Date:	Sun, 2 Oct 1994 21:35:37 -1000
From:	tanaka_be@swam1.enet.dec.com (Bert Tanaka)
Message-Id: <9410030732.AA16728@mts-gw.pa.dec.com>
Organization: Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University
Subject: Bridle setting - Team versus Individual

Kevin Mayeshiro writes:

Subj:   bridle setting - team vs individual

A question for those who fly with a team and as a individual.  If you 
use the same kite for both, do you change the bridle setting on your 
kite?  Heard that move the bridle up when flying team, and some people 
like to set the kite heavy when flying individual.  I can see some of 
the reasoning behind this.  Anyone out there do this with their kites?  


Some people like to set their kites really, really heavy and I suppose if 
this personal setting made matching speeds with more "normally" adjusted 
kites difficult, then for team flying, they might change the adjustment.  
There is also a lot of bridle tweaking going on in the case where you're 
limited to a single kite to fly in a wide range of wind conditions.

However, if you have a good set of kites that covers the full range of wind
conditions, you're a lot less inclined to tinker with the adjustments once
you get them in.  Additionally, since many teams incorporate snap stall
rooted moves and groundwork into their routines, except for having to 
match speeds up with the other kites, the requirements for good performance, 
are the same.    

Actually, its not clear to me what the advantage would be to flying team 
with kites that are bridled higher than normal.  If you move the bridle  
up far enough to be noticable, then for most kites, both forward speed and
turning radius have been increased.  For some kites, the actual attainable
heigth of the window has been reduced, and it will be harder to do any stall
related maneuvers.  None of these characteristics strike me as desirable.

       -Bert


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