Kiting on glass - 200m lines make it possible

It's a popular and well known technique to extend your kiteboarding lines in light winds, but this is taking it to a whole new level. Last month, riders in the Hood River would have seen Slingshot's R&D Tester trying out a set of 100m lines and a Turbine. The act got him some serious light wind performance, but not quite glassy water, so this week, he doubled down with a 200m lineset. Ten times what some of the Slingshot kites ship with as standard; 200m is also getting up into the realms of light aircraft flight levels. Up there the wind is stronger and smoother, but the main advantage of lines that long is the increased distance that can be travelled by the kite. The vertical distance (around an arc) that a kite will usually travel in your typical dive is 39m. That's with 25m lines, and assuming you get the perfect kite dive from zenith, and scrape your wingtip on the water. Increase the lines to 200m, and you're talking an arc of 314m! That's one massive power zone, and as such allows you to kite in some pretty light winds. Check out the video to see just how light Slingshot's kite tester John Perry went, with a 15m kite, 200m lines and a twintip.

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