What is it and what is it used for?
One of the main recommendations, if you are starting to practice water sports, is to have a lot of respect for the sea but never lose your calm in dangerous situations. In the case of sports in which water is not only the only factor to take into account as it is in kitesurfing, for example, where the wind has a relevant importance and we must know its behavior to the maximum.
In our case, we are going to talk about the famous “wind window”. It is impossible that anyone who is a beginner or expert of this wonderful sport has not heard of the “wind window”. In your first kitesurfing lesson it is the first lesson that you will have to learn and understand perfectly to practice the sport in the best possible way. Over time you will understand that this “wind window” is a fundamental pillar for you and that it will serve you in all your kitesurfing adventures.
Video tutorial – Wind Window
So, what is the “wind window”, what is it about?
It is a somewhat abstract concept and tries to explain through a metaphor of a window where our kite is going to move and how the kite behaves in different positions within the “window”.
The “wind window”, example.
Based on the picture we will explain what the “wind window” is and what it is all about. The green and blue arrow indicates the wind direction where the person handling the kite should always be with his back to the wind.
We will have three main zones:
- Power Zone (red): to propel the kite and give power.
- Medium Zone (orange)
- Neutral Zone (green): to give control to the kite.
Then we see that our half circle looking at it from left to right goes from 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock through 12 o’clock, just like a clock system.
Types of “wind window” zones
If you want to have your kite without any traction you would have to leave your kite stationary at 12 o’clock. Twelve o’clock is the highest part of the neutral zone, also known as the zenith position. This way you would let the wind in and out of your kite without generating pressure.
The sides, nine and three, we will use to launch and land the kite. And, for its part, the force and traction will be achieved by moving the kite in “another schedule” or direction: from ten to twelve o’clock, or from two to twelve o’clock (shorter or longer movement). The zone with the greatest traction force is the one in front of us: we will avoid passing the kite through this zone when lifting or lowering it, so as not to complicate things.
It is important to mention that there are factors to take into account in the behavior and power of the kite such as kite size and speed. When there is a lot of wind, the power zone will be larger and therefore we must keep the kite as high as possible. And as for the size of the kite, the more wind the smaller the size of the kite and vice versa.
We must know then that the further back our kite is lying, the more the wind will affect its surface, so that the kite exerts resistance to the wind and this gives us more power.
We must always launch or land the kite in the neutral zone and never in the power zone. A very typical mistake that beginners make is to lift the kite in front of oneself. If we were to lift the kite in the power zone we would be dragged with a lot of speed until the kite was positioned at 12 o’clock.
This is all about “the wind window”. We hope it has been of great help and you have understood it perfectly. It is an important part as we have already mentioned and whenever you are going to sail you must take it into account.
