The optimal size of the kite depends on the kitesurfer's weight and ability, as well as wind conditions. In contrast, sailboats and windsurfers do not function like this. One consequence is that the kiteboarder needs to push water downwind in order to avoid being blown downwind or to travel upwind. Physically detaching the sail from the boat/board provides mechanical advantages and disadvantages. The kitesurfer stands on a short board held in place by foot straps (see illustration below). The equipment includes a distant and detached kite (paraglider) connected by long lines to a kiteboarder by a harness. Kitesurfing equipment varies in designs, shapes, and sizes around a basic model. Kitesurfing is a progressive step in the evolution of sailing as a sport, from sailboats to windsurfers to kiteboarding. It provides a simple and easily understood explanation of kitesurfing that is consistent with accepted physics and what is observed in practice. The Newtonian analysis presented herein is significant as it provides new and useful insights into kiteboarding.Ī better understanding of the physics helps kiteboarders become more proficient and for manufacturers to design better equipment. However, applying the manner described in this paper to explain kitesurfing based on the mass flow rate is a completely new approach. This paper argues that fluid mechanics explains the airflows that arise, but Newtonian mechanics explains the resultant forces from the airflows.Īpplying Newtonian mechanics to explain motion is not a new concept. Much of the available analysis is erroneously based on fluid mechanics (i.e., Bernoulli) and incorrectly compares the forces generated by a kite to the lift generated by an airplane wing. Little analysis has been done on the physics of kiteboarding to date. The kitesurfer controls the speed and direction of the kite by adjusting its angle-of-attack (AOA). The kiteboarder avoids being blown downwind and maintains line tension by leaning into the wind and pushing water downwind with the board. The kite pulls the kitesurfer forward (see illustration below). The reactive equal and opposite forward force pushes the kite ahead. This redirected airflow pushes against undisturbed wind behind it, creating turbulence and providing something for the redirected airflow to push against. The kite redirects a mass of air each second (m/dt) from the apparent wind-assisted by the Coanda effect at a velocity (dv) relative to the kite, which creates a backward force (Force BACK = ma = m/dt x dv). Kiteboarding is like wakeboarding with a paraglider or windsurfing with a short board and a detached sail.
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