bgkiter wrote:Single front line flagging is safer and the way forward, especially since bridles are getting shorter, simpler and without pulleys. Cabrinha and Best are now single front line flagging. Also gone are the long Y's that used to be on a number of kites. Now the choices are above/below the bar depower and manual vs mouse-ear type swivels. Not sure if you have ever flagged a Fat Lady on both front lines in 20mph+ wind and see how much it pulls
V
Not trying to be a dick, but what's the proof that single front it
is safer?
Have to admit that I've rarely flagged out my Cabrinhas on the QR. Don't remember them pulling but they did roll over to landing position properly . . .
edt wrote:mini 5th bars required a working bridle to flag. So for instance if you have a wingtip wrap and QR on a mini 5th bar, it will continue to pull and you will have to release but a single center will properly flag out. mini 5th Y bars also require that the bridles be long. If the bridle is too short this means the kite can't tilt back far enough to completely depower. This is a serious design constraint. In addition to being dangerous long bridles have a soggy feeling to them. A single line flag bar can be used with all your kites but a mini 5th bar can only be used on the kites which have bridles designed to go to the safety on them. The Y on a mini 5th can also pinch the wingtips and each manufacturer seems to have the Y put in a different place. to me the single worst thing about the mini-5th line bars are the design constraints they introduce into the kites. When the manufacturers switch to a single center flag system it frees them to make shorter bridled more responsive kites.
the only reason to dislike single center systems are that the bar shoots all the way to the kite and makes spagetti. You can fix this by sewing a knotted piece of line 10 meters from the bar. Ozone uses a red stopper ball on the line but I like a piece of knotted line better, it's cheap and easy to mod your lines this way.
So mini-5ths are a fashion statement? Seems single lines are the same - driven by the "no bridles, more responsive" crowd
And the other problem is the requirement for the line to be stoppered at the V, but still be able to feed through the bar. Which means you can really run it through a QR and you lose the ability to untangle rotations . . . don't you? I'm guessing that's why Cab went for the mini-5th - no need to alter the ID of the QR body.