dandaka wrote:Peter, thank you for detailed explanation
What about jump on flat water on a wakeboard in a cable park? There is no AOA to change, but you edge and release to get pop. Does it have different mechanism?
I think it is very different, yes.
No expert in this, as I am used to aerodynamics and sailing, but not a cable park specialist, so correct me if I am wrong, but my immediate thoughts would be :
1. Pull from your kite
Not present by means of AOA changes.
But you got a wire that constantly are able to deliver energy and force horizontally, even when airborne.
2. Pull from stretched lines
There COULD be a considerable amount of "spring" effect when you load a long cable wire perpendicular by edging max (not the short wire you hold on to, no spring effect here), so indeed this could be some factor - I dont know...
3. Push from your legs.
Yes, it might be a considerable amount of the typical height you can get in a cable park - but maybe not used as I think step 4 means almost everything.
4. Small kicker from wake under your board.
The "pop" in wakeboarding (not really a "kicker here either", is in contrast to kitesurfing IMO the most contributing factor to height in cable park jumps.
As you can change your kinetic energy to height.
First you increase the kinetic energy by going faster and faster by edging and going from the center towards the side, and the cable will supply sufficient force giving you the extra energy.
And then you can convert this higher kinetic energy to height, by means of the pendulum effect you get when you leave the water in a motion "away" from the cable.
(this is just like when you ride on a swing or hold on to a rope fixed in a tree, so easy to understand)
5. Your body as spring, that contracts and extends
As said before - not acting like a spring, but you can supply a lot of energy/height with your body movements too, especially at these lower heights we are talking about.
So here the edging and direction change/release is the most important IMO, whereas with a kite you got both this effect, but also the major effect by redirecting the kite (or changing AOA by means of "pop", if a parked kite) - thus extremely different
Peter