This tutorial looks at front stalling and how to avoid it.
A front stall is where your kite drops or flies towards you.
Normally the apparent wind pressures the underside of the canopy, more than the topside.
Lifting the kite and keeping line tension.
However, in a few situations, that wind might stop, or the apparent wind might pressure
the topside of the canopy more than the underside.
This starts the kite flying towards you.
The lines become completely slack and you loose steering control.
Most front stalls, however, are so small you might not even notice them.
The kite drifts back and recovers automatically.
In some situations front stalls will be bigger and harder to deal with.
These are often called Hindenburgs.
It is possible to regain control after your lines go completely slack, if you move quickly.
As soon as you spot the center lines loosing tension, move upwind and away from the kite,
to straighten out the lines.
This can be done on foot or while riding.
The sooner you straighten the lines the better, otherwise a tangle may occur.
As always, you need to be ready with your chicken loop eject in case a tangled line
or bridle starts steering your kite.
It’s important to remember that it’s often not possible to regain control after a big
front stall.
The kite could drop anywhere and your lines could become tangled.
Because it’s often not possible to fix a front stall, it is best that you learn how
to prevent them.
So now we’ll look at the different causes of front stalls, and how to avoid them.
Very light wind is a common cause of front stalling.
If the wind drops too much, the kite might not be able to lift its own weight.
To avoid this you need to monitor line tension.
When your kite has excess lift, you will feel this as tension in the center lines.
When the kite’s lift is disappearing, you will feel the center line tension disappearing.
You then need to steer to get the kite moving and regain line tension.
If the wind is just a few knots, you may have to keep the kite moving at all times.
Gusty wind can also cause front stalls.
The wind could drop suddenly.
Or it could shift direction and pressure the top of the kite.
Here for example, the wind direction is shifting significantly which blows the kite towards
the rider.
This happened because of the wind obstacles directly upwind of the kite.
This is why kiters look for wind that approaches over open ocean or smooth ground.
It’s best to avoid gusty areas in the first place, however, if you are suddenly faced
with gusty conditions, there are a few ways to handle it.
Try to avoid parking your kite at 12.
A kite front stalling from 12 can drop anywhere in the window, and is very unpredictable.
Whereas a kite front stalling from 45 degrees is a bit more predictable and typically drifts
back a short distance into the window.
Also, with the kite on your side, it makes it easier for you to move away and regain
line tension.
Next, if you do need to ride through a gusty area, bear in mind that you are less affected
while moving.
The true wind stays gusty of course.
But if you are moving consistently, this creates a consistent headwind.
The gusty true wind and the clean head wind, combine to slightly improve the predicability
of the overall apparent wind.
Basically, it’s almost impossible for a kite to front stall while you’re riding
crosswind or while you’re moving the kite around.
If your kite does front stall in these situations, then the wind conditions are probably not
acceptable.
Another potential cause of front stalling, is riding too quickly downwind or towards
your kite.
Your lines will go slack if you manage to ride closer to your kite.
This can happen on a foil board if you aim it downwind for too long.
There is so little drag on a hydrofoil, it can easily close in on the kite.
This can also happen when landing at great speed, especially after looping.
Luckily there is an easy fix if you notice you are closing in on your kite.
At first you will see your center lines bowing.
As soon as you notice, start carving your board upwind and away from the kite.
Because of your high board speed, you should be able to straighten the lines out quickly.
Be ready to use your chicken loop eject, of course, in case a line or bridle became tangled
in the process.
Another cause of frontstalling is when a kite flies beyond the edge of the wind window.
Once a kite passes the edge of the window, the top of the canopy can be exposed to the
wind.
This can be caused by gusty, turbulent wind as we have seen.
However, the most common way people encounter an overfly is after a jump.
The apparent wind rises as you descend, which allows the kite to fly onto your upwind side.
This can be fixed using some well-timed steering to get your kite back on your downwind side.
How to deal with this is covered extensively in the jumping tutorials.
Interestingly, if the wind is extremely light, just 3 or 4 knots, you can even cause an overfly
simply by sitting down.
As you sit down the apparent wind is rising of course, so the kite overflies.
Yet again, steering can be used to keep the kite on your downwind side as you sit.
Most mainstream kites have been tested extensively and developed to resist frontstalls.
In half decent wind the kite should not be dropping and should recover from moderate
front stalls.
To film these front stalls we either used wind obstacles to create gusty wind, or we
pulled the center lines to force the kite to fly forwards beyond the edge of the wind
window.
If your kite does front stall a lot in okay wind, then there may be a problem.
It could be that your kite has been poorly repaired, or perhaps it’s an old design,
or an obscure or new brand without extensive testing.
The kite shapes video explains a bit more about what makes a stable kite.
Good luck learning to deal with front stalls.
Thanks for watching and safe kiting.