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2-line versus 4-line rigging

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chicagokitesurfer
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Postby chicagokitesurfer » Mon Sep 23, 2002 3:27 pm

Instead of driving to Montrose, I decided to take my ARC 1510 to the park to dry off, whilst getting some runs in on the mountainboard at Busse Woods in Schaumburg, IL.

I pulled out the 1510, inflated it, and let it sit to dry - getting excited about putting my feet in the mountainboard after 6-8 weeks hiatus.

I launched the Slingshot B4 bridled foil. Its a two line ram air foil for kiteskiing, kiteboarding, or snowboarding...we use them for training people on the sand before hitting the water.

The winds were 6-18 mph (unfortunately very gusty). The stock lines on the B4 are probably only 20-25 meter lines so the kite was getting pulled, then sitting or falling, then pulling again.

Anyway, to get to the point...the two line setup in gusty conditions created a major crutch to overcome. I could have been out on my ARC 630 getting rides in those winds (4.3 projected area), but the B4 would fly to the edge of the window and I would lose all control. Pumping the kite by violently pulling on the bar, to increase apparent wind, did little to help. The observances made flying the two-line Torques in Chicago gusty weather certainly apply to the B4 foil, as I'm sure any 2-line kite. 2-lines just don't work as good as 4 line setups. There is far less control, far less depower/power. After a couple runs, which were quite a challenge to stay on my feet, riding on two wheels, etc....I decided to pack it up and wait for the 1510 to dry.

Anyway, chalk up the day to getting a little more experience in crappy wind conditions.

V
http://www.chicagokitesurfing.com

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Postby Guest » Thu Sep 26, 2002 1:26 pm

Have you considered altering your B4 to accept 4 lines? I have a B5 that I've been thinking about doing this to. I had a hell of a time in some gusty wind last weekend.
Anybody done this modification?
Cheers,
AL

chicagokitesurfer
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Postby chicagokitesurfer » Thu Sep 26, 2002 5:18 pm

Nope. I don't think its worth the hassle, if you ask me. But if you do it, or know someone who did or will, please post the particulars. I'd like to learn how difficult it would be to do it.

If I need to get out in gusty conditions, I bust out my 4 line ARC (I usually ride it anyway - all my photos are on the arc) and get some great rides.

V
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Postby Guest » Thu Sep 26, 2002 8:04 pm

I rigged up a set of brake bridles to use my Slingshot B3 for buggying in the desert.

Basically you need to figure out the bridle line legnths by trial and error. Rig up the bridles with scrap line that is longer than you need, and then adjust.

Tie a line to each of the trailing edge loops and then tie them all together and attach a primary brake bridle line (one on each side of the kite, also longer than you think you will need). These lines were very roughly 2-3 feet long for the secondary lines and 3-4 feet for each of the primary lines. Each primary brake line should be about centered on the trailing edge if you divide the kite in half.

The bridle should be adjusted so that pulling the one of the primary brake bridle lines pulls the trailing edge on that side down evenly. You can test the kite without going through the hassle launching/landing it by holding the kite by the main bridle lines in light wind and looking at how the brake bridles hang down from the trailing edge: When you have it adjusted correctly the primary brake bridle lines will each be about centered on each half of the trailing edge and there will be no slack in any of the lines connecting to the main brake line.

It is easiest to rig up one side and then copy it in reverse for the other. When it looks like you have the bridle set up about right, make a guess at how long the primary barke brile lines should be, tie knots there, attach your flying lines and test. Don't trim the excess off of any of the bridle lines until you get get the kite to fly the way you want it to.

The b-3 worked as a 4-line kite on handles with this set-up but the performance was pretty crappy compared to a good 4-line buggy foil - even though I had a couple of traction kite experts (Steve Shapson and Mike Delfar) help me rig and tune the bridle. Then again we did not spend all day tuning it and it did work much better for buggying than 2-line.

Trent Hink

chicagokitesurfer
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Postby chicagokitesurfer » Tue Oct 01, 2002 9:04 pm

Hey Trent,

Maybe I'll try this. That guy on the beach with us on Sunday when I saw you in Racine bought our last B4 from me right then and there. I have that ARC630 which is projected 4.5m so makes no sense doing it, but I may just to add a 4 line conversion kit to the B4, but I'd hate to have to do this for each of the B3, B4 and B5s...

Hope you caught some good winds in Milwaukee that afternoon...

V
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