TRIMMING THE BAR LINES – KITESURF TUTORIAL
Your kite is pulling on one side and you are not sure why? Or your kite is simply back stalling and you want to know how to adjust your bar lines?
My name is Petar Pavlovic, I love sharing my Kitesurf Experience with you and in this episode we will see, what can be the reason of your kite pulling on one side and how to trim your bar lines efficiently.
WHY IS YOUR KITE PULLING ON ONE SIDE?
When you buy a brand new bar, the lines are most probably all symmetrical. For the bar lines of any kite brand it is normal that after some days, weeks, months the lines are not symmetrical anymore. Simply because the lines might stretch or most often shrink.
In case your bar lines are all symmetrical make sure to check the lines on your kite. Simply fold the kite and put the lines together to see if the lines are equal. So far I never saw the kite lines shrink or stretch. But I saw kite lines damaged or having knots.
If everything looks fine with the bar lines and kite lines there could be a problem in the manufacturing. That is difficult to spot by the eye. I experienced this with some quality brands just a couple of years ago.
In that case it is important to film your self checking the bar and kite lines. Film the symmetry check on the beach and send all the videos to the kite brand or to your dealer. Hopefully they react with sending you a brand new kite.
HOW TO CHECK AND TRIM THE BAR LINES
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CONNECTING THE PIGS TAIL
Connect one safety leash around a stable fix point. It will help you for connecting the bar lines. If you have just head loops in the end of the lines it will be easy to connect them on the leash. However, if you have pig tails as well, then there are different options on how to connect them.
- Make sure that the extension are the same length.
- Pass the leash connector under the pigtails.
- Add a small piece of rope on the safety leash and use it like a loop to tighten both pig tails.
- The best option would be to have two extra pig tails and two loops extensions so you can connect your lines exactly like it is on your kite.
PROCESS OF TRIMMING THE BAR LINES
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TRIMMING THE BAR FRONT LINES
Unroll and untwist the lines making sure there are no knots on the lines.
Make sure to check on my Patreon the best way of untwisting super tight knots.
Connect first just the front lines. Take the splitter of the front lines and gently put tension on the lines. They should be hanging symmetrically. In case that one is longer there are options to readjust them.
First you can try to wrap a shorter front line around the hook of your harness. Pull it aggressively so you can stretch it in the same length as the other front line.
Do not connect your lines on the hook of your safety leash while aggressively stretching the lines. The hook might get deformed. If stretching the line doesn’t help you might check where to make a knot on the longer line so you make it shorter.
Never do the knot on the thin line as it would easily break the line after a while. Generally you want to make a knot on the extension pig tail/loop or under the splitter.
If there is a tiny difference in length, you may loop the line around the extension line. Additionaly, you should look for an extension line to add on the shorter line.
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TRIMMING THE BACK LINES
Once the front lines are equal, disconnect the front lines from the leash. Connect just the back lines on it. Take the bar and pull the bar towards your legs. Check if the bar is parallel.
Turn it for couple of times to spot if there is any difference in the length of the lines. If you feel like one line is shorter you can try to stretch it. Do it by pulling aggressively one side of the bar.
If this doesn’t work, check if your bar has hidden knots that you could easily change. In addition find where you could make a knot to shorten the longer line. Last option is to add an extension line on the shorter line. Preferably in the bar. It may be not possible to put an extension line in the bar. In that case put it on top of the lines loop/pigtail.
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FINAL TRIM
- Connect all four lines.
- The trim line on full power with two fingers or with the harness.
- Put slight tension on the chicken loop.
- Pull the bar towards the chicken loop.
- The bar is well trimmed with max two fingers apart from the chicken loop and the bar.
When the bar is completely on the chicken loop there should still be a nice tension on the back lines. In case there is no tension on the back lines again try and figured out what knots to make in order to extend or shorten the lines.
If the back lines are too short which I experienced many times on school bars after months of not using them the back lines may shrink a lot. Simply try to stretch them by pulling aggressively on both sides of the bar.
Make sure that the lines are finally symmetrical. If this is not enough, again search for the option of extending the back lines or shortening the front lines.
