Parking a kite at 12 (When you can and when you can’t)

This guide look at whether you can park a kite at 12 or not. It looks at some of the problems with parking a kite at 12 and explains how to tell if a kite will be stable at 12.

[@laramai2905]

Your videos have been SO helpful. From the first day I learned to body drag to now learning unhooks. Thank you is not enough!!

[@zipcheckcheck]

You make good videos. Thanks for posting. We need to stop people from referring to 12 o'clock as "neutral" or a place to hold/park your kite. It is an unstable location with the most amount of potential energy. Think of 12 o'clock as a momentary place for your kite to be while you are positioning it to a more useful location.

[@claudiobertadeazevedo4669]

"to a more useful location." Amazing!

[@jotabello3857]

Shuch a great video! Thanks for share knowledge in such a nice way. We, here in Ceará don"t have many problems related to low wind conditions! Wind is mostly stable and strong!

[@matt-0teachings952]

Another great video, thanks. We use some of your videos in our kite school as homework :) I'm going to suggest that the tuning on your kite is set too far out, though - - in my opinion that's a common mistake. The sweet spot/maximum power spot should be set close to the chicken loop. This way, the kite can accelerate better when sheeting out as it comes out of the turn on the power stroke. Also, it's easier to upwind because you can lean back and pull the bar in. And, it's safer because depower is more effective, as it's designed to do. Letting go of the bar should cause the kite to start falling. Too often I see instructors set the kite so it's pulling hard at the EOW, instead of teaching an effective powerstroke. I am curious about others' thoughts on this.

[@josea.campos2716]

Thanks for sharing all this unvaluable knowledge. Greetings from Spain. Tarifa.

[@georgeskassir6117]

Thanks for all these amazing videos!

[@berndpeterson9897]

Peter Lynn had Autozenith back in the days. You could anchor it and go for lunch..

[@SomeTechGuy666]

How did Autozenith work ?

[@RafCenterMyself]

back in the day every kite just stayed at twelve because there wasn't this auto depower feature 😄 even without steering. Nowadays every kite works its way to the edge immediately.

[@berndpeterson9897]

@@SomeTechGuy666 I Guess the main pull was upwards and nothing sideways

[@gastoncastro8972]

RAM air kites and specially Peter Lynn arcs works completely different than inflatables

[@martyc5674]

I had an arc 1120 back in the day… never really experienced too much of the acclaimed autozenith, then again I didn’t get on too well with that kite and I was only learning, then had a flysurfer warrior- that had about a 1 knot windrange! Good times!!

[@ricardoserafini3816]

Great video... Thanks for sharing!!

[@kikoyouth]

Great content. Thanks for sharing with the community 🤙🏼

[@kitesurfcollege]

My pleasure Kiki

[@matthewjennison4023]

Thanks!

[@kitesurfcollege]

Thanks for supporting my channel Matthew. All the best, Alex

[@gringofpv6196]

Good looking out

[@bubbahottep8644]

Sharing helps the algorithm. I personally share good videos with a bunch of political and telemarketer phone numbers which I am saving for that very purpose.

[@ProduceDLT]

Hi can someone explain the comment in the video "Rebel kite designed specifically for lift and not stability"? I do notice a rebel much less stable at 12 than for example a switchblade- could someone explain what aspect of a kite design compromises stability to improve lift? Is it the aspect ratio?

[@gastoncastro8972]

I own rebels from long time ago. Since 2010, I don't find them unstable. AR, profile, lift to drag ratio, angle of attack, geometry. All these parameters defines the kite. In the video I find kites are flying in very low wind. I don't kite anymore in less than 13 kn. The rebel has 5 struts to maintain structure due to its priojected ar, a little bit heavier than 3 struts kites. The rebel tends to fly in an advance zone of the wind window, if wind drops in marginal low winds and you have it parked at 12 o clock, it will sky dive. In high and gusty winds the rebel isn't unstable due to it's great depower capability.

[@kitesurfcollege]

Hi ProduceDLT. Gaston gave you a good answer already. A switch blade has a thick LE and quite a lot of camber, this makes it slow to move forwards, which helps it not drop out of the sky at the cost of less power and performance. A switch blade also has a lower aspect ratio, which means less change in lift with AOA, again this give more stability during sub-optimum piloting but much less performance overall. The rebel has a slimmer air foil profile so moves faster, giving more performance and also means the kite will over fly a little more in a strong gust or with rising apparent wind. The rebel has a high aspect ratio for an inflatable kite, which means way more power at the edge of the window and more change in lift with change in AOA, but that does also mean you can stall sooner with incorrect handling. New rebels are extremely stall resistant for a hang-time kite, basically thanks to some extremely clever design tricks, and having lots of R&D done on them because of selling in high numbers for a long time.

[@ronyelrahy8125]

Hello Alex, Do you have a video showing how to grab / collect your board (left behind) after a fall in deep water? Cheers

[@kitesurfcollege]

Hello Rony, that's covered in the bodydrag video. There's a demo where I got the kiter to fall downwind of the board and bodydrag upwind to the board: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4faiX56d9d6aaM After you fall the board is almost always upwind of you.

[@elliotbawden7205]

I see people stand at the entrance/ exit to kite with the kite at 12 for 5 minutes sometimes. It’s ridiculous

[@salesale1461]

This should never happen unless: you are kiting on your local river full of natural obstacles or on Offshore wind where again trees, buildings, dunes etc are blocking the wind. Or you choose wrong size of the kite (too small for current speed of the wind). Most of the kite beaches have either Side onshore, or side shore winds where you can always hold your kite in 12 o'clock. I am not sure about your point here and you will just confuse new riders.

[@fgui11]

I bet you haven't a lot of experience on varied kite spots.. many spots like lakes or lagoons are very gusty and almost never safe to park at 12. Or even worst, where I live for instance (Leucate, South of France) the wind is mostly either 20-30 knots or nothing, always gusty and that's every beginner will have around here! Not to mention some world known mediatarenean onshore spots here, perfect flat water but always gusty as hell

[@Peachypupp]

Interesting video… i see so many people parking the kite at 12 and they just sit there…mine always wants to move

[@JoshSmeda]

Make sure your steering lines are equal, and you're fully powered. Also wind speed must the good and stable ( no gusts )