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Strutless kite in development on Maui

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Osprey1
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Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby Osprey1 » Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:53 pm

Last week in Maui I got the opportunity to ride the Boardworks Maui Cloud kite and I can honestly say it is without question the best surf kite I've ever ridden. In fact I'll be buying two more when they go to production.

About me so you know this review isn't BS, I've been riding for 7 years and get on the water an average of 80 times a year. I started on Fuels moved, to Rebels and for the last few years have flown Parks.

The day I tried an 8m Cloud I was riding my 12m Park. The 8m Cloud had way more pull then my 12m Park once on a plane. These kites are quick, grunty and so light because of the lack of struts that I just let the bar go a few times while surfing and the kite just sat there with no input and was chill with the bar completely sheeted out. Once on a wave you hardly notice the kite is there and can really shred.

As for jumping these kites go absolutely huge, and might only compare to a Rebel for height on jumps. In fact I also tried to mega loop the Cloud a few times, it's so fast it really gets to the top of the window and provides a cush landing. As for unhooked, definitely not a C-kite, but surprisingly decent and was able to railey on it no prob, but didn't have the wind to try any handle passes so I don't know about how well the lines go slack, etc. My only criticism of these kites is that for the average rider they may be too fast turning, but I like a fast kite so besides that they are awesome. Way to go Greg!

Also, if you like riding Alaia's you should check out the Paipo boards. They are like an Alaia but with a bit of rocker and small fins, super fun.
(Mahalo KoF)

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boardriding maui
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Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby boardriding maui » Mon Dec 03, 2012 7:43 am

GregK - Thanks.

kitesafe1 - For me, the idea was to explore new kite performance without making any assumptions. So I felt the place to start was to strip everything off the kite to really learn what each part is doing before adding back as needed. The kite now in production speaks of what we found.

I don't think its really a new idea. I would guess every wind-sport has had foils (sails, wings, kites, etc) without devises making them rigid. My first kite was ram-air and I never forgot how sweet it was in its simplicity.

After the first prototypes suggested that we may not need to add "more stuff" I searched on line to see what others had done in this direction. The only kite I found that look very refined was a prototype from Airush several years ago. I have no idea how that worked or why they never brought anything like that to production.

mede - Thanks for forwarding the youtube link. The boardriding maui channel is going off!

zob - Thanks. My wife rips!

tautologies - Thanks.

turfAndsurf - The bar is just my preference. Been in development for a long time. Started because conventional systems made depower difficult for my wife. Early stuff was just to keep everything within reach for her. After I rode it for awhile I started to love the performance from a much longer travel. Now I really struggle riding conventional systems with shorter travel. I also really dislike the complication and weight of systems. With a long travel you don't need cleats. I see so many of my friends struggling to tune their kites. I think it will be helpful to have a no-brainer control system. At its launch the cloud will be kite-only. The control system needs more time for production setup.

Would love to get a 17 to San Diego but think it will be some time before I'm in a position to have demo gear available. I hope riders will appreciate that this brand intends to stay super small. The benefit being direct communication with the designer. The trade-off being a lack of demo/promo stuff like is offered from the big brands.

ed257 - One-pump at its truest, right?

Osprey1 - Thanks so much for the testimonial. I really appreciate it.

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Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby dafish » Mon Dec 03, 2012 11:21 am

Looks like I have to make a special trip to Maui to check it out in person. I'd say it would be worth the trip!

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Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby alexrider » Mon Dec 03, 2012 7:09 pm

DrLightWind wrote:
boardriding maui wrote: Crazy fast and responsive.
....
Congratulation thinking outside of the box and developing it further to bring it to the world,
hopefully marketing it before the the big brand would take up on it :clap:
I also like it without the graphics and the passion behind not afraid of doing something different.
....
DrLW
Marketing? Brands? :angryfire: :angryfire: :angryfire: What horrible words you are throwing in here. They don't look like part of boardriding maui's vocabulary (as I read it).
These guys obviously are not innovating for the money. Their detached passion this is precisely what's likely to keep them ahead of copycats. If there is a financial reward as a byproduct of their art, they'll be pleased of course, but that doesn't seem to be the aim, as it shouldn't in any form of leisure if it is to remain unadulterated. Their wonderful clip exemplifies this attitude.
:clap: :clap: :clap:
Open source rules.

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Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby John-B » Tue Dec 04, 2012 8:25 am

boardriding maui wrote: The only kite I found that look very refined was a prototype from Airush several years ago. I have no idea how that worked or why they never brought anything like that to production.
MIght be worthwhile chatting to the guys at Airush (without disclosing trade secrets). Their Aramid Load Frame Tech makes for a more responsive and stronger canopy - I feel the difference on my Team Razors compared to the normal ones?

With a design as sparse as yours you are either going to need some clever panel layout (maybe have) or something else to keep the canopy good longer-term?

http://www.airush.com/2013/the-lab/kite-tech/

:thumb:

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Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby Gigi;) » Tue Dec 04, 2012 9:19 am

:nono: heres nothing open source... the true open source was Zero Prestige & Kite-stuff.org plus some smaller ones. Also because of COPY-CATs those sites went down (at least mine).
alexrider wrote: :clap: :clap: :clap:
Open source rules.

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alexrider
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Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby alexrider » Wed Dec 05, 2012 4:11 am

Gigi;) wrote::nono: heres nothing open source... the true open source was Zero Prestige & Kite-stuff.org plus some smaller ones. Also because of COPY-CATs those sites went down (at least mine).
alexrider wrote: :clap: :clap: :clap:
Open source rules.
Thanks for the hint. Great site! I love it.
http://www.mit.edu/people/robot/zp/zeroprestige.html
:clap: :clap: :clap:
Nothing wrong with sites being small. Small is beautiful.
How do you explain your site went down because of copy cats? Which one was it and what was it about? Obviously if your primary goal was to make money (rather than purely create), you didn't get the point of open source and consequently blew it.

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Gigi;)
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Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby Gigi;) » Wed Dec 05, 2012 7:39 am

search web archive... hobby/open source kite designing & kite making.

http://web.archive.org/web/200901232231 ... stuff.org/

I can get it up again so the browsing would be easier... copy cats were just one of the reasons I've stopped being open source. no more time to work on it and other projects was also among reasons.
alexrider wrote:
Gigi;) wrote::nono: heres nothing open source... the true open source was Zero Prestige & Kite-stuff.org plus some smaller ones. Also because of COPY-CATs those sites went down (at least mine).
alexrider wrote: :clap: :clap: :clap:
Open source rules.
Thanks for the hint. Great site! I love it.
http://www.mit.edu/people/robot/zp/zeroprestige.html
:clap: :clap: :clap:
Nothing wrong with sites being small. Small is beautiful.
How do you explain your site went down because of copy cats? Which one was it and what was it about? Obviously if your primary goal was to make money (rather than purely create), you didn't get the point of open source and consequently blew it.

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Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby GregK » Thu Dec 06, 2012 11:24 am

John-B wrote:
Airush Aramid Load Frame Tech ...:
Good way to reinforce a kite without adding a lot of weight. It worked extremely well a decade ago for Jeff Henderson / Hot Sails Maui when they used aramid grid reinforcing on their Gridlock / Spiderlock / Spyclone lines of thin monofilm wave sails. Then Ezzy came along with over-built incredibly heavy X-ply wave-sails and heavy sails were in, light was out.

So do kites need aramid gridlocks ? Yes if going down in the waves a lot and getting slammed in the wash cycle, the gridlock should limit the damage. But for flying loads, IMO polyester ripstop can handle flying loads without problems like stretching out.

Light is right - keep it simple.

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Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby turfAndsurf » Sat Dec 08, 2012 10:08 pm

Boardriding Maui, you might have already addressed about doing a video on the wave, I searched but didn't see it, if you have I apology but I would love to see a video on the waves, especially shots of the kite drifting.


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