Differences between 5 and 4 line kites?

[esg]

I used a 5 line North Rebel my first dozen times learning. The area where I learned has a very light wind(sometimes no wind) area near the beach for maybe 100 feet until you reached the wind line. There were times where my kite would just fall from the sky and tumble "inside-out"because there was no wind to keep the kite flying and the 5th line would wrap around the middle of the kite- making it impossible to relaunch. Later I bought a 4 line Best Waroo and in the same types of situations. The kite tumbled "inside out" and when it hit the water and the wind came back. It just rolled over and relaunched no problem. So I thought to myself, "wow, usually I'd be screwed, but that must be the difference between a 5 line and 4 line kite". I've seen this happen several times with other people on 5 line kites as well. So is this typical? And what other advantages and disadvantages are there to the 2 types?

[mobettah]

I fly 5 line kites all the time. The wrapping of the 5th line only happens in certain circumstances like the one you described. If the kite overflies the wind window and stalls (hindenburgs) there is a chance the 5th will wrap. I found that as I got more experienced flying my kite that the wrapping of the fifth line happened less and less. It is sometimes possible to pull on 1 steering line and sort things out. It's the price you pay for having a fifth line kite. This last season with about 60 sessions, it only happened twice that I can remember.

Where this is a real problem is if you drop the kite in the impact zone of waves. There is a danger of the the fifth line tearing the kite if a wave hits it.

[thebroz]

Good question, the people selling 5 line kites have all the answers, "have to have it for safety". But having flown 5 lines & now 4 lines I ask myself, "why would anyone ever put up with those headaches." My friend had his rip recently when it dropped in the surf, all because of the 5th line. Not that you have to have a 5th line to rip your kite, but it helps. It would be a different story if it made you fly faster jump higher, but it just makes it more to untangle when you have a mess.

[kitecozumel]

Slingshot was the only company that did the 5th line in a way that if you got it wrapped around the center strut, you could released and keep flying the kite, this allowing you to get back to shore and fixing it.
The 5th line was a great innovation in helping to relaunch "C" kites and a safety item in case all hell got loose and you need it to let go the bar in an emergency situation.
Upon your experience, you might want to remove the fifth line while kiting on waves to all the explained before.

[Nico]

20%
Nico

[marlboroughman]

First of all in conditions where the kites fall out of the sky you can't really tell anything about either so why even bother. I am a die hard five line hybrid fanatic and I am not going four lines anytime soon. I do ride waves but I never drop it there and I do not know how people do it unless they try tricks between them, if you fall you just keep it up there until you collect yourself. Advantages for me: self land tube first in the water or on land if you know what you are doing, stability second to none; bridled kites tend to jellyfish in the middle, safety; there is no bridle or pulley to brake, kiteloops; nice predictable pivotal tight turning again courtesy of fifth line, versatility; with quick adjustment of the relationship between front and fifth line you can change the style of your kite, you can make fly more upwind for freestyle or you can make it to fly back in the window for waves. I probably forgot about something but if you are a beginner a bow kite is probably better choice for you but if you doing tricks, kite loops, ride waves move on to five line hybrid. I find that there are a lot of beginners giving out opinions about the equipment that shouldn't. One of them is discovery of four line bow like they discovered uranium.

[PAFF]

If you don't want a bridal... You will need a 5th line, or the kite will collapse.

The only new effective kite out there, that have no bridle and no 5th, is the Fuel.

[Peter_Frank]

First of all in conditions where the kites fall out of the sky you can't really tell anything about either so why even bother. I am a die hard five line hybrid fanatic and I am not going four lines anytime soon. I do ride waves but I never drop it there and I do not know how people do it unless they try tricks between them, if you fall you just keep it up there until you collect yourself. Advantages for me: self land tube first in the water or on land if you know what you are doing, stability second to none; bridled kites tend to jellyfish in the middle, safety; there is no bridle or pulley to brake, kiteloops; nice predictable pivotal tight turning again courtesy of fifth line, versatility; with quick adjustment of the relationship between front and fifth line you can change the style of your kite, you can make fly more upwind for freestyle or you can make it to fly back in the window for waves. I probably forgot about something but if you are a beginner a bow kite is probably better choice for you but if you doing tricks, kite loops, ride waves move on to five line hybrid. I find that there are a lot of beginners giving out opinions about the equipment that shouldn't. One of them is discovery of four line bow like they discovered uranium.

Why should anyone use a 5 line hybrid ?

When you can have a 4 line hybrid, exactly the same performance ?
Just one line less, and no 5th to "wrap".

Regarding waveriding - well, if you never drop your kite, you are either too "boring/not pushing the limits" out there, or the waves are too small
Honestly, even if you are an excellent kiteflyer - you CAN easily drop your kite, when you get hammered under a big wave when going for a wild off the lip or tube (or anything similar which is exiting and pushing you), and getting tumbled over and over and dont know what is up and down no more

So 4 lines, whether its a C or SLE, works great, and is my preference for both kite types, when possible (but not many new C kites can....).

Kindly, Peter Frank

[tungsten222]

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed in urna et enim porttitor ullamcorper ac non ipsum. Proin eleifend orci quis ligula convallis et viverra metus porta. Fusce commodo eros ut sapien euismod venenatis. Proin suscipit auctor laoreet. Phasellus scelerisque viverra nisi eu malesuada. Etiam malesuada tellus non neque fermentum at molestie mi condimentum. Vestibulum gravida enim sit amet nisi mattis pulvinar. Suspendisse hendrerit ipsum id neque sodales ut tincidunt felis dignissim. Suspendisse potenti.

[marlboroughman]

You got me there I do not ride huge waves. I haven't experienced one single bow tie since 2002 when I started to kite in addition to windsurfing. I also prefer fifth line to bridle in snow where the bridles tend to catch ice snow sticks and sometimes even a rocks. During winter it is possible to ride with less wind where fifth line comes handy as an relaunch aid. Flagging on the fifth is safer on snow or land where bridles can catch something and you want zero power since you are near objects like trees and even roads. If you found four line hybrid that does everything for you, great.