Depower Explained
Bars, De-Power And Safety Systems Explained
Popular queries occur when people want to change over from handles to a bar; often there is confusion as to how to transfer or what system to use. Especially when the term de-power is misused.
So if someone is flying a Frenzy for instance and talks about the fact their kite depowers. They are on about changing the angle of attack that the kite flies at, this in effect means they are changing the whole angle of the wing against the wind.
When you usually brake a kite with brakes on handles you only affect the shape of the trailing edge slightly, this is not what depowering a kite is.
On the Frenzy the brake/back lines go to the end of the bar, and the power/front lines go to the middle of the bar; by pulling in the bar it alters the angle the kite flies (by a pulley system at the kite end) and this causes the kite to be "powered" up. And therefore when you push the bar away it "reduces" the kites power.
Now say you had a Blade III 4.9M if you wanted to fly the kite on the bar you would have a few options; either a two line bar a three line bar, or a four line bar.
In all of those setups the main lines attach to the end of the bar leaders; if you are just riding on the two lines there is no effective means of safety and as such this method is not reccomended. If you use a safety system with brakes the safety line is usually attached to the wrists:
- On a three line system there is a line connecting the brakes together with a pulley coming off there, to a single line coming down through the bar to a wrist safety.
- On a four line system the two lines come from the brakes down towards the bar and near the bar are attached to a line on a pulley, then one line from there goes to a wrist safety (like the flexifoil system)
So to summarise just adding a bar to a kite does not mean it becomes a de-powerable kite; a kite with a fixed bridle cannot become a true depowerable kite unless the bridle is modified. This did occur with the Blade II, a kit called a "VPS" (Variable Power System) was released as a retrofit. This kit only applies to the Blade II, as no such kit was released for the later Blades, though the new BladeIV has a form of variable power settings that can be used on bars or handles.
Here is a list giving examples of the types of bridled and non-bridled kites :
Most four line kites have bridles, the majority have a fixed bridle (eg the Blade), some have de-power bridles (eg the Frenzy), and others have no bridles (eg the Arc).
Fixed Bridles:
The Fixed bridle system keeps the kite at a constant angle to the flying lines, this means there is no way to power and de-power it gradually, if you pull the brakes, it’ll fall out of the sky with no power.
De-Power Bridles:
Most De-Power bridles work on the basis that they alter the kites angle of attack to the wind hereby altering the projected area the wind is pushing against to create pull, therefore the kite is de-powered.
No Bridles:
The Arc’s, Guerilla’s and Bomba’s are the only non bridled foils on the market at the moment, they work on the same principle as the De-Powerable kites by altering the angle of attack. They have carbon rods along the tips, lines are attached to each end of the battens and the AoA is altered by the movement of the bar in and out in relation to the chicken loop.
