Tuning of foil kites

[lightandfrost]

Suggest you cross reference this post. It deals with restoring flight performance

viewtopic.php?f=197&t=2410952&p=1147911&

[jbrodin]

Suggest you cross reference this post. It deals with restoring flight performance

viewtopic.php?f=197&t=2410952&p=1147911&

Thanks, link added in the initial post!

[keegster17]

maybe stupid thought but what about soaking the lines in water, so they become free of dirt, that shrinks them?

[kitexpert]

maybe stupid thought but what about soaking the lines in water, so they become free of dirt, that shrinks them?

It is not about dirt but pre-stretch of the lines cancelling itself over time and mechanical stress like going through pulleys.Dirt is only additive of that process

[rnelias]

It may sound a little bit silly but, first of all,

What's the behavior we should expect from a foil kite perfectly tuned?

I mean... are there some simple flying tests to check: stability, speed, folding tips, forward/backstall tendencies, misalignment, etc...?

It would be good, for noobies on foil kites like me, that some experienced kiter explain what we should look for in the first place. Otherwise, we will just blindly follow the FS instructions on how to perform mixer tests...

[jbrodin]

It may sound a little bit silly but, first of all,

What's the behavior we should expect from a foil kite perfectly tuned?

I mean... are there some simple flying tests to check: stability, speed, folding tips, forward/backstall tendencies, misalignment, etc...?

It would be good, for noobies on foil kites like me, that some experienced kiter explain what we should look for in the first place. Otherwise, we will just blindly follow the FS instructions on how to perform mixer tests...

Good point. I can tell, from experience, if a kite deteriorates over time, but that is not the same as having a systematic way of checking the performance. I suppose the best is a back to back test with a well tuned kite of the same model.

[Henk]

The Z-row can be extended to match the A-row again, either with an extension pigtail or by moving the steering lines further out, on the knots inside the bar floaters.

I would suggest to lengthen Z-main instead of lengthening your steering lines. The latter will move the mixer out en therefore limit your depower range. Not a good solution for kiting in low-wind, where you want to prevent a back-stall.