Synergy Deca Handles

Lines

The lines actually attach to the handles via a small tail of line that has been formed into a loop using an overhand knot, and passed through the hole using a larkshead knot. The flying lines then attach to the tail's overhand knot, again using a larkshead. This means that the lines can easily be removed from the handles.

The flying lines (all four of them) are all the same length - and for 'normal' outdoor about 20 m in length. I'm not sure about the actual strength of them, but they look quite light to me (certainly less than my standard Rev. lines). I will have to find out..... I have found that even in quite strong gusty wind the Deca doesn't pull much at all (much less than a Rev. in the same wind) - therefore you just don't need as strong line.

Oh yes - one tip - if your handles and lines aren't already marked I would suggest marking which handle is which on the top hole and marking the top line on each pair at either end - say tie a pink knot on the left handle and top lines and green on the right handle and top lines.

My experience

So far in flying the Deca 1 I have found that in a stronger wind moving the top lines to the inner holes helped to keep control of the kite, whereas in lighter winds moving the top lines to the outer holes gave greater control. I'm not sure about the bottom lines - at the moment they are in the middle hole and seems to be OK.

I suspect that you move the lines around when you want to a) keep control given certain wind conditions and b) allow the Deca to roll onto it's back and front (the Invert manoeuvres it's famous for) - you need to be able to tilt the kite so far forward or back that the air pressure ends up on the back of the sail & so flips the kite so that the sail is parallel to the ground.

On other thing - it's said that you don't need to peg the kite out as the force of the wind on the sail will hold it to the ground and stop it blowing off. Well that's not quite true (as I found out the other day & ended up chasing the kite down the field). If the wind is strong and gusty then it can lift the kite off if it's not secured.

Using other handles

A final word about the handles - a number of people on the rec.kites news group have discussed in the past using the long Rev. handles with the Synergy kites. The general view was that yes, they work, and yes, they are better (like "day and night" said one poster).

I have tried and yes, they worked fine. However by design the bottoms of the Rev handles are longer, therefore lengthening the bottom lines. I wonder if this would make it harder to perform some of the Invert tricks than with the standard Synergy handles.