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This kind of design allows about 50% less inertia and perhaps 20-30% less fabric (weight) than conventional foil kite has.

LE of the kite is not quite how it should be because Surfplan is not very good for designing single skins or hybrids. It can be solved but this kind of work needs quite a lot manual adjusting and tweaking with the program. Single skin parts of the kite should have good LE stiffeners, but nowadays even normal foils have them.

nice kitexpert - have you made this or anything similar?

stevet25 wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 05, 2018 8:09 pm

nice kitexpert - have you made this or anything similar?

Thanks, I've made foil kites mainly and some single skins, this is just a first study of the concept. I'm not quite sure yet if hybrid kite combines best or worst of foil kites and single skins. But there is some advantages and there is some hybrid PG's available, so it should work. Monjet Ninox is a kite example of a hybrid but I don't know how it is doing at the moment.

Compared to single skins bridle can be made simpler and less draggy. Some structural rigidity may make water relaunch possible to some extent, but I think it is best suitable for land/snow kiting though. Light weight and small package pros there.

I'm listening ideas or suggestions to improve this one

Right one shows how upper skin should be, it extends below air intakes. Wingtips are normal cells, then no single skin problems there. Air fills them through ribs, or there could be an air intake very near wingtip.

Im not kite expert but i fly kites from 2000. Im periodically revisiting foil kites and then returning to LEIs. I think main LEI advantage is /big surprise / is that they are rigid. Single skin are least rigid kite of all kites. This isnt good. Leis are heavy and didnt fly well in light wind /especially small sizes/ where actual lifting surface to structural reinforcement have worst ratio.
I did not like mono and zero struts LEIs - it is just too big compromise - profile is very unstable. Imo there is potential to combine single skin ribs and minimalistic bridle with inflatable LE.
Superlight LEI with stable profile. I fly just Peak from single skins and its imo horrible kite with only advantage of being light and easy to pack. Ok it work with very specific aplication like uphill looping but thats it. If you have good stable wind - anything will work - shity winds are where there are most differences between designs - single skins dont like shity winds.

Good points, tomtom and I think there is a lot of kite experts around here

Me too I'm mostly on LEI's nowadays but I guess they are too finished products for me. Problem of the Peak has been its lack of dynamism, it is difficult to do with it anything else but drive around. However it pulls very well and has also quite good upwind ability. Latest one is AFAIK more reactive than earlier models but I haven't tested it yet.

tomtom wrote: Imo there is potential to combine single skin ribs and minimalistic bridle with inflatable LE.

I don't know, sounds too much put in a one kite I'm just goofing around now with ideas. Trying to design something "new" is a process I don't know where it is leading, perhaps not anywhere.

An improved version hopefully, less fabric, better diagonal angles