Power Stroke technique in light wind

[artificialname]

What different power strokes are recommended in light wind, underpowered? What’s the most efficient?

I’ve tried
Vertical oval, turning low to the ground, in the middle of the plower zone, with all my weight supported by my back hand during the turn

Initiating the ellipse at 12, or at 2 (behind me)

Vertical figure 8

Horizontal figure 8

Down loop

Which would be the most efficient?

Are there other techniques?

[Peter_Frank]

There are a huge number of different techniques.

And not the same are the best, as it depends on the conditions and type of board and line length and kite type and kite weight and so many things.
Different what will work the best.

By far the most important thing though, is SHEETING.

You have to learn to sheet out and in at exactly the right moments, and gradually so you dont choke the kite nor waste power - a hairline fine touch and takes years to learn.

One can not say in general what works the best, sorry to say.
Apart from you should never turn fast, gentle arcs no matter which type of path you fly.

But you will gradually learn to sheet perfectly, and coordinate your sheeting with the kite position.

A delicate touch is needed, but it will come.

The path you fly the kite is IMO the least important.

Although there is a reason it is called "Sinus'ing", as you fly the kite in curves up and down like a sinus curve, in order to get more power when wind too light.
Just dont turn too tight at the bottom and top, and dont fly the kite too low before up again either, not efficient at all.
Then you are on the right path, and try to "feel" how to sheet the kite, for maximum power

Peter

[FLandOBX]

In very light wind, board position becomes much more important than in moderate or strong wind. When the wind is light, you need to ride more upright and your board needs to be relatively flat, but you'll still need to maintain a delicate heel-side edge to stay up wind. There is a fine balance, but make sure to avoid leaning too far back or trying to edge too hard when the wind gets light. Once you develop light wind board skills, you may find that your kite work becomes easier.

[artificialname]

Just dont turn too tight at the bottom and top, and dont fly the kite too low before up again either,

Peter

I thought tight low turns was where all the power is! And I thought sheeting out all the way was ideal! I’ll try your advice, thanks.

[artificialname]

There are a huge number of different techniques.

Peter

Peter does your advice relate to a light wind water start or light wind planing? I presume during the water start you want to do tight turns?

[grigorib]

Add line extensions - to end up with 30-40m lines length and that will have major positive impact. Jerking that kite on short lines just doesn’t help as much.
And yes, loop a lot and depower kite using trimmer to prevent choking it

[edt]

the tighter you turn the kite the more you spill power. So if you turn it from left to right to left to right, right at the moment when the kite changes direction you spill most of the power. If you loop the kite (down loop or up loop doesn't matter), the tighter your loop the more power you are spilling. So first of all it seems obvious that a loop will be the most efficient way to start as you aren't dumping power changing direction. Not only that you want the loop to be as large as possible. What does this mean practically? Practically if your kite is at 45 degrees in front of you, then you will want to use a kite loop to start. If on the other hand your kite is behind you by 45 degrees you want to downloop it. If the kite is in front of you and you begin a down loop you have to turn it pretty hard in order to complete the loop so in order to reduce the amount of turning input, you want to start the loop on the other side and let the kite go all the way across that way the curve can be more gentle. After the first loop is over, continue with another loop. You want the kite to go as far up in the sky as possible and as close to the water as possible as this gives you the most gentle loop and dumps the least amount of power. As long as you keep the general principle in mind, that is turning the kite dumps power, you can sine it, down loop it, up loop it, whatever you like. I don't have any advice for sheeting as that depends on which kite you have.

[alekbelia]

With kiteloops it should be clear that different parts of the loop can produce different power that we can get from the kite. We get maximum power when the kite moves as fast as possible. With normal line lengths this occurs at the bottom of the kiteloop. These are the impulses in a single kiteloop.
If we want sustained power, we start with one kiteloop and then rotate two consecutive kiteloops in the opposite direction, then 2 again in the original direction. This is often used in snowkiting when climbing a slope.

[Herman]

Lots of good advice above, but I would not get too hung up on not turning the kite hard. Sometimes you need to turn the kite hard and then sheet out in order to have the Kite develop power in the position which produces pull in the direction that is needed. Having the pull where you want it is more than half the battle imho!!

Tô develop the skills required learn to fly loops in different parts of the window and different shaped loops across the window. Also practice sheeting in hard to back the kite into the window, then sheet out to let the kite run to the edge of the window, just before the kite stops turn it hard and low then sheet out to fly it fast and low across the window whilst searching for the optimum sheeting angle for max pull - good for changing tacks.

Direction of pull can be just as important as strength of pull. For water starting reduction of your body’s moment of inertia, ie ball up, is also critical, a J (on its side) shaped backloop is good for starting but you may need to point a little more downwind than usual. ( If using a big foil, backing it down and just letting it fly up can give you a waterstart. )

[Regis-de-giens]

from my experience in marginal winds on foilkite, the optimum kite piloting during waterstart (" ass off water" phase) depends on a lot of things like Peter said, I agree with all of them, and we can include rider's weight (lower marginal wind than heavier rider so kite odes not behaves the same); overall a very good loop technics is almost similar as a very good technics of "sinusoids + dive down" ...

About kite type and designs, for example with my Roam Aluula , "sinusoids + dive down" (with Leading Edge not only downward but even a bit backward during dive down because Roam is very agile) is clearly better ; with my Pulsion, slower but good power during loop, a loop is a bit better, with my Elf Joker5, loop is a bit better if well timed.

It is however great to work both technics because depending on the combination wind instant peak vs kite position and speed in the window, you shall play with all technics when you "know your kite".