What makes a jump drop fast?

[Jukka]

When things go right, my kite brings me down nice and smooth from my less than 5 m jumps.
Then again sometimes I'm caught going down way too fast for my liking. Not like rock, but too fast, ending in hard landing.

One thought so far is this might be happening when I'm well powered, ride very slow and still get good line tension from edging hard upwind.
This way I can drive the kite far front in the wind window. Combined with low board speed I still go up OK but have the jump almost vertical direction only.

But I don't know if this is the reason and if it is, why? Or something completely different...
...low board speed jumping needing sooner or more aggressive kite re-direct?
...or is it the kite stalling more easily in this situation? I tend to keep bar sheeted in during air time.

What would be the typical things to avoid / correct for fast falling jumps from happening?

[FLandOBX]

When you get good height with your jump, you'll want to make sure to bring the kite back to 12 o'clock by the time you reach your peak. Then keep it at 12 until just before you land, at which point you'll re-direct hard in the direction of travel. If you keep the kite behind you too long, re-direct too soon, or fail to maintain the 12 o'clock kite position while you float back to earth, you'll likely come down too hard.

[Kamikuza]

Some kites don't glide well and need more aggressive redirects or loops for a soft landing.

If you stall the kite, you'll drop. Small foil kites, I'm looking at you.

If you sheet out too much, you'll drop, and if you don't sheet in before you hit you'll hit harder.

There's nothing wrong with falling fast (can be fun) and you can still save the landing . . . just fly the kite.

[foilholio]

Lack of lift

[joriws]

When you are airborne you are pulling your kite with your mass and inertia ie trajectory of riders mass oon fligth path. Very similar to deadman's turn (360 loop) and how it is achieved. It means you can pull your kite past zenith which causes you to drop faster in relatively manner to surface. Airfoil wing loading is the same but apparent AoA to ground is less.

If you analyze jump videos with floaty high jumps you can see that kite never gets past zenith. You'll see that kite stays in high AoA downwind from the jumper.

From this you can think what you need to do.
- time kite input better
- steer kite better
- have slower draggier kite

[alexeyga]

Lack of lift

I'm with stupid!

Thing is - most modern freeride-esque kites nowadays will boost pretty well in their lower-end range without any float to it, so it takes you up really nicely - but then you just fall like a rock. The fact that the industry has been pushing bigger boards lately - doesn't really help the issue either. 139-142cm board for a 200lbs rider is the "normal" range nowadays, though when I was learning - 135 was like "that's one huge board dude!".

So to come back to the original question - get more power into the kite, just because it can get you going - doesn't mean it will have enough lift.

[jumptheshark]

Oversheeting can kill float.

Sheet in like crazy to boost, but let it out a touch to avoid stall while your up there.

[knotwindy]

&/or keep the kite moving. More motion means more lift also.

[ShaveTheWhales]

Jukka

If you want the buttersoft landing - take your kite over to 10oclock, and send it very hard forwards before landing... get the timing right so you'll glide another 5m just above the water. Sweet move

[JakeFarley]

Riding in gusty, high wind conditions with a small kite can be a challenge. You may jump and midair the wind drops enough so that you have a hard landing. A small kite is way more sensitive to wind fluctuations than a larger kite, especially for larger riders.