How to vent your kite by Christiaan

Want to see how to turn a standard quad line kite into a vented quad line kite so you can keep flying when the wind picks up? Dutch kiteflier Christiaan van Oosterhoudt took the time to document the whole process in photos. With his permission, we’re sharing his making of here in 16 steps: cutting, fitting the mesh, and finishing. On our side, we translated it into French and English, added captions, and sometimes reorganized the order to make things clearer. Thanks, Christiaan!

Want to dive deeper? Check out his full making of a Revolution kite… 112 photos!

The kite before modification
The kite after modification – now vented
Christiaan van Oosterhoudt in his workshop

Steps to vent your kite

The steps may look simple, but they require precision: laying the sail flat, making clean cuts, and so on.

Preparing templates for the vents
Placing the templates on mesh and cutting with a cutter
Collecting the cut pieces
The plan including the vents
The sail not yet vented
Flattening the sail on the plan
Using weights to match the plan and stabilize the sail
Checking the mesh position on the sail against the plan
Running a thin bead of glue around the future vent edges
Placing the mesh on fresh glue
Letting the glue dry
Sewing the mesh edges
Flipping the sail and trimming with small scissors
Vents completed
Result on one wing
Final result: the vented kite

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