A Guide to the types of Kites
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Soft, foil, parafoil, or flow-form
- This type of three-dimensional kite depends on
the force of the wind on the kite, not on a rigid
frame, to give the kite its shape. These kites may
change their shape depending on the force of the
wind. Soft kites have no spars or rigidity to them
whatsoever. Flexible or semi-rigid kites may
incorporate spars, with the spars going in one
direction or one plane only. Flow-forms kites are
in this category. Can be either single or
Multi-lined. Of all kite designs, this style gives
the greatest amount of lift known to date. This
design has been developed into steerable
parachutes, and is the basis of the paraglider, a
non rigid hang glider. With the development of the
parafoil, the evolution of the kite has undergone a
new twist. Rather than aeroplanes imitating the
shape and form of kites, as happened at the end of
the last and the beginning of this century, kites
are now starting to imitate the form of the
aeroplane.
Soft, Free-flow, or Parafoil Kites
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Fighter Kites - Small maneuverable
single line kites, usually in a diamond shape with
long tails. Without a tail, they are highly
unstable... Unless in the hands of a master. These
kites are often flown in competition, scoring
points for line touches and time. Some popular
competitions in Asia pit these kites against each
other by having the winner cut the loser's line!
MULTI-LINE
KITES (More than one controlling flying line)
include dual (2) and quad (4) kites,) These are kites that use
more than one flying line to launch the kite into the air and
to control its flight patterns. These kites are designed for
the purpose of making high-performance maneuvers in flight. The
pilot must be able to control the flight of the kite through
certain basic maneuvers. These types of kites are sometimes
broken into two types, sport, and traction.
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Sport —Sport kites have relative
little pull when flying them. They are often flown
in complex patterns and competition Here is a good
site that describes tricks
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Traction Kiting —Traction kites
are designed to be both maneuverable and to
generate enough force to move the pilot. Types of
Traction kiting include Kite surfing, wakeboarding,
Snow Boarding, Buggy-kiting, parasailing, (kind of)
and even pulling your-floating-self along in the
water with a kite. (Kite-floating. -Only tried
once, has yet to catch on.)
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