Will kites in 2020 be drastically different?

[Johhnn]

The kite will be made from graphene. The lines will be carbon nanowires. The graphene material of the kite will provide electrical power to the control surfaces and dynamically change the wing shape both automatically and according to commands sent from the kiter at the control bar. I don't think we'll get this by 2020, however.

[The Captain]

Mylar skin type high pressure inflatable foil kite that can be filled with helium and is buoyancy neutral (doesn't rise or fall in the air on its own).
Holds its highly efficient, super-high aspect shape perfectly at all times due to the high internal pressure. Oh, and it is super cheaply mass produced by robots and disposable...(maybe with a recycling deposit).

ok, maybe 2021...but could probably be done now.

[Starsky]

Wouldn't that actually be the funniest shit ever. Non porous material leading to the forever joke of helium in kites actually happening..... Back to 7 strut kites to get em as light as possible!!

Someone needs to develop a hard wearing, long lasting ripstop mylar. You know, a cuben fiber 2.0

Then we could have the hellfish 2.0

Kites will take another leap when someone figures out how to leave the bladders and the sewing out of the equation.

[Osprey1]

I wonder when we will be able to 3d print kites.

[flyingcamel]

single skin is great technology and probably the best thing you can use for light wind other than a true race foil. its probably the one that will get the most improvement.

shapes will stay close to the same with tweaks here and there but the materials will be different as stated before. Maybe some new stitching techniques, placements like "pure profile panels" or the load frame that air rush uses on the lithium. more cell counts on foils and user friendliness. more "niche" riding style specific kites

[Blackrat]

anyone tried pumping a kite with helium ?

[pstkk]

Future kite racing could be made more spectator friendly if kites were filled with hydrogen and the riders given roman candles.

[pmaggie]

I think that "drastically" is not correct if you're speaking about a sport that is now "adult". Drastic changes normally appear in the first years of a new sport, when quite every day there's something really new and totally innovative on the market.
It sometimes happen that a revolutionary innovation comes out of the hat of a genius but it's quite rare.
Having said that, I think that the sum of small improvements eventually lead to a substantial innovation. I agree that if you buy the V3 this year and the V4 of the same kite next year, the differences can't be great. But if you compare this year model with a 2010 model I'm pretty sure you'll be surprised. It's a matter of habit: as long as our gear get better, we become used to it and we don't remember how exactly the old (I mean 5 or 6 years old) stuff was.
In 2010, I bought a Core Riot XR1 11 mts. Than, in 2011, I bought an XR2 15. I did not find a great difference between the two kites but the Sensor 1 bar was substantially better than the old ESP. In 2015 I bought an XR4 11 and a new Sensor 2 Pro bar and the whole thing was absolutely better than my old XR1 with the EPS bar.
So I think that in 2020 the kites won't be drastically better but they will for sure be better.

[pmaggie]

I think that "drastically" is not correct if you're speaking about a sport that is now "adult". Drastic changes normally appear in the first years of a new sport, when quite every day there's something really new and totally innovative on the market.
It sometimes happen that a revolutionary innovation comes out of the hat of a genius but it's quite rare.
Having said that, I think that the sum of small improvements eventually lead to a substantial innovation. I agree that if you buy the V3 this year and the V4 of the same kite next year, the differences can't be great. But if you compare this year model with a 2010 model I'm pretty sure you'll be surprised. It's a matter of habit: as long as our gear get better, we become used to it and we don't remember how exactly the old (I mean 5 or 6 years old) stuff was.
In 2010, I bought a Core Riot XR1 11 mts. Than, in 2011, I bought an XR2 15. I did not find a great difference between the two kites but the Sensor 1 bar was substantially better than the old ESP. In 2015 I bought an XR4 11 and a new Sensor 2 Pro bar and the whole thing was absolutely better than my old XR1 with the EPS bar.
So I think that in 2020 the kites won't be drastically better but they will for sure be better.

[alamos_kiter]

There's plenty of stuff I could think of. Kites made of high end plastic foils, robot laser cut & welded together, no stitching; revolutionary new designs (like bow kite, high aspect foil, single skin, ... what's next? rigid? a helix instead of a sail?); properly designed bars and harnesses; kite designs & operators working off floating platforms (beach access is an ever growing problem in many areas); kite sleds / boats / whatever you call it, using foils instead of displacement hulls;

Hope there is enough money in the biz to get creative heads upon the job