Misplaced Pages

Bow kite

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Leading edge inflatable kites
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
The topic of this article may not meet Misplaced Pages's general notability guideline. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted.
Find sources: "Bow kite" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources.
Find sources: "Bow kite" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2024)
(Learn how and when to remove this message)
Diagram of a bow kite
A bow kite

Bow kites are leading-edge inflatable kites (LEI kites) that incorporate a bridle on the leading edge. They are used for the sport of kiteboarding. Bow kites can be identified by a flat, swept-back profile and concave trailing edge, allowing the kite greater depower.

The bow kite design was pioneered by Bruno Legaignoux, and has been licensed to many kite manufacturers.

Bow kites have a wider wind range than C-kites (traditional LEI kites), so two kite sizes (7 and 12 square metres (75 and 129 sq ft)) could form an effective quiver for winds ranging from 10 to 30 knots for a 75-kilogram (165 lb) rider. This makes bow kites more suitable for beginners to kite sports; however, they are also used by professionals.

Bow kites are used in a variety of kite-related sports, including kiteboarding and snowkiting. Because of their depower range, they allow users to combat problems caused by gusts, making them safer to use. They are also used by kite surfers for wave riding, as their unique shape lends itself to this discipline.

Early kites

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

While early bow kites allowed the kite to be fully depowerable, they had a number of disadvantages compared to classic C-kites. These included possible inversion of the kite; less stability; heavier bar pressure, leading to greater user fatigue; more difficult relaunch; and lack of "sled boosting" effect when jumping. In 2006, second-generation flat LEI kites were developed, which improved many previous issues. The bridle and control bar design has later been refined to give a more direct feel and less bar pressure, while small modifications to the kites themselves have provided more stable kites less likely to invert.

References

  1. Bow Portrait Archived August 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Kitesurfing Handbook - History of kitesurfing". kitesurfing-handbook.peterskiteboarding.com. Retrieved 2024-10-25.
  3. "The History of Kitesurfing". Kitesurfing in Cape Town. 2017-07-08. Retrieved 2024-10-25.


Kites and kite flying
Types by use Kite icon
Types by shape
Activities and
applications
Parts
People
Other
Category


Stub icon

This article related to kites is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: