the kite is producing surplus lift.
But when line tension drops, that lift is disappearing.
If you do notice the center lines loosing tension, you need to steer to keep the kite
moving. A slow consistent movement should maintain
your kite’s line tension even in a few knots of wind.
The lighter the wind the more important your own movement becomes.
Moving upwind, or riding upwind, will create extra apparent wind.
Moving downwind, on the other hand, will loose apparent at the kite.
So, if you’re walking your kite upwind, in light wind conditions, you’ll probably
find the kite feels more solid in the air. If you need to walk downwind, however, you
should be weary. Rather than walking downwind, it’s better
to steer the kite a bit and have the kite pull you slowly downwind.
This maintains line tension and control over the kite.
This also applies to riding or body dragging in light wind.
If you bodydrag slightly upwind, this will help maintain line tension while you’re
moving. If you bodydrag downwind the kite is more
likely to drop … so you need to steer it to maintain line tension.
Another way to make use of apparent wind, is by pulling your center lines.
If the kite won’t fly forwards because the wind is too light, you can push the bar out
and pull the center lines while also moving upwind.
This creates lots of extra apparent wind on the kite.
Of course this shouldn’t be done in stronger conditions.
In extremely light wind the angle of your kite becomes more important.
Your kite is far more likely to drop if you park it close to the ground.
There are 2 reasons for this. Low down there is generally a bit less wind.
Drag over the water or land can slow down the lowest levels of wind, and higher up the
wind isn’t impeded. This is known as the wind gradient.
The other reason, is that at low angles you are using less of the canopy for lift, and
more of the canopy for sideways pull. With less lifting canopy, it’s more likely
that the weight of the kite can exceed its lift.
Keeping your kite a bit higher can definitely provide extra lift.
Also, being a little higher leaves space to steer down and up to regain your line tension.
When the wind is extremely light, you will notice a kite dives down more easily than
it climbs up. When climbing it has to fight against gravity.
You can create apparent wind to help a kite climb.
Or, if the kite is low and dropping, and the wind is really light, then a downloop is a
highly effective way to save it. Because you are steering down and working
with gravity the kite picks up speed and regains control more quickly.
These low-angle light-wind issues can also scupper a launch.
It’s common to see something like this. To avoid this, walk a bit further upwind and
angle your kite further downwind. Keep walking upwind until you feel line tension
and see the kite pushing forwards. You can even keep walking upwind as the kite
is launched to help it climb. This launch was done in just 3 knots.
As you can see light wind kiting gets pretty technical.
So is it really worth the hassle? I would say that absolutely these are some
of the most important skills you can pick up in your first few years of kiting.
This is because it’s really the best way to understand what makes your kite work.
What makes it stall? What makes it fly? How to spot when it’s going to stall?
And you can learn all of this without the risks of stronger wind.
Also, you never know when the wind might drop on you.
And if you have these skills you’ll be able to get back to the beach.
And if you don’t have these skills you’ll get stuck in the water and be in for a long
swim. Then once you master light-wind kiting, you
can have some of your best sessions without much wind.
Whether that’s unhooking, or foiling, or cruising in tropical conditions.
Of course, when you’re learning these skills there’s a chance the kite can go down.
So stay close to shore. And there’s a chance the kite might knock
you over. So look for at least knee deep water.
Thanks for watching and safe kiting to all of you