But some says that the "Surf/SUP" wings especially, are often really thick, but HOW thick?
Could some measure theirs so we get an idea of thickness?
Meaning, how thick is the wing 2-3 inch from the center, and what is the chord at this point?
This ratio will give you the wing thickness in percent.
Could be really interesting to know the range of thicknesses we experience.
Meassuring is quite easy if you are two, using two straight battens or a table edge and a cardboard edge or similar (apart from one or two rulers), requires a bit of patience to get it right
Alone it can be difficult to measure the thickness though, holding everything with only two hands
My wings 500 to 1200 cm2 are all between 6.9 to 8.1 % thick, meaning very little range and most of them are between 7.5 and 8 %.
But have no idea about the other brands wings, what thicknesses we see
PS: jumptheshark, my Ketos 1200 cm2 wing IS actually their SUP wing and not a kite specific one, still only 8 % in thickness.
Peter
From the other thread:
Peter_Frank wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2019 2:55 pmjumptheshark wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2019 2:35 pmSnip...
A lot of the surf wings are pretty thick. They are currently the fashion and I think we will see kite wings settle on much thinner profiles but maintain decent overall area. Were still mid evolution and it takes a little research to figure out the different options out there.
Snip...
Are you sure about that?
I dont think so...
At least not for all brands - could be interesting if some would measure theirs (2-3 inches away from the center will give an idea).
The reason why many think they are "thick" is because they are wide.
It is not the thickness which is draggy, it is the thickness divided by the chord, meaning the thickness ratio.
I measured 4 or my Ketos wings, ranging from a fast small narrow 500 cm2 to a big wide Surf 1200 cm2 wing, and those between (in another thread).
And they were ALL roughly between 7 and 8 % in thickness, so the same
So I dont think they are thick, eventhough I dont know the other ones apart from some being 10 %.
Having said that, I agree with you that there are so many different options that can work, maybe also work better
PF