Kite · Bow & safety
2005
The bow kite brings depower
A flat, bridled kite designed by the Legaignoux brothers reaches the market, with far more depower and a much wider wind range than the C-kites before it.
US 7,374,133, Fig. 8 (2008), the US grant of the Legaignoux bow-kite patent · public domain
Twenty years after their first patent, Bruno and Dominique Legaignoux changed the kite again. On 1 March 2004 they filed a French patent for a traction kite with a flatter shape and a concave trailing edge, held in shape by bridles. It was published in September 2005.
The same year the design reached the beach. Cabrinha was the first to build one, the Crossbow, flown with a pulley bar. Takoon, Bruno Legaignoux’s own brand, made the Nova, which one magazine calls the first mass-produced bow kite.
The difference was depower: one magazine describes a lot more depower than before and unparalleled stability. Bow kites have a wider wind range than C-kites, so that two of them, of 7 and 12 square metres, can cover 10 to 30 knots for a rider of about 75 kilograms. Their depower makes gusts easier to handle, which makes them safer to use.
The design was licensed to many kite makers. In 2006 Ozone brought out the first flat bridled inflatable without pulleys. The European patent on the bow kite was later revoked.