Kitesurfers often talk in a strange language with terms that are not common at all but often don’t know or remember some basic terminology that is important when we discuss tricks or other technical issues.

So to better understand the lingo let’s go over the essential kite and bar terminology and some common misconceptions.

Let’s check if you know all the names for all the 28 parts of the kite and bar and what they are for.

Pause the image and see if you know them all before we talk about them at the end i’ll post the same picture with the correct answers but don’t skip to the end just yet.

Enjoy reading!

First of all we have the (2) leash and the (1)leash quick release. The leash should be connected to the front of the harness with the (1) quick release part closest to the harness in order to be close at hand in case it is necessary to use it. Do not connect it in the back as it is very hard to reach in case of need. Then the other end of the leash should connect on the small ring of the safety line (21) if there is one. The bigger ring can be used if you are trying unhooked tricks without losing the ability to release in case of need but allowing you to do your trick without accidental releases all the time.

The kite is connected to your harness by using the chicken loop (25). This connection can be released in case of need by activating the quick release (23). The majority of the quick release systems are push away ones and for ease of use and standardization they should all be like that. In order to make sure the chicken loop doesn’t fall out of the hook accidentally you have a lock finger (24) that holds it in place, also known as chicken finger and donkey dick, but this term is not children friendly so lock finger is more descriptive and better to use.

Then we have the bar (5) that is used to control the kite it has a middle hole for the line and has grip, so you get a good hold of the bar. Usually, the bar has the left side in red and the other side with a different color. This is like this to help you find the correct bar side when you loose contact with the bar and can also be used to check if you have it the right of way or not. This should be an industry standard but unfortunately there are a couple of brands that still don’t do this. I would stay away from them.

On the bar tip we have the bar winders (3) that are used to wind the lines and pack them after each session. From there you have some rubbery part that is called a floater (4). It is there to make sure your bar floats when in the water, otherwise it could sink ant get attached to any obstacle that existed underwater if you released the kite and this could lead to potential powering up of the kite. To these floaters a thicker line is connected. These lines are called pre lines or leader lines(6) and are thicker so we can use them to relaunch the kite or other things that might require that we touch the lines. The thinner ones are not good for us to touch as they can cut when in tension.

The flying lines connect to the pre lines, these are called (7) back lines or steering lines as they are used to steer and connect to the back of the kite. For ease of reference lets call them back lines.  On the end of them they have a larks head loop(8) that connects to the pigtail (9) that is on the kite positioned on the trailing edge (17) of the kite. On the kite we have the leading edge (15) that we inflate using a pump. The pump valve(26) is generally located in the center of the kite, we can have 2 points one for inflating and one bigger one for deflating or a double action valve that has a cap for inflation and a valve for deflation. There are some few different ones around that are not helpful either making you having to have the right pump at the beach instead of using a standard connection. Also near the connection you will find a kite pump connection point to connect the leash of the pump to the kite (27). Majority if not all of the kites use a single inflation system called a one pump that fills up not only the leading edge but also the struts that give the wire frame go the kite. On the kite between the (16) struts you have the kite (28)canopy made of ripstop polyester. The ripstop polyester is a fabric that has some filaments that are thicker woven into it that helps to stop the kite from ripping. The (10)kite tip usually is more stiff and made out of different material called dacron; this is the same material that is on the leading edge. Connected to the leading edge you have the bridles(14) that are some spider web type of thicker lines that end in a larks head loop(13) that connects to the (12)pig tails that are on the flying front lines also know as (11)power lines. For ease of use let’s call it front lines.

If you noticed the connection between the kite and the bar lines is done by pigtails and larks head loops. if in the front lines we have pig tails the back ones have larks head loops and the opposite is on the kite. This is called kook proof connections as in the beginning often people connected the kites incorrectly and that caused a lot of problems as it wasn’t safe. So the industry made it a standards to have connections that the most novice couldn’t go wrong. This is where we got our name from as the name stopped being used by the brands as all of them have it. However the combo can be different from brand to brand. But they will match with their kite having this as feature.

The front line can have and should have a stopper(18) to make sure that when you activate the kite safety the bar doesn’t go all the way to the kite. In order to do a self rescue properly and safely you need this feature.  Also the safety should be a re-ride one. The distance of the stopper should be at least one kite span so if you use one bar for all kites make sure the distance is set for your biggest kite. The brands that put a stopper always take as reference their biggest kite so you can use the bar with them all. Some Brands use a stopper ball but some use just a loop to loop connection to make the stopper. This is for me the best and cleanest solution as it doesn’t make the line bulkier. There is only a few brands that use sectioned lines with loop to loop connection but this is for me a great feature as you can change the line length and take more advantage of the kite. For teaching this is imperative in order to properly teach you by gradually increasing the line length according to your progression and need for more power. This stopper when used get stopped at the second stopper(19) that is the hole where the line slides through that is located near the trim strap.

Then we have the power trim(20) that is often called de power trim also, the problem is that we use de-power line for the line that follows it and we often say do de-power. This can be confusing. De-power is an action that decreases the power of the kite and not one specific part. So for ease of use lets call it power trim that we use to adjust the de-power capability and (22)center line by moving the bar up we can de-power the kite.

Hope we have covered the majority of the names and usages of the kite and bar so that when we use it in the future you are aware of what we are talking about