Authors: Ben Ruhe
Date Submitted: May 31, 2005
Article Type: Journal

The idea behind kiteboarding itself is very simple. A kitesurfer stands on a board with foot straps and uses the power of a large controllable kite to propel him and the board across the water. This simplicity also makes such boarding challenging. Your body is the only connection between the kite and the board and you have to control them both at the same time: piloting the kite in the sky and steering the board on the water.

While flying across the sky, a kite generates lift like an airplane wing. Since the lift is proportional to the size of the kite, some fliers realized that if you make a kite big enough it would generate enough power to propel a vehicle on land, snow, ice, or water. This type of kite is called a traction kite. Traction kites have been used by pioneers in the past, but it only became popular in the early 1990s and its popularity has now made traction flying more a sport than just a recreational activity.

While a windsurfing sail is dependent on the wind to generate power, a kite is only dependent on the wind to fly. When a kite is flying across the sky, it creates its own wind (apparent wind) which is faster and therefore produces much more power than the actual wind can provide. Since lift is proportional to the square of the kite velocity, if the apparent wind is twice that of the actual wind you will get four times as much power from the kite. This simple fact is not easy to appreciate until you actually fly a traction kite. Numerous first-time traction kite fliers have been injured in the past for misjudging such power.

PDF Link: Journal Issue