The Art of Extensions

You set up your kite, set up your bar, and set off into those great sunsets and adventures, not knowing that there is so much unused potential!
In this article, we will tell you all about the art of using your line extensions wisely and how they can improve your overall kite experience.

Line extensions, as the name suggests, are pieces of line that you can use to increase or, when removed, decrease the length of your lines.
Typically, extensions come in lengths of 1m, 2m, 3m, 4m, and 5m, but they can actually be any length!
For example, if you have a 22m stock line set on your bar, by adding a 2m extension, it will become a 24m (22+2) length bar.
I hear you asking yourself, "Why would that small increase matter much?"
The most basic answer is:

Increasing the line length:

• More power
• Slightly slower response
• Softer yank in loops

Decreasing the line length:

• Less power
• Faster response
• Extreme angles with loops

That’s, of course, the ultra-basic explanation.
Let’s dive deeper into what happens when you adjust your lines.

Wind window / AOA
The most overlooked part is the wind window. By increasing your line lengths, the wind window becomes larger. This means the area where the kite is capable of flying correctly is larger. This will enable your kite to fly further and generate more speed and power. You can now power-dive your kite from much higher, which helps you create far more power. Longer lines are a great way to improve your low-end (minimum wind needed to ride).
As your steering input has to travel further, you may feel some increase in the response rate of your kite.
Using long lines in light wind is a great choice!
Another key point is the increase in drag. Using very long lines in stronger wind will create more drag. This will push the kite more into the wind window and make it harder for the kite to recover to the wind window edge when jumping.
You will get more power, so in theory, you should be able to jump higher. However, in real-life situations, we see that riders and kites start to struggle with the increase in response time, increase in recovery time, and increase in drag.
As it becomes harder and harder for the kite to recover due to all the force pushing on the lines, it will also become harder to get that kite up to the perfect sweet spot for huge jumps.
At some point, the cons outweigh the pros, so if you are into the real big air game, it may be wise to shorten your lines.
But then again, if you are able to have the kite recover + the extra few meters that the kite is able to travel, it will for sure result in record jumps—personal or even world record-breaking!

Loops
Shorter lines = faster kite, but most pro riders train their tricks with 24m lines. Although you would be able to make tighter loops with shorter lines, the radius gets flipped at some point. At some point, the kite starts to rotate around the rider, something we call short-line loops. There is a lot less power, but still, those guys manage to fly pretty high and fully loop around themselves.
Finding the right balance between the control speed and the radius the kite moves in is key!
With 20m lines, the kite will move in a smaller radius, but as the lines get shorter, the wind window shrinks. Now, you will see that the kite will hit far more extreme angles during kiteloops! Yet, the shorter lines and smaller wind window will have an insanely fast recovery, making them look super extreme but with a high chance of actually landing it.

When you increase the length of your lines, the yank will be much softer as the kite loops in the top end of the window, an area where the kite doesn’t generate much power just yet.
Perfect for doing those super technical maneuvers. It will probably not come as a surprise to you at this point that most pro riders are riding 23 or 24m lines.
If you want to go all-in, you’ll send the kite low on long lines (24+M). For this, you’ll need to go much higher as the recovery time for the kite is much longer.
Doing so will result in insane distance covered.

Adding extensions will give you full control over how the kite behaves.
Adjust the line length to the situation, session goals, and wind speed. The main thing you will have to know: increase the line length when riding in light wind for that extra bit of power, and decrease it in the high-end when you are maxed out but still want to be on that kite.
Line extensions are the cheapest solution when it comes to increasing your time on the water. You will be able to ride in more conditions.

Mounting line extensions is extremely simple. When your kite has removable pigtails, you just add the extension with a simple loop-to-loop connection and reconnect your pigtails.
This simple step will take you 1 or 2 minutes—it’s so easy you can do it on the beach pre-session.
If you don’t have removable pigtails, you can get universal extensions with removable pigtails to make them fit your kite.

We’ve just touched the surface, but we hope you’ve found some useful info about line extensions. Definitely try them out!