[bentpins]

You're not wrong - they do that.

Have a look at https://thekitepower.com/products/ There's a diagram of the flight path and power generation over the cycles.

The flight path on the way out is much much longer going cross wind in figure 8s. On the pull back in it's a direct path back in, and it looks the kite shifts to point back at the base station more so there's a ton less resistance than on the way out.