Soft single skin kites are the least complex of all the power kites.
The best known design is the NASA Parawing or NPW. For more, see rogallo wing. This is a very simple kite with mixed performance. It has excellent pull, but is slow to maneuver and suffers from a limited wind window. Its simple construction and forgiving design make it very popular among hobbyists and some traction enthusiasts, especially ski- and sledge-borne expeditions across both Arctic and Antarctic lands, but its drawbacks make it unsuitable for high efficiency and many water-borne sports.
There are also soft single skin kites designed to be used on sailing ships as a free flying spinnaker substitute. There are significant advantages to having the spinnaker catching wind further above the surface of the water than is normal. This design was tested in the 2002 Louis Vuitton Regatta by the Oracle Americas Cup team.
Famous quotes containing the words soft, single, skin and/or kite:
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—Radka Donnell-Vogt, U.S. quiltmaker. As quoted in Lives and Works, by Lynn F. Miller and Sally S. Swenson (1981)
“Will power is only the tensile strength of one’s own disposition. One cannot increase it by a single ounce.”
—Cesare Pavese (1908–1950)
“The intellect,—that is miraculous! Who has it, has the talisman: his skin and bones, though they were of the color of night, are transparent, and the everlasting stars shine through, with attractive beams.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“What is to be done with people who can’t read a Sunday paper without messing it all up?... Show me a Sunday paper which has been left in a condition fit only for kite flying, and I will show you an antisocial and dangerous character who has left it that way.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)