Hi Ganja,
It would depend on the wind strength, atmospheric conditions, size, make and model of the kite if you wanted to get really accurate but I would hazard a guess and say just a little slower than the forward speed you were riding at when you initiated the loop.
The average rider rides at about 30-40km/h so I'd be guessing around 35 km/hr for an average rider and then varies accordingly with the above considerations.
I'd be happy to be corrected if I am way off the mark.
Cheers,
KH
Hey guys, wou know that I was talking of the kite speed not the rider's speed, right?
I was just looking at the Reynold's number formula yesterday and as you need the airfoil's speed for it I was just wondering...
I was guessing that it should be at least 80 km/h, but that was just out of primary school thinking, I mean if you'd assume that the kite moves from one side of the wind window to the other side within 3 secs and you have an arc length of 84m (with 27m lines) then it would be 100,8km/h.
So in a loop I would be even faster, wouldn't it?
Please tell me if I'm completely wrong (which is pretty possible as I'm not so much into that maths and physics stuff especially since I'm out of school
)
Oh and don't get me wrong, I'd prefer to do empirical test de facto, but unfortunately I've got another week to go here in Bavaria until I get back to hopefully windy Australia(;
Based on your reasonable calculation, 100km/h would be a bit high because the kite won't fly a full 180 degrees across the window, maybe only 160 degrees.
You can probably throw a criketball/baseball about 60-80 km/h and this seems like a similar speed to me. So I reckon anywhere around that number would be close to the maximum speed of the kite.
Depending on what you are trying to calculate, I don't think it will really matter if you use a number between 30km/h and 90 km/h. This is for two reasons, 1) the kite will not travel at a constant speed in the loop, it may only max out at, say, 80 km/h for a tenth of a second. So the average speed is much harder to determine. 2) You mention Reynolds number which tells me you are interested in the friction and whether the flow is laminar or turbulent. The type of flow and amount of friction is relative to the logarithm of Reynolds number, so an estimate of 30 or 90 km/h will probably give similar results for a thumb-in-air approximation.
Just from observation, about 60-75kph would be about on the money, has to be more than 20-35, otherwise you would end up in pendulum plonks wouldn't you?
Cya and
Goodwinds
Steve
What everyone seems to be forgetting is that the kite is in a tight turn which means the inside wingtip is stalling ie, producing a lot of drag to turn the kite. Your calculations should reflect this.
Also, the kites max speed will be fastest only for a short time of actually accelerating the rider to a downwind direction, then resistance to wind decreases ans so does apparent wind.
So are we talking maximum speed or average speed? I think there'll be a big difference between the two.
Interesting topic in a pocket protector and lab coat kind of way 
KH
How long is a piece of string ???????
Wow it's scary (esp when blown up) what you find when you google images for a piece of string.
