Second that!jumptheshark wrote: ↑Thu Jul 18, 2019 11:21 am...Prediction: in five years any nine meter kite over 2 kg will be considered a dog.
I don't think you need to sacrifice durability. I honestly think many of the added "beef" on the majority of kite is misplaced. Like I said, nothing wrong with an elbow of mark cloth or Dacron across the TE but battens in the TE or LE could be avoided with better shaping. Many of the additional bumpers and name brand insignia patches are totally unnecessary and are there so you can drag the kite around on the ground. If the kite is under 2kg, it wont touch the ground when you walk it upwind upside down even in zero wind. They are kites and it is us that have to come to the realization that if we actually want performance, we should probably not let them flap on the beach, drag on their wingtips or fly too close to bridges. Strength by design not additional "reinforcement" is the way forward. I self launch and land pretty much 95% of the time and my clouds with zero scuff protection do it better with less dragging than any of my other kites. You can simple revers it up into the air and pinwheel them without inducing any wear at all. Landing, they hit the ground like a feather.bragnouff wrote: ↑Thu Jul 18, 2019 12:39 pmWell, to be honest, it's only now in recent hydrofoiling times that we worry about using a 9m in 8kts, and riding downwind towards it.
In 2012, In the 17kts+ range that they were intended to be used in, the effect of weight wasn't as critical as what you make it sound. The balance of the kite, its AOA and position in the window were much more important in terms of performance and feeling than just weight. In that perspective, some level of beefiness was probably good to have. On top of lots of sessions on surf and TT, I dragged the shit out of my 9m Trix. Self launching and landing 90% of the times, Light buggy sessions misjudging the space under the New Brighton Pier, rubbing on its piles, dragging it across, some sketchy snowkite sessions on ice, tussock, resting on the wingtip while having a break, walking out of valleys dragging the kite behind. Passed it to beginners that made me cringe. Maybe its built was overkill, but if it had failed on me in any of those occasions, I probably would have been extremely pissed off. And because I never thought it was heavy, I was even adding about 300g of Pentax camera and housing on its center strut. And the stoke level was running high.
Back then, a Cloud probably wouldn't have fitted the bill for all I was into. Different needs, different kites. Different times too.
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