Pigtail
From KiteWiki
A pigtail is a piece of heavy line or thin rope that usually forms a connection point for your flying lines to attach to the kite.
It usually has a loop at one end, and a knot at the other end or series of knots along its length.
The pigtail can be sewn directly to the kite (as is sometimes the case for LEI or Twinskin kites, but is often in fact the last leg of a bridle bunch. The loop end is passed through all of loops in the bridles, and the pigtail then also passed through its own loop before being pulled tight.
The flying lines can be connected using a larks head knot to any one of the pigtail's knots (if there is more than one), which effectively allows for small adjustments in line length at the kite end of the line.
On depower kites, it is quite common for the main line pigtails to be terminated with knots and the back lines to be terminated with loops or vice versa. The flying lines follow the opposite convention so that it becomes much less likely that the power and brake lines will be accidentally swapped over. In each case, the loop on the line or pigtail is larks headed over the corresponding knot on the pigtail or line.
Remember that a short pigtail can also be used to adjust line length at the handles or bar end. It is useful to keep a few in your kite bag in case you un-expectedly need to adjust line lengths.
--Badger 22:24, 26 January 2010 (UTC)
