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I'm curious as to what or how people gauge power. When do you adjust your trim, swap boards, and or to a different kite?

You just know.

A bit surprised over that question, when not coming from a newbee

Pj sofine actually said it right though.

But if I should give my motivation, when on a waveboard:

Generally, if i pull the depower strap more than a certain amount (the bigger the kite the bigger the margin) when going straight, i just know it is time to change down
And if powered fully up, and upwind slow, it is time to rig bigger. Although one often continue slightly underpowered because of lazyness if the session is almost over for the day.

The target sweet spot for all my kites in waves is when the kite is just a tad depowered on the trim (not at the kites max power) where it is perfect.
It will turn fast even when leaning forward and depowered more, fully sheeted out (in contrast to if it has been initially trimmed down more), and it will never backstall when you pull the bar either, and upwind is fast.

Peter

Well Peter I have a hunch that most people don't fully understand how a kite works. I'm more interested in what mechanism people use to determine what the power is. I personally gauge my power off of my board speed and how easy it is to control it.

TheJoe wrote:Well Peter I have a hunch that most people don't fully understand how a kite works. I'm more interested in what mechanism people use to determine what the power is. I personally gauge my power off of my board speed and how easy it is to control it.

When i lose control of the board and have too much speed, and start to put my kite up too high.

But as I posted in the other thread, I just put my kite down at that point.

If I have been kiting a lot, I can hold my ground longer, but to me its about keeping the edge and control. For example, after landing a jump/trick with speed... If it takes me too long to be able to edge again.

I think I play it too safe sometimes and could actually keep kiting, but am past the bravado stage by 15 years.

Also, depending on the spot the range gets expanded. If I am kiting at the flat water spot... I can hold my edge better, and continue to have fun (my flat water spot does not have any downwind objects to worry about).

In the other thread I asked you TheJoe, do you understand that the trim on the RPM affects its behavior more than trimming the Rally? (I think you fly SS??? from past threads and photos)

Regards,

personnaly i tend to rig a smaller size when all i´m able is to keep my edge but start feeling too pussy to go for anything unhook.

on the trim i often give a bit of depower whenever i have a long up-wind waiting for me (and i tend to down-wind a lot in my sessions), and take it out when it´s playtime again

guess this may mean i tend ride too much sheet-in (?), never put much though on this..

JRFIOL

I fly Fuels. I don't think I have used the Rally other than the Turbine once. I have tried RPM's a couple of times but not enough to really know the kite. I might be switching to them just for our gusty wind vs my age lol.

underpowered : cant go upwind no juice
powered : jump and pop
lit: too much to unhook but can still ride hooked in
overpowered: kite picks you up anytime it's overhead so you can't make upwind progress

depends on what you're doing as for when you switch kites, if you are unhooked you have to switch kites earlier if you are doing a jesus walk you have to be lit. Fuels have a pretty narrow wind range so I dont adjust the trim.

Tiago1973 wrote:personnaly i tend to rig a smaller size when all i´m able is to keep my edge but start feeling too pussy to go for anything unhook.

on the trim i often give a bit of depower whenever i have a long up-wind waiting for me (and i tend to down-wind a lot in my sessions), and take it out when it´s playtime again

guess this may mean i tend ride too much sheet-in (?), never put much though on this..

Nope, I dont think you dont ride "too much sheet-in".

I think most does exactly as you, at least in waves.

Powered okay when going DTL, and then depower on the trim for the longer upwind tacks, as you can ride MUCH more natural and relaxed when leaning back on upwind legs, and a kite has to be depowered more in order to go max upwind also

But when riding waves, you can not ride with the bar pulled towards you, if you wanna ride "free" and natural/relaxed, together with the fact that you often want more power when riding WITH the wind, as the windspeed decreases now - or you want to back the kite in perfect position.

Peter

I've seen kooks on KF who say "if you have to trim your kite, you need to change sizes" which kind of baffles me. You have multiple knots on your kite and a trim strap for a reason

I always keep it trimmed so that I can ride comfortably with the bar all the way in, so I can just unhook and pop. When it gets to the point where I start getting pulled downwind when I sheet in, I size down

I'm still getting used to hatteras conditions, but at 140 lbs on my Envys that basically comes down to about:

12m: 10 to 16 knots
9m: 15 to 21 knots
7m: 20 to ?? knots

anything above those top ranges are just boost sessions