Bar too far away

[snmhanson]

I am a relatively new kiteboarder and it often feels that my bar is too far away from me. It seems I have to either sheet in too much to keep my hands on the bar, or bend at the waist and reach for the bar to be able to keep my hands on it. This is more pronounced when I am overpowered of course since I want to lean back more and sheet out at the same time, but even when I am just fully powered it can happen. Can anyone tell me if this is due to how I am setting my kite up or does it have more to do with my form? I windsurfed for over 20 years before kiting so maybe it's something transferring over from that. In windsurfing I generally used short harness lines as I liked being close to the boom. I guess I could use the trim line and adjust the settings on the kite, but that seems like a band-aid rather than a permanent fix. In any case, I feel like the bar should be closer to my body but can't see a way to make it happen without oversheeting or bending at the waist. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[experienced1]

try replacing your depower loop with a smaller one. Also, not all spread bars hooks are the same; get the shortest one you can find. by doing both you can effectively bring the bar 4" closer
steve

[markchatwin]

What kind of bar is it? And what year?

[Bushflyr]

Rig your back lines an inch or two longer or pull in a bit of front line depower.

[Laughingman]

I am a relatively new kiteboarder and it often feels that my bar is too far away from me. It seems I have to either sheet in too much to keep my hands on the bar, or bend at the waist and reach for the bar to be able to keep my hands on it. This is more pronounced when I am overpowered of course since I want to lean back more and sheet out at the same time, but even when I am just fully powered it can happen. Can anyone tell me if this is due to how I am setting my kite up or does it have more to do with my form? I windsurfed for over 20 years before kiting so maybe it's something transferring over from that. In windsurfing I generally used short harness lines as I liked being close to the boom. I guess I could use the trim line and adjust the settings on the kite, but that seems like a band-aid rather than a permanent fix. In any case, I feel like the bar should be closer to my body but can't see a way to make it happen without oversheeting or bending at the waist. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

#1 If you have too much power and you are force to ride with the bar sheeted way out then you should move to smaller kite. You should be able to ride comfortable powered with the the bar 3" - 4" away from the chickenloop.
#2 Learn to control your speed and power using your board. Your board is the brake.

[ThickAir]

Well-designed bars have adjustable throw. Check your bar's manual to see if/how you can shorten the throw.

[seaplus]

I agree with Laughingman...you're prolly rigging too large a kite. Too big of a kite will also cause your harness to ride up thus increasing the stretch even more.
New kiters like being a tad overpowered when on the water but that tends to cause more disadvantage to your performance/progression.

[matth]

Are you wearing a seat or a waist harness? Seat will keep the bar low and closer to you, a waist will keep it almost as low and close if it is not riding up. If its riding up you need to learn the proper stance to stop this from happening.

[TheJoe]

Your answer is your band aid. Trim the kite that's what it is there for. You trim to move the position of the bar to your comfortable riding position. If it becomes too much then you need to rig to a smaller kite.

Micro trim with the bar for gusts and lulls. Trim with the trim line for the winds your in.

I don't use the trim knots at the kite as they really are not needed. I only use these if my center lines are stretched out to delay tuning my bar.

[edt]

you can adjust the bar for shorter throw. north has a very easy adjustment you just pull at the stopper and adjust it other bars have stoppers too, ozone uses a bolt you screw into the chicken line a bit more clumsy, some bars dont come with a stopper, for instance the naish control bar but you can get a plain old bolt from the hardware store and put it through the chicken line for a stopper. You can also change the chicken loop if you have really short arms, and shorten the chicken loop itself, how hard this is to do depends on the type of control bar, some you just saw off the end and screw it back in place others you have to splice a new chicken line. If you do a quick search of the forum you'll find hundreds of bar mods some people get rid of the spreader bar hook entirely, this brings the control bar even closer to you. I would first try only setting a stopper don't try any of these other mods until you have a few hundred hours on the water that way you aren't constantly modding your bar as your form changes. Once you have your form down you can do more mods that bring the bar exactly to where you want it to be. I don't think there is a huge difference between where the windsurfers and kiteboarders hold their boom/control bar. It should be comfortable.