Line length, gybing and down-looping

[Pedro Marcos]

"Many racers only do tacks in this wind, for the same reason."

-> I feel exactly the opposite, the wind will become so low that im not able to tack anymore (if i do i wont have enough exit speed, ill touch down, sink and drop my kite), but i still can jibe (barely, but not touching down). Ive heard some guys saying that if they can jibe they can also tack, but also others saying that if the winds get under a certain point they will jibe even at the upwind mark to not risk dropping their kite in a tack.

For me no way i can tack in race gear under 5-6 knots, but i still can jibe in those winds, and keep going in 4 knots. Still need to pratice ALOT in this winds, this is where good racers really impress me, the ability of keeping the speed and nailing maneuvers in very light winds.

[BraCuru]

"Many racers only do tacks in this wind, for the same reason."

-> I feel exactly the opposite, the wind will become so low that im not able to tack anymore (if i do i wont have enough exit speed, ill touch down, sink and drop my kite), but i still can jibe (barely, but not touching down). Ive heard some guys saying that if they can jibe they can also tack, but also others saying that if the winds get under a certain point they will jibe even at the upwind mark to not risk dropping their kite in a tack.

For me no way i can tack in race gear under 5-6 knots, but i still can jibe in those winds, and keep going in 4 knots. Still need to pratice ALOT in this winds, this is where good racers really impress me, the ability of keeping the speed and nailing maneuvers in very light winds.

i do exactly the same. In ultra low wind I don't want to risk a touch down.
Only jibing which is much easier to keep lines tight by applying the right radius of turn. Weaker wind = smaller radius. This formula ensures the board is always airborne.

[Peter_Frank]

Okay, let me rephrase it then:

Some prefer to tack, unfoiling, if too low wind to make a foiling jibe.
As they dont wanna risk getting slack lines.
The start of the tack will be pretty good, as with an 18 or 21 m2 racekite, where you head directly upwind, it gives you a lot of lift even when marginal, thus you can tack quite "safe", eventhough you cant ride out foiling.

A lot safer of course, you wont be foiling around in the tack, but dont risk downing the kite in winds where you can not relaunch it, which can happen if you time a jibe wrong.
But not nearly as satisfactory as IF you succeed a foiling jibe.

You have to start again which can be hard yes, but if we are talking about marginal winds, and not dropping winds, then you gotta start anyways at least one time, and in real life several times as noone can keep foiling for a full session in this wind.

Last resort if wind is dropping even further so you can not foil nor waterstart of course, is to loop the kite and pull yourself and the board ashore - if your gear permits this.
At this point it might be too late though, to keep it flying - and this is where most get a packdown and a swim ashore (or drift if a LEI).
Happens relatively often I can see

Peter

[Pedro Marcos]

Humm, maybe with a big board that is possible but with the race Board if I touch the water in marginal wind there is a big chance I'm swimming. Without having your feet on the ground it's very hard to fly a 21m kite in anything lower than 5-6 knots, and my r1v2 21m it's the most stable kite I have.

Sometimes I can crash and manage to keep my kite flying and able to stall rewaterstart again, but it's way more likely a swim