The Wind Window

"Gold at the end of the rainbow."

Kiteboarding is entirely powered by wind, so understanding how it works is as important to learning how to ride, as it is to being a safe rider.

Imagine you are the kiteboarder in the picture and the wind is hitting you back. Everything behind you is what is called, "Upwind." Everything in front of you is what is called, "Downwind."

The wind window is the basis of kiteboarding wind theory. It is a conceptual model designed to describe the area the kite will fly in and the actions the kite will have, relative to the wind and the kiteboarder. The shape of the wind window is like a quarter of a sphere. Imagine cutting a basketball in half, then cutting it in half again. That 1/4 of the basketball is the same shape as the wind window. The pilot of the kite is standing in the center and the wind window moves with the pilot or kiteboarder and is always centered downwind of the pilot.

The "neutral zone" is the area that makes up an imaginary rainbow shape that goes from one side of your body, all the way up and over your head, and then down over to the other side of your body. Another name for the neutral zone is the edge of the wind window and it is shaped like a rainbow. If you remember the old Irish myth about there being pots of gold at the ends of the rainbow, then you would be standing right in between two pots of gold.

The size and shape of the "wind window" in real life, is based on the wind speed, wind quality, kite line length, and kite design. Low wind makes the kite less efficient and so the wind window tends to get smaller whereas is stronger wind it gets bigger yet it never gets bigger than a quarter sphere. Gusty winds therefore constantly change the relative size of the wind window causing the kite to serge ahead in gusts and lull back in lulls. you can probably imagine that this makes the kite more difficult to fly compared to steady winds. Longer kite lines have more drag than shorter kite lines, so longer lines tend to pull the kite down wind more making the wind window smaller. And finally kite design effects the size of the wind window the more aerodynamic the kite the farther forward it will sit giving you a larger wind window and conversely a less aerodynamic kite sits farther back or down wind giving you a smaller wind window.

Think of that rainbow as the top half of a clock.

The center of the rainbow right over the top of your head would be 12 O'clock. The pot of gold position on your right would be 3 O'clock and the pot of gold to your left would be the 9 O'clock position. 3 and 9 O'Clock would be either the ground of the water depending on where you are piloting the kite. Here is a video of the kite being slowly steered from about 2:45 to 9:15, or from the left side of the wind window to the right side.

The rainbow or edge of the wind window will give you the lowest power or pull. If you steer the kite away from the edge of the wind window you get more pull to closer the kite gets to straight down wind. Straight down wind is the most pull. Looking at the picture the blue area is the least power and the power would increase as the kite was moved through the yellow, orange and finally red areas.

**How To Kiteboard™ - Dos Sonrisas LLC

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