kitesurfing kites

Variations of power kiting have been around since the 70’s, and along the way we’ve seen many different makes and models. The first power kite on the market was the “flexifoil,” which was a simple two line kite designed by Englishmen Ray Marry and Andruw Jones.

By the mid 80’s, a newer foil design had been introduced, which had six cells and a square shape. Known as the sparless stunter, this power kite was revolutionary in the kiting community at the time. After the sparless stunter we were introduced to the quadrafoil, one of the first four-line power kites available. This kite was rectangle in shape and soon became a popular model for power kite competitions. The Quadrafoil kites took on many transformations over the years, all maintaining the same shape and line configuration, but designers began to tweak the spines and spars to provide greater control and maneuverability

At the same time, one of the most popular power kites ever designed was introduced to the market. Designed by Peter Lynn, the 2 line peel kite was released in the early 90’s and offered some of the best traction available. By the late 90’s four line kites were the rage, offering more pull, traction, and control than ever before. Many traction kites were introduced for pure speed purposes, although these kites were much harder to control, even for seasoned veterans.

As the power kite industry has become more and more popular in the new millennium, we’ve even seen aircraft engineers enter the fray, offering cutting edge designs of very high quality. Paraglider and parasail companies have introduced a number of new designs as well, as many of the same “wind window” principles apply to both sports. There is no doubt we’ll continue to see many new innovations in the power kite industry, and we welcome them with open arms!