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Bar too far away

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Da Yoda
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Re: Bar too far away

Postby Da Yoda » Tue May 17, 2016 7:16 pm

snmhanson wrote:I am a relatively new kiteboarder and it often feels that my bar is too far away from me. It seems I have to either sheet in too much to keep my hands on the bar, or bend at the waist and reach for the bar to be able to keep my hands on it. This is more pronounced when I am overpowered of course since I want to lean back more and sheet out at the same time, but even when I am just fully powered it can happen. Can anyone tell me if this is due to how I am setting my kite up or does it have more to do with my form?
In your signature, you have "Gear" indicated as North, so my first recommendation is to adjust the depower throw on your North bar. Here's a good tutorial on how to do it (it's for 2016 bars but is applicable to older bars):





Some have mentioned to replace the loop. This can be done is some cases, but it can lead to other issues. North does not offer smaller CLs that I'm aware of nor is their CL adjustable, so you're best option is to adjust the reach. :thumb:

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Re: Bar too far away

Postby snmhanson » Tue May 17, 2016 7:59 pm

Thanks all for the replies. I probably should have done a bit more research and reading before posting as it seems that it is pretty easy to adjust throw - I have last years North bars. I'll work and that and see if it solves the problem.
By looking at the pictures and video, it does seem that by moving the cleat down to decrease the throw I am also going to decrease the sheeting range a bit, is that correct?

Thanks again!

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edt
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Re: Bar too far away

Postby edt » Tue May 17, 2016 8:09 pm

the north bar is very nice you dont lose the total avaliable depower it just transfers to the trim line if you need it. Other bars yes, when you reduce throw you flat out reduce the amount of total depower.

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Re: Bar too far away

Postby dylan* » Tue May 17, 2016 10:05 pm

As usual, Kiteforum is nerding out on the question you asked rather than getting at the answer you likely need.

Since you are a new kiter, I would guess that your posture needs work, unless you are just a very short person with small arms. The standard chicken loops and stock bar throw is good for 99% of kiters.

A big part of kiteboarding is learning how to deal with power. Some kites that have a huge sheetable range really train you to sheet the bar instead of use your board edge, which makes you end up bending at the waist constantly trying to sheet out to kill your power. You really want to make sure that you don't ever bend at the waist; your body should be very close to a straight line from your feet up to your head. Ride with your arms mostly straight and lean back into your harness and let the power flow into your legs, down into your board's edge.

If you're still overpowered riding in this (proper) posture, you can trim the kite more with the depower rope, make your rear lines longer (changing the knots), or rigging a smaller kite.

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Re: Bar too far away

Postby plummet » Tue May 17, 2016 11:27 pm

smaller chicken loop?

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Laughingman
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Re: Bar too far away

Postby Laughingman » Wed May 18, 2016 2:21 pm

dylan* wrote:As usual, Kiteforum is nerding out on the question you asked rather than getting at the answer you likely need.

Since you are a new kiter, I would guess that your posture needs work, unless you are just a very short person with small arms. The standard chicken loops and stock bar throw is good for 99% of kiters.

A big part of kiteboarding is learning how to deal with power. Some kites that have a huge sheetable range really train you to sheet the bar instead of use your board edge, which makes you end up bending at the waist constantly trying to sheet out to kill your power. You really want to make sure that you don't ever bend at the waist; your body should be very close to a straight line from your feet up to your head. Ride with your arms mostly straight and lean back into your harness and let the power flow into your legs, down into your board's edge.

If you're still overpowered riding in this (proper) posture, you can trim the kite more with the depower rope, make your rear lines longer (changing the knots), or rigging a smaller kite.
I already said this (in not so many words) on page 1... should I say as usual someone didn't read the thread? :P

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Re: Bar too far away

Postby dylan* » Wed May 18, 2016 3:10 pm

Yeah and you were right, just felt it needed to be elaborated on since there are so many people trying to convince a beginner to modify his setup :(

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Laughingman
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Re: Bar too far away

Postby Laughingman » Wed May 18, 2016 4:41 pm

Fair enough. Definitely needs to be said again and again.

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edt
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Re: Bar too far away

Postby edt » Wed May 18, 2016 5:05 pm

good reminder from dylan. By the way i was with a lady kiteboarder last week, she was very good intermediate rider and we were out on lake michigan on a pretty big wave day what great fun, so we are riding and eventually she says to me "I have asked everyone and nobody can help me. My throw is too long." She had a north bar and helped her adjust it in about 30 seconds. She had been riding it with the wrong amount of throw for years. I think she must have forgotten that the north bars are easily adjustable. It wasn't too much of a problem for her until the conditions got heavy.

So it's good for people to know both as a beginner it's probably not the bar throw that's the real problem but also important to explain how to shorten the throw if you have short arms. People read these sorts of threads a long time after we are on them, they do a search on this forum to figure stuff out so you want to make sure both things are explained.

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Re: Bar too far away

Postby ThickAir » Wed May 18, 2016 8:46 pm

dylan* wrote: The standard chicken loops and stock bar throw is good for 99% of kiters.
Bullshit. Every single one of my kiting friends adjusts the throw when they get a new bar (North riders, all.)


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