Benson Mini-Gemini
Cross-Active Bridle
The cross-active bridle is based on Andy Wardley's cross-active bridle for the Gemini and Gemini UL. This scaled down version was made to see if the improvements to the full sized kites could be reproduced on the mini.
The conversion keeps the upper and lower outhauls exactly as on the standard bridle. Leave these (they are one single piece of bridle line) attached to the kite and the tow-point pigtail. Remove the inhauls and all other lines from the original bridle. Tie new inhauls to the spines and then to the tow-point pigtail. Tie the activators from the upper outhaul to the inhaul 23cm down from the tow-point on each line, then tie the cross-activator between the centre points of each activator.
The best knots to use can be found at Andy Wardley's knots page.
Yo-yo's and flic-flacs are great and I've found more controllable than with the original bridle, while 540 flatspins and lazy susans are easier to achieve.
Earlier versions of the bridle made backspins harder (very hard on version 1 - 44cm cross-activator). I tried lengthening the inhaul and cross-activator which certainly made backspins easy, but sacrificed other improvements. The position I have ended with is the original inhaul length and a longer cross-activator.
I am still testing different settings (I have pigtails on both inhauls and the cross-activator to make alterations quick and easy) but have stuck at around the current settings for some time now. Any changes will be posted here.
Other Modifications
Other modifications include:
