Power Kites, Traction Kites

Take Me For A Ride!

Power kites first made an appearance way back in the 1970s, when the Flexifoil stunt kite became available for anyone to buy. This kite had a single flexible spar running the full length of its leading edge. The front edge, if you're not quite up with the terminology. This was a fast kite with plenty of power, and people still fly this design today.

Anyway, a small number of people soon started experimenting with the Flexifoil as a traction kite. They found several ways to drag themselves along, for example over sand in a small wheeled buggy. Who knows, someone might have got the idea when the wind got a bit strong one day, and they found themselves slipping across the wet sand! Just a short step from there to actually sitting in a kitebuggy and doing it deliberately.

Here's some pictures of power and traction kites uploaded by visitors to this site.

If you read the Stunt Kites section of this website, you will see some overlap with this section. That's because many people use power kites and even traction kites just for standing there and flying stunts. Why not, with such beautifully controllable kites!

The history of power and traction kites extends back to the 70s. Using big kites to pull you along isn't a new idea!

Many traction and power kites are parafoils, that is, flexible 'wings' which inflate via vents along the leading edge. Some designs are meant to be used on water, and so have inflatable spars built into them. Finally, there are some single-surface traction kites. I've seen buggy riders use these.

You can make your own power kite, if you are a patient person with good sewing skills!

Types Of Power Kites

Over the years, kite designers have made large kites for specific sports, so there's a lot of different types. I'll avoid getting you bogged down or bored to death by just mentioning 2 broad categories...

• power kites
• traction kites

Some people call all 2, 3, 4 or 5 line flexible kites 'power kites'. Many other people, including me, divide these into 2 or 3 line 'power kites' and 4 or 5 line 'traction kites'. There is a big range of sizes available, and cost depends a lot on size.

Power kites are at the smaller and cheaper end, and are used mainly for stunt flying or just having fun. Yes, they are just another kind of stunt kite. A small power kite is pretty fast through the air, which is part of the thrill of flying it! There's one in the photo over there.

However, if they are 3 square meters (about 30 square feet) or bigger in area, they pull quite a bit. Naturally, people then think about using them to pull along small land buggies, for example.

Traction kites are bigger and more expensive, and are used mainly for pulling things along. For example, surfboards, snowboards, land kite buggies and so on.

However, depending on wind conditions, there's nothing to stop you flying one of these as a rather expensive and impressive stunt kite! The extra brake lines let you turn the kite with less arm movement than the 2-line variety. Also, the brake lines are handy for bringing the kite down onto the ground with a bit more control.

The picture over there shows a kite surfer in action. The kite is not a parafoil. Can see the leading edge spar and a few other shorter spars helping the kite keep its shape? Some kite surfers these days are into kite racing around a course, much like a boat race.

Although it's possible to be self-taught, many people these days sign up for kite surfing lessons. This way, progress is quicker and important safety lessons are learned the easy way.

I might just mention here that some traction kites are built purely for speed, compared to other kites of the same size. These are 'racing kites', and if you get one, don't expect it to be as easy to fly as other traction kites!

Power Kites in Action

OK, how do people fly power kites these days? What a big topic! This type being so popular, the manufacturers have managed to cater for just about everyone. Young children can fly the smallest 2-line power kites under supervision while down at the beach. At the other end, top-notch athletes push the limits doing freestyle tricks over snow or in the surf with other kite boarders, using very expensive traction kites.

The top-end traction kites are more like aircraft than toys. That's not at all surprising when you consider that some traction kites are made by paraglider manufacturers! The cost of these flying wonders can exceed 1000 US dollars.

It's wise to have a chat with the experts about what kind of power kiting you'd like to do, before actually laying down your cash for a kite!

My snow kite page has plenty of specific info if you're looking at snow kites in particular. Kite snowboarding and skiing are both popular in countries that have large flat areas of snow in winter.

Personally, I'm just going to start right down at the bottom end with a fun stunter and work my way up depending on the experiences I have and as finances allow. You can follow my family's progress, sharing that learning experience is partly what this website is about. ;-) If your personality is such that you like to 'jump in the deep end', then think about going on a course! The biggest shops that sell kites or kite surfing equipment offer a whole range of courses.

Time for a Big List. I love lists, I'm one of those list-driven types of people. :-) Even if you're not like that, a list is a great way of summarizing information. It struck me that power or traction kites are used in a huge number of ways, so here is the biggest list of power kiting activities you will find on the Internet.

• pure fun, just aimlessly flying a power kite as far as possible in all directions
• learning some stunts and practicing them for fun, or competing in kite flying contests
• in a controlled way, letting yourself get dragged across dirt, sand, ice or grass
• breaking silly records, such as in September 1988 when a 43 square meter (460 square feet) parafoil broke the record for the Worlds Largest Stunt Kite
• breaking sports records, such as the C-class unlimited speed sailing record, with a set of catamaran hulls powered by a winch controlled stack of Flexifoils! Cool.
• kite surfing, or getting dragged along while riding a surfboard
• kite surfing while riding a windsurfing board
• kite surfing on a kiteboard
• body surfing powered by a traction kite
• snowkiting, or getting dragged along while riding a snowboard
• kite boarding on an all-terrain board
• kite boarding on a mountainboard
• kite boarding on a landboard
• kite sailing a boat on water
• kite sailing a sled on ice
• getting dragged along while riding ice skates, rollerskates or rollerblades
• getting dragged along while on snow skis
• getting dragged along while riding a land kite buggy
• getting dragged along while on water skis
• dangerous: kite jumping, where you let yourself leave the ground for as long as you dare
• even more dangerous: man lifting, where a large tethered traction kite lifts someone high off the ground

'Freestyle' kite skiing and kite boarding have both seen big increases in popularity, as well as kitesurfing.

If you have a think about it, it's not hard to make up a few kiting sports of your own. Here's my little effort, but don't try these at home ;-)

• kitebagging, across wet grass while wearing a large plastic garbage bag (very do-able I'm sure)
• kiteduning, over and around sand dunes on your bare feet, 'getting some air' once in a while (mmm how practical is this..)
• kite-vertising, using your kite as a billboard at public events (not as silly as it sounds)
• kitebiking, using your feet to steer and your hands for the kite (you'd be stupid to try this)
• wet stunting, flying your kite underwater in tidal currents while scuba-diving (I wasn't serious, but then I saw some pics of people actually doing this!)

Think I'll stop before it gets too silly.

As you can see, just about any way of moving across the earth's surface might be tried by a keen traction kiter!

Finally, here's a few notes on kite safety which might prove handy, particularly for beginners.

Last updated: 26 Apr 2008