Question on line length

[dracop]

Hey guys, I have a question for the more experienced on here. My kites (12m and 16m 2013 LF NRGs) come with two bars that each have 23m line lengths. I also have a complete set of separate 15m line extensions that came with my 16m. If I were to only connect the 15m lines in place of the 23m lines, effectively shortening the line lengths to 15m from 23m, what effect would that have on the kites? Would it reduce the power of the kite? Make it more controllable, maneuverable?

I am curious about this as I ran into a situation in Aruba a couple of weeks ago where the wind was 5mph faster than my 12m kite's top range for my weight. I noticed other people (with more skill) out there on 9-11m kites even though they weighed far less than I did (like 50-75lbs less). It seemed to me they were running really short lines though. I ended up running my standard 12m kite with the 23m lines and just flying it fully depowered, stayed in control even on gusts although I would prefer more flexibility on the water and less danger of being overpowered.

What does shortening the line lengths do to a kite if you have separate sets of shorter lines available?

Just to skip the nonsense from misunderstandings, I am not extending the 23m to add 15m. Instead I am thinking of replacing the 23m with 15m of line in higher wind conditions. Does that work the way I think?

[edt]

Just try it. Short lines tend to jerk you around a bit so you can change direction more quickly, and you'll need several power strokes instead of one. Because the kite is always closer to the water, there's definitely a lot less power due to the wind gradient. There are other effects such as the kite seeming faster (though of course it's always going the same speed). For the liquid force bar it requires an unsleeved spliced line to feed through the safety so you might need to cut your extensions and remake loops on the end for this to work.

[dracop]

Well I have two identical bars so its easy to just do it on one and keep the other as is, if I dont like it, undo it at a later point in time. Ill give it a shot, the different charactersitics sound interesting for high wind conditions.