(Brought this question from another thread into a seperate one)

I have Slingshot 140. The kite has a big tendency (especially in lower winds, but it also happened in stronger 20 knots winds) to overfly me once in the zenith and usually fall out of the sky just a few meters away from me. (At the end, I did not even fly it to a zenith anymore, for example after the fall after jump). Additionaly, the kite is somehow underpowered in lower winds (up to 15knots), although its lower wind range should start from around 12 knots. (I am a 180lbs rider, 184 Takoon Curver desk). Have lengthen the front lines as much as possible with the factory lines.

Any idea on what to do with overflying? (Not just with my slingshot, but also experiance with other brands).

Best Regards,
Damjan

normally overflying occurs when you have too short front lines. The kite needs a bit more power to stay up. Also in gusty conditions the kite wants to move forward and in zenith it will overfly you.
And if the depower lines are too short, it doesn't have any power. So try to lenghten your front lines even more. Just test different setups, you also can make the backlines shorter.

Forget the windranges from the producers, they always write very low winds where it doesn't work (-> liability?)

Toby

You can't say for sure which lines need to be longer (front or back) because different brands are designed to fly completely different. The answer would be the opposite for a Wipika/Takoon vs. a Naish style kite.

The best answer is to say it's a combination of your skills and kite trim. There is a kite trim setting where it would be less likely to fall. You must learn how to adjust the front line strap to find the trim setting where it is least likely to fall. Flying in light winds makes all kite brands more likely to fall. You must learn to recognize when the kite is nearing the point where it might fall and make flight corrections before it becomes critical. This only comes with more skill. Also with more skill, comes the desire to only fly when more powered. This reduces the chances of it falling.

Some kite brands are more resistant to falling, some are worse.

that's not true.
every tubekite, whether naishstyle or wipikastyle tends to overfly you when the frontlines are too short.
and in winds of 20kn, even the 2000 / 2001 tubekites should stand stable.

do u have your adjuster fully opened and are not depowered with the chickenloop?

I agree with murdoc and Toby. If you front lines are too short, this will happen. True some kite brands require different length front and back lines, but even these brands will act this way if those lengths are wrong!

One must be careful about hooking into the chicken loop and then flying the kite to it's zenith while you put the board on or whatever. Especially in light winds, this will cause it to overfly.

Ideally, for your SlingShot, you should take all 4 lines and connect them to something and stretch them out and make sure your front lines and back lines are pretty much equal in length when you are hooked into both the chicken loop and the main loop. If they aren't the same in this position, try adjusting the center line trim to make them so. If it is not possible within the limits of the trim setting, then you need to adjust your line lengths another way and try again.

I wouldn't see why your kite is overflying you in higher winds of 20knot unless you are playing in gusty winds. In gusty winds too this is a common issue. It's really best to follow the second string of advice too and get used to knowing it's coming and turn the kite prior to it happening.

I fly SlingShots and have yet to experience these problems unless I am in really light wind, really gusty wind, or my lines are out of adjustment.

Hope this helps you.

Johnny