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I also have tears in the meshes. I don't think all the meshes have them. They are relatively near the front of the mesh, away from the trailing edge, and perpendicular to the top and bottom skins. I don't believe the tears contribute to unwanted ballooning of the cell.

I am sure the mesh will have an effect but it can't be the only thing. best fix it anyway.

Good solution lengthening Z at the wingtips.

If you look back a few posts you will see NemO mention emailing flysurfer at werkstatt@flysurfer.de for a manual on how to fix your speed4. As far as I can work out they use pleats as described to reflex the tips for a fix. Nem0 also seems to have an intimate relationship with flysurfer, you could guess he works for them. too easy! There seems to be a few sock puppets here.

I shortened B by about 3/4 inch and did a short test flight. I also found the outermost Z's had shrunk so I stretched to be equal by pulling them by hand.

The problem is gone. I was at a gusty inland site, on the innermost part of a bay with the wind coming over the land. I was able to fly the kite both at full power (enough to loft me a foot off the ground) with the trimmer all the way out and all the way depowered. No flapping and the tips are not hanging down like big ears.

Wow. An easy fix. With all this talk about pleats and tears in the fabric I was thinking the whole thing was kaput. I look forward to a regular session and report back if the problem returns. I'm looking forward to trying the same thing with my 10 m.

foilholio wrote: "hot air"

Oh foilholio you have a blooming fantacy!
Just because you are in this situation with pansh, don't think that everyone else does the same!
Flysurfer is a german company (but too far away from my place) and I've good experience with their products, so where is the problem?
The forum is for sharing Informations. This is just what I do! So let's finish this bullshit and back to topic!

Haven't you got a Union to be worried about? Allah Akbar!

Johhnn wrote:I shortened B by about 3/4 inch and did a short test flight. I also found the outermost Z's had shrunk so I stretched to be equal by pulling them by hand.

The problem is gone. I was at a gusty inland site, on the innermost part of a bay with the wind coming over the land. I was able to fly the kite both at full power (enough to loft me a foot off the ground) with the trimmer all the way out and all the way depowered. No flapping and the tips are not hanging down like big ears.

Wow. An easy fix. With all this talk about pleats and tears in the fabric I was thinking the whole thing was kaput. I look forward to a regular session and report back if the problem returns. I'm looking forward to trying the same thing with my 10 m.

Easy aye! It looked like a bridle problem.

Did the same (reduced B by 3/4") to my S4 10 m dlx and the problem is almost gone. Maybe I'll reduce B by a full inch. I should mention, if I didn't, that on the 8 m, I also stretched the outermost Z by hand to be equal to the others. It was shorter by maybe 1 cm, no more. I must check this on the 10 m. Both kites have the rips in the mesh. The 10 is about a year older and the coating is starting to delaminate from the fabric all over the kite.

You may want to try extending Z instead of shortening B, you will most likely get the same results but not lose any depower. Have you restretched all the bridles before? I find that fixes most problems with foils.