Balancing kitesurf lines

[ourii]

Hello,
I recently bought my first Kite, a 2nd hand 2011 North EVO.

When I flew it for the first time I realized the kite was always leaning towards one side, so I assumed the lines needed to be compensated.

I have started on the inside lines and there is something I don't understand: while one of the lines seemed to be longer than the other, and I could adjust it with some knots in the middle of one of the lines, every time I change the position of the break one of the lines moves and they get uneven again. So it seems like every time I touch the break the two inside lines get balanced/unbalanced again. If this was normal, the bar would only have one break position which would compensate the two inner lines, making the break not useful.

Am I missing something?

The bar I am using is this one:

[edt]

look up videos on how to tune your bar. Moving the knots is just one step. You want to fix the far end of your lines to a post, then pull hard with the bar, fix any lines that aren't right, and if they are off by just a bit you can stretch the lines by pulling hard. It will take forever to fix if you just put the kite up in the air to fix one line, bring it down send it up bring it down etc. If you fix it on a pole and adjust the lines you will be done in 10 minutes.

[ourii]

Yes, I have been looking at some videos but there is something I don't quite understand yet. If I tune the lines with the bar powered (as said in the videos), then, once I depower with the break, one of the inside lines will be shorter than the other and the kite will be unbalanced. Is this not correct?
I am sure I am missing something but I don't see what it could be.

[edt]

Yes, I have been looking at some videos but there is something I don't quite understand yet. If I tune the lines with the bar powered (as said in the videos), then, once I depower with the break, one of the inside lines will be shorter than the other and the kite will be unbalanced. Is this not correct?
I am sure I am missing something but I don't see what it could be.

That should never happen. Here's what you should see. release the trim and power up. All four lines should be equal. Now take one step forward and watch how much the lines sag. If one sags more than the other one that means one is too long. Grab the one that is too short and tug hard on it until the center lines are exactly equal.


Some control bars don't let you move a knot on a center line so if tugging on it hard doesn't fix it then you can just attach a pigtail to the center line and make them match up.

You don't want to go around fixing your rear lines when the center lines are the problem! Even if the kite doesn't seem to drift to one side, it will be flying crooked in the air and you'll never get any power out of the kite.

[jakemoore]

The break?

If you are talking about the clam-cleat or trim-strap it should shorten the front lines equally at the kite. There may be a 5th line going to the center of the kite or safety line going to one of the front lines. The safety line does become slack when you shorten the trimmer. Most bars have an elastic line to take out the slack.

It would be a good idea to have somebody look at your bar in person.

[edt]

oh right. I looked closer at that bar seems like it's a 2012 mini 5th north control bar. Yeah the "safety" line is never tensioned and it doesn't matter how long it is. For a mini 5th set up you need to look way up the control bar up to where the Y splits and make sure the lines from the high Y are equal. If there's a problem with the Y you need to walk all the way up to where the Y splits and tug on the line there.

[evan]

North doesn’t use a bungee on their flagout line, so when you pull the trim (break??) the flagout line goes slack and your leash is dangling under your chickenloop.

The power lines on a quad bar cannot be uneven by trimming because of the double front line flagout where the flagout line connects to both power lines.
Unless someone converted the bar to the safer single line flagout system.
In that case it could be that the flagout line is too short (it shrinks when getting frayed) or that they didn't put a stopper on the Y-split.

Can you share a picture of where the power lines split?

Evan - Infexion

[Mossy 757]

Sounds like you're limited by a single line flagout. On an Ozone race bar if you try to adjust your trim knot to give too much depower, you're limited by your flagout line and it feels like the front lines are unequal.

Just keep playing with it, it's just string and knots, you should be able to get it once you know how it works.

[edt]

Those old north bars can have uneven center lines. Of course it can't be uneven below the high Y because there's just one line with tension below the high Y and as said above, the slack line doesn't matter that's just the safety line. But above the high Y there are the two lines that separate and attach to the leading edge. If those lines are uneven it can cause the kite to fly crooked and I'm pretty sure that's the problem, but you should be able to see it if you attach the control bar to a post and look at it.

[ourii]

OK, thanks for all the help.

I will try to look at it again tomorrow and upload some pictures to clarify!