Olly Bridge on Flysurfer?

[Bletti]

Love this picture !

It seems you don't need a BS ultralight carbon bar to win races !

I agree, the wichard shackle setups people are coming up with for racing seem unecessary. Especially sjnce many dont have a leash line at all.

I noticed one of the top racers was using the standard ozone bar. I asked him if he thought of going to a shackle setup to get more bar throw. He said the last time he raced with Johnny Heineken, Johnny was using the stock ozone bar. If it's good enough for Johnny, he figures, it's good enough for him

I've been told one of the reasons some use carbon bars is the travel weight limits. If you have multiple bars with different line lengths, carbon will save you a few kgs potentially. But I think it's a bit ridiculous.

[cglazier]

...Especially sjnce many dont have a leash line at all.

In the races I have been in we were required to have a kite leash for obvious safety reasons.

[Jerome Bonieux]

Olly is also riding a hybrid version of the click bar. Hybrid because it has both the click and the normal cleat trim.
The idea is to use the cleat for the big depower changes which must happen quickly and use the click for fine tuning.
Example: each kite size, depending on the wind strength, might have a perfect "full power setting"
You want to lend on this perfect full power position when you tack the upwind buoy and uncleat your trim line.
Before the race start, you run a couple downwind trials by having your cleat in full power position and fine tuning through the click system.
For this to work, you must have before hand set your bar so that when in full power on your cleat, bar pullled in all the way and all lines equal length, your click system is midway through its range.
This way you have 8.5cm which you can either shorten or lengthen your back lines. (total range of the click is 17cm)
It's certainly not what got him to finish first, I've heard the new Sonic's are better than the other foils, and Olly himself is a machine!! But it certainly helps being perfectly in tune with your kite.
I have a feeling that we will see more and more click bars being used this way

Thanks for the insight Jerome !

I had the impression it was a sort of click bar but I was not sure as it was not black/dark grey as the retail one.

Does it also have the auto-unwinding of the front lines ?

It is just a proto click bar with different colours.
This is not a model that North intends to sell, just Olly wanting to have the features of the click bar on his race bars.
He simply removed the normal tubing and replaced with dyneema lines with cleat, so no, it doesn't have the auto-unwinding in this configuration... although the ceramic bearings on the click bar's chicken loop work so well that it wouldn't surprise me if the torsion on the dyneema line would be enough to untwist the front lines..
But then again, who knows.. if Olly reckons this is the way forward for race bars, North might be interested to propose such a model? I don't have the answer to that, I guess time will tell..

[Tone]

Olly is also riding a hybrid version of the click bar. Hybrid because it has both the click and the normal cleat trim.
The idea is to use the cleat for the big depower changes which must happen quickly and use the click for fine tuning.
Example: each kite size, depending on the wind strength, might have a perfect "full power setting"
You want to lend on this perfect full power position when you tack the upwind buoy and uncleat your trim line.
Before the race start, you run a couple downwind trials by having your cleat in full power position and fine tuning through the click system.
For this to work, you must have before hand set your bar so that when in full power on your cleat, bar pullled in all the way and all lines equal length, your click system is midway through its range.
This way you have 8.5cm which you can either shorten or lengthen your back lines. (total range of the click is 17cm)
It's certainly not what got him to finish first, I've heard the new Sonic's are better than the other foils, and Olly himself is a machine!! But it certainly helps being perfectly in tune with your kite.
I have a feeling that we will see more and more click bars being used this way

Thanks for the insight Jerome !

I had the impression it was a sort of click bar but I was not sure as it was not black/dark grey as the retail one.

Does it also have the auto-unwinding of the front lines ?

It is just a proto click bar with different colours.
This is not a model that North intends to sell, just Olly wanting to have the features of the click bar on his race bars.
He simply removed the normal tubing and replaced with dyneema lines with cleat, so no, it doesn't have the auto-unwinding in this configuration... although the ceramic bearings on the click bar's chicken loop work so well that it wouldn't surprise me if the torsion on the dyneema line would be enough to untwist the front lines..
But then again, who knows.. if Olly reckons this is the way forward for race bars, North might be interested to propose such a model? I don't have the answer to that, I guess time will tell..

And if North DO make it, it will cost a fortune.

[socommk23]

Love this picture !

It seems you don't need a BS ultralight carbon bar to win races !

I agree, the wichard shackle setups people are coming up with for racing seem unecessary. Especially sjnce many dont have a leash line at all.

I noticed one of the top racers was using the standard ozone bar. I asked him if he thought of going to a shackle setup to get more bar throw. He said the last time he raced with Johnny Heineken, Johnny was using the stock ozone bar. If it's good enough for Johnny, he figures, it's good enough for him

Some people use the witchard setup for racing as it can bring the bar setup towards the body, reducing the reach for short arms.