Power Kites | Traction Kites using the wind has a motor for kiting sports and competition

Power kites are also known as traction kites. They were designed to be a type of "motor" for kite buggying, kite boarding, and other such sports. A kite with power can propel a kite buggy up to three and four times the wind speed. If you want to jump into the world of kiting sports you need to first learn the basics of power kiting. There are many places online that can give you tips if you are inexperienced with two and four line kites.

Power kites came around in the early 1970s, which, compared to the other kites is not a very long time considering the Chinese and box kites have been around for centuries. However, even though these traction kits have not been out that long there have still been some great developments. Furthermore, it is being used more and more throughout sports since the beginning of the new millennium.

The Flexifoil kite was created by Ray Merry and Andrew Jones in the early 70s and is probably the most significant power kite in the early years of power kiting. Flexifoil is now the name of a kiting company. In the 1980s a newer and more advance traction kite was created and released. This new design was called the Sparless Stunter and it was designed by Ted Doughtery.

In the 1990s Ted Doughtery came up with a newer design for a kite. The new kite was called the Quadrifoil. The Quadrifoil was one of the first 4-liners in power kite history. The outline of the kite was rectangular and was first seen in competition in 1990. In 1991 Peter Lynn came out with another kite called the 2-line Peel Kite. These kites were really large and were most often used as traction kites.

In the late 1990s one of the original inventors of the power kite Flexifoil were at it again. He designed a range of 4 liners that he called Skytigers. After these came the "Hi" series, which were designed to pull harder. Many kite creators were making kites just for the speed, which resulted in these kits being harder to fly. This was a successful design in the UK and was often used in buggy races.

The new millennium saw a lot more changes in kites and how they were made. A major event that took place at the turn of the millennium was how the paragliding manufactures entered into the power kite business. A French company called Ozone is one of the major companies to enter into this business. Kites produced from this company, not surprisingly, are of very good quality.

Also in the 21st century, the introduction of depowerable designs was made. These designs were made to fly on all four lines and had easily variable pulling power while in flight. The earlier designs like this flew on two lines and the remaining lines were used for steering and control of the kite, also with limited depowering ability. Therefore, there is no doubt that the newer designs are more efficient than the older ones.

Many kites were made just for speed and many kites were designed just for buggy racing and other sports of the like. Then there are the awesome kites that were just made for leisurely flying. I hope you enjoyed learn about how traction kites came to be and how they are used in some sports. We here at SkyDancerKites.com want to help you with information and resources so that you can find the best suited kite for all your sporting needs.