Parts of a Kite – Sail, Spine, Spar, Bridle and Tail

All 8 parts on the diagram

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Flying 6

Sail A thin cover of paper, plastic or cloth. It turns the wind downward, which lifts the kite.
Bridle One or more lines, called legs, tied to the kite. It sets the angle of the sail to the wind.
Tow point The point where the kite line joins the bridle. The kite turns about this point as it flies.
Kite line It joins the flyer to the kite. The flyer can feel the pull of the wind through it.
Tail Its main job is to add drag, not weight. It helps keep the nose of the kite pointing into the wind.
Reel It holds the kite line. It is also called a line winder.

The frame 2

Spine The upright stick of the frame. It should be straight.
Cross spar The shorter stick, tied across the spine. On a bowed kite it is bent back like a bow.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two independent sources use it. (1) NASA Glenn Research Center, Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics, Kite Construction, https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/kitepart.html, and its pages on the bridle point, https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/kitebrid.html (covering, bridle, bridle point, control line, sticks). (2) Charles M. Miller, Kitecraft and Kite Tournaments, 1914, full text at https://archive.org/details/kitecraftkitetou00mill (spine, bow, cross-stick, bridle, covering, tail, kite line, reel). (3) Varney, Kites: How to Make and How to Fly Them, 1897, full text at https://archive.org/details/kiteshowtomakea00varngoog (spine or backbone, cross-stick, bridle, tail, covering, reel). (4) Wayne Hosking, Asian Kites for Kids, read as passages returned by the Internet Archive's full-text search, https://archive.org/details/asiankitesforkid0000wayn (sail, spine, spar, bridle, tow point, kite line, tail, line winder or reel). (5) Maxwell Eden, The Magnificent Book of Kites, read the same way, https://archive.org/details/magnificentbooko0000eden (spine, cross spar, sail, tow point, bridle, flying line, reel). (6) Wikipedia, text only, Kite, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kite (bridle, tail, kite line, sail). Hints and detail lines are in our own words. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; nothing traced. Not to scale: the line is far shorter than a real one. Licence: own work

How it works

The parts of a kite on a diamond kite: six show while it flies, from the sail to the reel in the flyer's hand. The two sticks of the frame show from behind.

Read the full guide

From the sail down to the hand

The sail is the skin the wind pushes on. Two strings, the legs of the bridle, run from the sail to the tow point, where the kite line is tied. The line runs down to the reel. The tail hangs from the bottom tip. From behind, the spine runs from top to bottom and the cross spar is tied across it.

Spine and cross spar are easy to swap: the spine is the long stick, top to bottom.
The bridle is the pair of short strings; the kite line is the one long string.

Questions and answers

What are the sticks on a kite called?

On a diamond kite the upright stick is the spine and the one tied across it is the cross spar. Older books call the second one the cross-stick, or the bow when it is bent back.

What is the string on a kite called?

The long string the flyer holds is the kite line, or flying line. The short strings tied to the kite itself are the bridle, and the two join at the tow point.

What does the tail of a kite do?

It adds drag without adding much weight, which helps keep the nose of the kite pointing into the wind. Some kites, such as the bowed diamond, fly without one.

What does the bridle do on a kite?

It holds the sail at an angle to the wind and spreads the pull of the line over the kite. Moving the tow point along the bridle changes how the kite flies.