I was talking to a kite instructor the other day and he listed a 4th reason to have floaties on your bar:

To minimize the powering up of a loose kite, due to the tendency of the floaties to "plane" the bar up to the surface, as it is being dragged by the kiter-less kite. If the bar sinks even a little, then, the resistance of the bar in the water, increases the force on the kite, by making the kite stick up higher, and thereby catch more wind. If this happens, it makes it much harder to run after and catch the kite in shallow water.

Add this to the 3 previously presented reasons for the presence of floats on bars.

A lot or the new bars are lacking these floaties, and claiming that the "soft bar ends" give the bar enough floatation. I'm not buying it.

How has this gone on for 3 pages? Learn to kite better, so you don't need to come up with these kooky ideas that don't matter

Why is it kooky dyyylan? Perhaps you are somehow smarter than all the collective experience of these long-time kiters, from all over the world, who ride in all different conditions. "Learn to kite better"? Right dyyylan. "Ideas that don't matter:"? Hey, it's a forum of ideas. Don't need the input? Never had a kitemare? Then check out of the thread.

I will speak for myself though, I rode Best gear for several years and their bars came standard with floats and O.S. handles. Saved my ass more than once in murky, kelp choked waters. I've ridden Wainman now for 3 years and I really miss the Best system.

The situation displayed on the foto still occurs even with the floaters. I had it one time, sure they help, but occassionaly they still happen.

Ok, to carry this 'floatie' idea to the extreme...and to also show the reason why, here is a picture of my new special purpose "swimming drift launch" bar set-up, which is to be used for drift launching a mini-fifth line kite...WHILE SWIMMING.

WHY?

(1) for secrete spot kiting, where there is no beach
(2) for "getting" a kite and rider out into the water in places where "beach launching" has been banned...yeah, it happens!
(3) for "last man" launching, where any other type of self-launch is impossible or very dangerous (ie Home Valley, in the Gorge, on East wind days).

In cases like these, you need a bar which minimizes any chance of tangles or snags.

Floaties- bad idea- here's why

one more thing to catch a line on when you get slack in your lines from a wave or botched jump

one more thing to get in your way when wrapping up your lines at the end of a sesh

one more thing in the way from the very simple north style bar length adjuster



seriously 3 pages?

And we don't want to forget the 5th or 6th reasons to have 'floaties'...

(6) They allow a covered and secure place to make "Rear Line Adjustments", from the bar end of the system. A lot of kites, even North, as I recall, contain this feature of 'knots' and 'larkhead loops' inside the 'floaties'.

Good grief, this thread could go on to page four...somebody, please, STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT...make all the good reasons for floaties go away!

That would be a COOL thought, but it's raining in Vegas today, & the only wind will be from powerful rain-squalls ; It's a good day to work on a kite and live vicariously
through the Guys who are kiting somewhere on the planet with "warm" Sun & consistent
breezes. (( I HOPE your having FUN )) please post & make my day less boring !! (ya dick)

OK ----- BAR FLOATS :
This is for the new-be who Can't do a kite-loop and is afraid to learn because
of the power it can deliver. I use this Mostly for deep water starts in Really light wind
where simply sighing the kite won't initially get me out of the water & on plane.

Point the board about 20-30deg down wind to direction of travel.
Lets say your gonna go Right. Leave the left hand on the bar and grab
the Bar Float, (at the Top) with the Right hand.

Bring the kite over to 11:00
and steer it back to the Right for that Lil extra speed. Now for your First Kite loop
when the kite hits 1:00 ---pull that bar float down to where it hits your chest.

What that will do is Decrease the diameter of your Kite-loop and the kite will start
to LOOSE power the moment it's diameter is reduced to less than optimum.

**Optimum is Usually achieved by grabbing the bar with both hands and turning
the kite into a loop.

So by grabbing the Bar float to initiate the loop, in effect your giving a bunch More
mechanical length and leverage to the rear line of your kite. In light winds, my
2010 - 13m Ozone Edge will actually fall out of the sky if i pull the bar float too far.

Where this comes in handy for Deep water starts is when you WANT the power
of a Kite-loop, to yank you out of the water in light winds ; but Ya miss-time the loop
and the kite is about to hit the water, ( just pull the floatie a bit further) and the kite will wind
up & miss the water thus giving you a chance for another try.
If your hand isn't already on the bar float when you need it to pull ; you Won't have time to stop
the kite from hitting the water.

**What will happen if both hands are on the bar and your "In" a kite-loop
& go to pull the Bar float to wind the kite up tighter, you need to let-go with one hand
to grab the float, and that will pull the kite Out of the turn. You Can't wind the kite
up tight enough to Loose power by JUST grabbing the bar unless your bar is 16 inches
wider than it should be, (because my bar floats are 8" long each).

** The Moment you pull the bar float "past" where Optimum diameter for a Kite loop is, you
can forget about getting up on plain with your board ;
((you just Dumped most all your power)) !!

Bille

Billie,

That is a sophisticated technique, that I had not even thought about. You are way ahead of me. Can't wait to try it out. When I used to fly my old Psycho 2, 26 M (that's right twenty-six!!). I placed balls up the rear leader lines so that I could get a grip way above the bar... you needed that kind of leverage, even with a 3 foot long bar, in order to turn that monster in light wind. Anyway, you can see the little balls at the top of the "mega-floaties" in my picture, in a previous post. When I make my floaties, I still put a ball at the top, so that I can grab up there, and reef-in on the steering line, for one reason or another... without tearing the float apart. You can also see that I put old bicycle tubing around the float to give it some extra protection, too. I have destroyed floats in the past.

Thanks for posting 'pro' reason (7): Nicer to grab a floatie, than a bare leader, or kite line, when the need arises.

Scklanl,

Thanks go out to you for presenting "the other side of the story". Things like this are never 'cut-and-dry'...always 2 sides (or more) to every issue. Those were excellent points, to take into consideration.

I can get my 19M Peter Lynn around , "With Ease" --- using that technique !!

Bille