Have you ever been out kitesurfing, launched your kite and everything was looking good, and all of a sudden the thing starts hanging limply in the air and then plummets backwards to earth? Yes, we all have it and it can be frustrating, but it can also be dangerous for you and others. So understanding why it happens and what to do when it happens can help you get out of a potentially bad situation. Knowing how to prevent it can keep you free of the situation entirely.
If you watch movies, you probably remember seeing a pilot sitting in a plane, an alarm starts going off, the pilot says something about stall, stall alarm, or stall. This is the same. Your kite is a wing and works like an airplane by producing lift when air passes over it. A candle works the same way. By definition, a stall occurs because the angle of attack is too great for the given conditions. Another way to think about it is to say that there is not enough airflow. In aviation, the minimum airflow rate for given conditions is known as the stall velocity. So the simple problem is too much bottom line (trailing edge tension) or not enough apparent wind.
The second part of this discussion assumes that your kite has stalled. Knowing what to do helps a lot, but reaction time is essential. Therefore, it may take some time to master all of these techniques. The more you fly, the more in tune with your kite you will be. It’s all about feeling, feeling the pull of the kite, if you don’t feel any pull that should be a HUGE red flag. Let’s take a look at some things you can do to get your kite out of a stall depending on the situation.
In the situation where the kite is turned up to move from the bottom of the wind window to a higher position, you can quickly level the kite when you feel the pull disappear. By level I mean that the struts are parallel to the horizon. By doing this, you are only asking your kite to maintain its current height or support its own weight. When you fly your kite up, it requires more lift or power, just as climbing stairs is more difficult than walking on flat ground.
So you leveled your kite and in a split second you realize that this is not enough. If you do nothing, the kite could fall back into the power zone, which is not good. You could try lowering the kite. This requires less power than flying level. Like going down the stairs. I’d rather have my kite on the water with the wingtip ready to relaunch than on the water downwind. After lowering the kite, you can wait for the wind to sound a bit higher, wait for the pull when you raise the kite more slowly this time. If you don’t feel the pull, don’t try to lift the kite.