QuadKites.org

Wind window by KiteForge

See where the kite can and should fly. Think of the sky as a grid so you can place the kite with confidence, feel the power zones, and keep lines and stops clean.

From the series KiteForge tutorials. Transcript by QuadKites.org. Original article on KiteForge.

Key takeaways from this video

  • Power peaks low and centered, then decreases toward the edges, where the kite naturally slows and stops.
  • Longer lines widen the window and lengthen the flight path, as shown here on 75-foot lines.
  • A mental grid (center line, half-height line, four corner squares) gives fixed waypoints for shapes like diamonds, circles, and stair-steps.
  • Flying to the same waypoints each time keeps your maneuvers' proportions consistent.

Transcript

  1. Introduction

    0:00

    Now in this tutorial we're going to talk about the wind window, which is the apparent area in which the kite is able to fly. The base principle is simple: when the pilot is here, the kite is here, the wind is blowing and makes contact with the sail — full pressure. As the kite flies up over the top, its natural angle to the wind changes, and there's no more pressure. So the most pressure begins low, then starts to decrease, decrease, and eventually the kite stops, typically at roughly a consistent angle. The purpose of this video is to give you a visual representation of what that looks like and what the actual effect is on the wind.

  2. Power zone

    0:49

    Looking at the window: the very top is right about there, then the kite starts to slow down as power increases on the way there — all the way out to the side and back, and then all the way out to the side and back again. I'm on 75-foot lines today: the longer your lines, the bigger your wind window, and the further the flight path.

  3. Window shape

    1:16

    The general shape of the wind window follows that edge shape, then back to the middle.

  4. Window grid

    1:38

    One of the useful things about the wind window is understanding its power zones, and starting to designate areas of the window so it almost looks like a heads-up display (HUD) to you. As a long-time performer, competitor, and someone who writes routines and organizes teams, I tend to see a grid in the sky when I fly: a center line, and a line halfway up, which gives an effective crosspoint. From dead center, there's a square in the bottom-right quarter, one in the bottom-left quarter, one in the top-left quarter, and one at the upper-right corner.

  5. Using the grid

    2:28

    In the interest of flying precision, you can use all of those as waypoints. For example, to fly a diamond: up to the top point of the window, off to the right side, the bottom point, the left side, and then the top. That gives a very clear designation of where that is. To fly a circle: to that line, then that line, then that line again. All of this is approximated, since I don't have the wind window in front of me the way you see it here, but the visual representation should be enough to get the idea. For any maneuver, it's excellent to get a sense of what it looks like proportioned inside the window, so you can consistently present the same shapes over and over again. Another one that plays in here is a stair-step: half of that, back up to the center point, and another, and another. It's a general sense of the area you have to fly in, and a constant reminder that the kite will respond a little differently as you go through each portion of the window.

  6. Closing thoughts

    4:24

    The wind window is very straightforward. Now that you know it's there, you can almost see it and taste it — explore it and have a lot of fun.

Keep going

In the series KiteForge quad-line tutorials

  1. Assembly and disassembly
  2. Tuning theory
  3. Wind window — you are here
  4. Flight and control
  5. Flat relaunches
  6. Basic hovers
  7. Figure 8 and 180s

See the 11 videos of the series

Elsewhere on the site

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