Ram airs crash in 2018

[Pump me up]

Phew. Think I just saved a lot of money by reading this thread. Enough to stop me in my tracks and make me question whether I need a foil kite. All that bridle fussing. I saw a video on adjusting the bridle to counter stretching, yuck. I don’t go enough and was just shopping as a proxy for kitesurfing. Lucky 2k escape

You're welcome

Indeed, ram air bridles cause a lot of problems:

Ram air bridle problems
The semi-rigidity of inflatables improves consistency, stability, turning, handling, and aerodynamic profile. Ram airs are soft and floppy.

Birds, wasps, stunt kites, and planes are rigid. ALL high performance aircraft (eg hang-gliders vs paragliders) have rigid structures. Rigid hang gliders out-perform soft paragliders on all measures. Interestingly, the trend in paragliders is towards increased rigidity, e.g. stiff mylar reinforcements, plastic stiffeners in the leading edges and carbon fibre rods sewn into the ribs. These stiffening innovations have resulted in paragliders that are so successful in competition that old-style soft gliders are no longer competitive. Similarly, kite manufacturers are always looking for ways to make kites more internally rigid, eg by joining the struts firmly to the leading edge.

Semi rigidity enables inflatables to withstand gusty conditions better than ram airs. Ram airs deform, fold, collapse, and twist in gusty conditions.
e.g. http://www.foilzone.com/phpbb3/viewtopi ... sc&start=0
e.g.

The foil kite went down. No problem except it now had a twist (an hour glass in my old spinnaker sailing days ).
Worked on it for a while but eventually rolled up the lines and then tried to roll up the wet, soggy kite and place it on top of my board.
Not easy when it has water in it. Swam for a while but another foiler dragged me in, thankfully. I was way too far out.
Any tricks to remove the twist? I couldn't think of a way to do it but assume there is.

Read the full admission at viewtopic.php?t=2394491&p=953414

Another major weakness of the soft structure of ram airs is a lack of tactile feedback. Ram air kites are soft so the feedback is soft, sloppy, and imprecise. Rigid inflatables, in contrast, provide a wealth of nuanced feedback to the rider, e.g. kite position, speed of turn, and gradations of power delivery.

After several weeks of use, ram air bridles typically stretch and deform, further compromising aerodynamic performance: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2358958&start=0

Have you done a mixer test and checked your SPL length? SPL = spare parts line = the bright yellow lines that go through the pulleys... they can shrink A LOT and bork up the handling…

Moved to a foil kite 5 years ago (flysurfer pulse 10m)... I found after 6-9 months that the RAM started performing very poorly especially in gusty conditions I assume this was due to bridle stretching, I did manage to trim the bridle regularly to what I thought was intended spec however as already stated these are complicated bridles with many attachment points and I'm not sure if I did a perfect job! In the end I couldn't get the kite to feel anywhere near how it performed during the first 3 - 6 months of it's life. I think the kite and the bridles became quickly blown out...The kite was expensive and an attempt to resell the kite at half its purchase price failed...

Hey bro's. I'd like to make my speed 3 less stally. Apart from resetting the mixer what else do you recommend?
Is it simply a matter of lengthening the rearlines or shortening the front?
Should I lengthen the Z line abit?

I am assuming a few things:
1) You have reset the mixer to 0
2) You have compensated for Back line shrinkage by shortening your front lines using the Black Line above the adjuster. Front and Back lines should be the same length when the Adjuster is fully open and the bar is pulled all the way down to the chicken loop. Best to tie up the end of the lines to a tree or other solid stationary object to test this.
So. If the kite is still to backstally, try lengthening C. B will adjust itself harmonically by itself. This will sacrifice a bit of stability, but will give you less backstall. Lengthing Z will just make the kite turn slower and will also reduce the Low end of the kite.
Gunnar

For the complete discussion on the diabolical problems associated with "resetting the mixer,” ”compensating for line shrinkage,” “adjusting the adjuster,” “adjusting lines "C", "B", & “Z,” & trying to stop ram airs from back stalling, check out: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2378918&p=778491#p778491

Foil kite and foil board are not very compatible
Foil board need more power to start, less power after planing
Foil kite is the opposite, gutless to start, overpowered when going.

20140701 Flysurfer Speed 3 deluxe21m backstall
Wingtip folding
Board Carafino 2008
Wind 6-7 knots

Yeah that looks like the opposite of fun. We've all been there. Far from shore, wind dies. The difference with an inflatable is that you can wrap the lines and swim it home.

I had a Speed in 2007 and it always seemed to stall in the first power dive. Wing tips would curl in, kite would drift back into the power zone, and just as my ass was falling back in the water BAM, it would fill with air and yank. I'm sure it was partially low wind and user error, but damn. Inflatables always just felt more intuitive to me.

Keep on pumping.

[jatem]

Pumpy, you should put your enthusiasm and propaganda into something useful for humanity. If you campaigned against the automobile, you'd have the potential to save some serious lives. In the USA alone, 100 people die every day in car accidents.

What a load of drivel about ram airs. Kiting is potentially technical and interesting, if people want it to be. Or you can remain on the beach with a trainer kite to minimize risk. Oh wait, trainer kites are ram airs.

[kostantin]

Pumpy, you should put your enthusiasm and propaganda into something useful for humanity. If you campaigned against the automobile, you'd have the potential to save some serious lives. In the USA alone, 100 people die every day in car accidents.

What a load of drivel about ram airs. Kiting is potentially technical and interesting, if people want it to be. Or you can remain on the beach with a trainer kite to minimize risk. Oh wait, trainer kites are ram airs.

Greetings,

this is a stupid thread, what a shame, setup from a crusader on a mission for whatever reason and waste of bandwith! If I need someone to missionize me, I go to church.

If a foil hits you in the face or on the head, you might die. Should I stop this ? Nope
If a valve pops of while you are kiting, you might find yourself in deep trouble. Should I stop this ? Nope
You can seriously hurt yourself with a TT. Should I stop this ? Nope
Should I run into a car crash, I might loose a leg. No more car riding ! Nope
Dating girls. Oh oh. Can result in broken harts. No more dating ! Nope

And the story goes on.

The only lack I see here is that users can not be blocked from showing up in my forum overview.


Then I would sing all day in memory of pumpi "Say goodbye to Hollywood say goodby my baby " like Billy Joel

https://youtu.be/47PtUvHIQpk

[longwhitecloud]

what a funny world, complaints about something lead to more debate and more exposure

imagine how powerful insta/ facebook AI is now and how powerful it will become in the near future, probably a good reason not to be signed up to them. they have certainly had an effect of kiteboarding.

nothing like a good argument soap opera for increased exposure, do you know instagram influencers call it a manufactured beef.

I think flying sleeping bags do actually have a place in kiteboarding, and not just for sleeping in, they can probably be useful in a Bear Grylls survival situation.

actually didnt bear gyrlls have to be evacuated from antartica after having an accident on a sleeping bag kite?