Over the past years I have gone through an at times frustrating process of figuring out how to keep my foil kites reasonably well tuned. The manufacturers (Flysurfer for me mostly) provide methods to reset the kites, but these do not always work, I therefore had the Idea to start a thread on the topic, to gather general insights and understanding on the topic. Some of what comes forth will be brand or model specific, but most foil kites are made by the same governing principles and have similar line plans.
To give context to the discussion I post here the line plan, for the 10 m2 Flysurfer Soul V1, which is the kite that I have spent the most time trying to figure out (I assume that Flysurfer is ok, with this).
Bridle and flying lines shrink over time. Over time the A row will shrink less and become longer than successively B, C and Z, as A is under more tension when the kite is flying. Generally, this will lead to the kite flying more slowly, with less performance, but possibly with added stability. As the Z-row is connected to the steering-lines the offset will also shift the trim of the kite, making the kite more prone to backstall whit the depower-trim fully extended (full power).
On Flysurfer kites you can use the so called mixertest, to adjust the B and C rows with loops, in nearly all cases C and then B have to be extended, to compensate for the mentioned difference in line-shrinkage. 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.
But what if the standard approach does not restore the kite, or if you want to change the characteristics of the kite? The goal here is to gather insight into how to remedy undesired behavior and to be able to tune the kite towards specific performance.
I am by no means an expert, so feel free to correct me and to contribute any insight or experiences you have on the topic.
I'll add links that are recommended here.
Method to restore the kite by measyring and extending every single bridle line:
viewtopic.php?f=197&t=2410952&p=1147911