Kiteforum.com

hate to say this but the whole thing was reeking from the beginning. looks like his idea was to make just enough to keep up appearances and keep taking in as many orders as possible and then just pull the plug.

at some point all this will catch up to him. enjoy sipping your cocktails while you can mr "mango".

Keoni wrote: I wish I was mango.

That is a strange opinion. Who would like to be Mango ? Mango has crooked a lot of people. Keoni, you would prefer to be Mango instead of being an honest man ?

Shut the f.k up i.iot Tone! I have enough problems. I can't waste time with you. If you have a personal problem with me, PM and I want to see you face to face.

sounds like somebody we already heard. Insulting, threatening...

Maybe that Keoni would like to be Mango ? He speaks the same way already...

at least some have a foil with a lifetime warranty.

Keoni wrote: I open the topic for the foils. Because, I have that 6 boards with me but no foil.
IS there anybody who produce any cheap stuff or sth just for a beginner ride? ....
Hope to hear any co-operation!

Keoni wrote: I look for some help to make that boards useful.

2 families of foil plate hole spacing I know of
+ 165 x 90mm for Carafino / Taaroa / MHL / Fastafoil
+ 160 x 85mm for Zeeko
??? For Feelafloat

Just buy (aluminium) plates (185x110mm or 180x105mm = + 20mm in each direction))
1 - Drill 4 holes spaced according to the board diamond pattern (left figure). Taper them to 4 receive countersunk screws. These 4 holes shouldn't be threaded.

Drill and thread 4 more holes in the plate corners. Then, 2 possibilities:
A - If you want to use bolts to maintain the foil plate (middle figure)
Warning - Engineering rule - For a longlasting thread grip, the plate thickness must be >= 1,5 times the bolt diameter. Ex: for 6mm bolt use 9mm alu plate (mini).
Screws must be chosen or cut to a precsie length as they must not dammage the board bottom.
Use 4 bolts to maintain foil plate.

B - If you want to use nuts to maintain the foil plate, less flush but more secured (right figure) as you don't have to respect any thread depth.
On the board bottom side of the plate, lock 4 countersunk screws to the plate (if soldering = SS plate) - Fix plate to board - use 4 nuts to maintain foil plate.

A 9 or 10mm aluminium plate with SS bolts should be quite rigid.
Disclaimer: this is a try and error solution to allow you not to reinvent a KBHF around a ??? USD board.

You know what's really funny about this Carafino guy?

He spends years and years building hydrofoils. Then just as it gets popular and he stands to make a lot of $$ he blows out and goes out of business.

so true

Yep. A member of the kiting lunatic fringe. From foiling pioneer to its pariah

Arcsrule wrote:rththiii. so you are here again, I'll spill the beans for you, you are cariffino...what a dick! you join up and ask one question that every one knows the answer too. no one is that big of an idiot!!!! what a coincidence that you post this question the same time KEONI sends me a personal message. have fun with this!

You're probably right. 1 post and then no responses seems suspicious.

Bob
www.kiteridersllc.com

Keoni wrote:Unfortunatelly, You are right dude! I'm not feeling good too about previous messages. But, You know everybody had reasons to believe Mango.I'm sure he had too... If he was a brave and honest guy, He had to contact all customers and try to cooperate with us to solve the problems... Clean your mass Mango as a real Hawaiian, It makes you bigger...!



Anyway, I do not need to persuade anybody for anything.

I write down my intention as previous message.

I look for some help to make that boards useful.

Here what I'm thinking about the foil for these boards;

Aluminium T-bar around 90-100 cm high. (not sure about thickness and wide part length)

main wing is handmade or cnc g10 epoxy 580x115 10mm thickness.

rear wing is 440x80 and 8mm thickness.

I ride it by myself and try to develop a prototype.

I appreciate you for any help. Btw, maybe people can use that boards...

He certainly sounds like Carafino to me.
But the strange thing is that he asks about the size of wings to use and build process... Thought Carafino was the "god" of hydrofoils.

The dimensions of the wings and using G10 are taken straight from a gentleman in south Africa's web site:

http://www.kitehydrofoil.com/index.php/ ... wings.html

I've been in touch with Christoff and he is a legit cool guy that is super helpful.

I mediated a deal for 20 boards and 20 foils for 20 people between San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco that all went in on the 2 for 1 deal to get into foiling at a reasonable cost (much like the others that were screwed). Carafino delivered all 20 boards, and 1 complete "performance" foil 7 months after placing the order. I won't go into the fiasco we went through to receive this, but nevertheless he completely screwed us, and made up some bullshit story about the chinese foil factory stealing his money or something. So, we had to get creative and come up with an adaptor plate design to mount other foils (such as the Sword or Lift) so the boards could actually be used (see pic). In the end, it was not what we paid for, but also not a complete waste.

The one foil that we did receive was passed around to about 6 or 7 guys in San Diego to learn on. Once we became competent, we moved to higher performance foils, and it then became apparent how slow the Carafino foil is. While the Carafino foil does work, it has a tremendous amount of drag, and actually after the first few months of riding it, my knees and back were starting to hurt from the drag. Once I had tried the Sword I, and went back to the Carafino, I felt like I was towing 3 little kids behind the foil board! Ironically, Carafino had told me on the phone that he had designed the Sword. Once I actually rode the Sword it was like someone slapped me in the face and made me realize how out of touch with reality Mango is...those foils are on two ends of the spectrum.

In any event, I personally don't think that Carafino had the intention of screwing people. I don't think he's a crook. He's just a guy who has a passion for the sport of hydrofoil kiteboarding and wanted to bring it to the average kiter, but unfortunately ego mixed with a bit of flakiness, no business sense and common sense, led to this complete disaster of a deal. In the end, there's not much most of us can do (especially those that didn't pay by credit card). The only thing we can do is spread the word to ensure that this never happens again. Christopher Mango (Manny) Carafino (Carabello), and whatever aliases he has, should never try and sell anything in this industry again.

Hopefully he's enjoying his life in Bali (https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/7294318)