Ozone Chrono V4 Wing tip stability

[jbrodin]

Hi

I have a brand new Chrono V4 and I have a bit of an issue.

The kite sometimes takes very long to inflate and it hangs in the middle of the wind windows with the wing tips not inflating. Once up and running I have no complaints.

I have understood that pulling on the steering lines is the trick, and since it does get better. I tried this in light wind yesterday, and it did work.

However, I had one really bad experience. I lost the kite into the water after a mistimed loop, the wind was good, about 16 kts. I got the kite up again in a matter of 20 seconds max. It refused to reset the tips. They were both hanging limply and the kite stayed smack in the middle of the wind window, dragging me downwind quite rapidly, at timed yanking me out of the water. This went on for 5-10 mins. I tried everything I could think of, powering, deepowering, even looping the kite (but not yanking the steering lines individually, as this has not been the trick with the Flysurfer kites I have had previously and I got the tip after). There were no bridals around the tip or wound tips or anything like that. One of the tips came out occationally, only to drop down again.

I managed to bodydrag in and land the kite, fortunately a buddy saved my board.

Question: Has any of you had this experience? It could be that the yank on the steering lines individually would have made the difference. Will definitely try next time .

I will look into the bridals, to check the trim the coming days.

[whiteout]

Shorten the steering lines a bit.

[jakemoore]

You need to get air pressure to the tips one way or another. I probably wouldn’t yank the lines abruptly. Consider more of a firm and constant pull lasting 20-30 seconds. Pulling the steering lines in about 25 cm to back stall the kite or alternating right and left lines can help pump air into the tips. Sometimes I will let the kite back into the water for a second and then bring it up into the air again. It my fly poorly until it’s dry.

[jbrodin]

Shorten the steering lines a bit.

Thanks, I have a race bar, so I'll try moving the full power knot and make the flying lines longer. 2-3 cm?

[mgs]

I can only refer to Chrono V1's where pre-inflation is key.
Launch at the side of wind window and when at the top, "gently" pull the brake strap which causes back stall/flattens the canopy allowing the wind tips to inflate.
(There is a fine balance between too much brake or not enough)
I have in the past launched to early where you have a kite that's hard to control due to lack of "pre-inflation" and usually drifts into the power zone!
It's all about practice and its good to learn in lighter winds.

[Adventure Logs]

Unless things have changed, the bar lines should be equal when trimmed for full power with the bar in. I'd do a bar check first.

Second, to help inflation as mentioned above, backstall the kite. Do this by grabbing both steering lines and pulling in slowly until the kite starts to fall back in the air. Modulate the steering tension to keep the kite where you want it, don't let it crash in the backstall. Sometimes in lighter winds with the kite trimmed for full power, just holding the bar fully in will be enough to start the back stall. Like everything, practice this in lighter winds and work your way up. Having the ability to easily control backstalling can lead to more fun skills like spirals and which kite turns.

=Jason-

[evan]

What Flysurfers were you used to? Sounds like you wanted it to inflate depowered like the older speeds.

High aspect ratio foil kites won't auto inflate. They need to be hold into a stalled state deep in the wind window to inflate before you can depower and let them move to the edge.

Smooth and precise inputs are the key. Give the collapsed tip a bit more stall to open it.
Easiest to do with a bar set up that allows you to stall by just holding the bar close to the chickenloop. Equal line lengths won't be enough most of the time.

After a crash on the water make sure you let all the water drain out of the tips before letting it go to edge otherwise the tips will indeed keep collapsing until all the water has drained.

If you still think something is wrong, other than your own skills that needs some upgrades, give the kite to someone used to high aspect ratio foil kites to test.

[Adventure Logs]

What Flysurfers were you used to? Sounds like you wanted it to inflate depowered like the older speeds.

High aspect ratio foil kites won't auto inflate. They need to be hold into a stalled state deep in the wind window to inflate before you can depower and let them move to the edge.

Smooth and precise inputs are the key. Give the collapsed tip a bit more stall to open it.
Easiest to do with a bar set up that allows you to stall by just holding the bar close to the chickenloop. Equal line lengths won't be enough most of the time.

After a crash on the water make sure you let all the water drain out of the tips before letting it go to edge otherwise the tips will indeed keep collapsing until all the water has drained.

If you still think something is wrong, other than your own skills that needs some upgrades, give the kite to someone used to high aspect ratio foil kites to test.

Dude..lay off lol. Inflation really hasn't been much of a factor in the last couple gens and really depends on the design of the wing on the inside. My Sonic3 11m barely needs any input to completely inflate and that has a aspect ratio of 6.8, much higher than Chrono 4's 6.0. Hell even the Souls get close to the same aspect ratio as the Chrono4 in their larger sizes and they have absolutely no inflation issues.

I haven't flown the Chrono 4 but it shouldn't be having these inflation problems unless Ozone just designed a crappy interior where it doesn't flow. If the wing tips just won't inflate then there's something up. Why I suggested do a bar check first.

[evan]

Well, hadn't had a racy foilkite in my hands that you can inflate depowered. Even the soul inflates much easier when you hold it down into the power zone until it is full.

[jbrodin]

Thanks for al the input. Tha bar is brand new and the first ting I did was to verify line lenghts. I have also gone over the bridals and done the "zero check" as Ozone dubs it. As far as I can see there is no trim possibility for the speed system or mixer, as on R1 or FS kites. I will try today with 1-2 cm longer front lines, to have more access to backstall. I have experince with FS speed 3 and 4, Soul and Sonic. Most time spent with Soul though. As I said, the thing that freaked me out was not to have to inflate upon launch, but that I could not get it back in shape after relaunching, the kite barely touched the water, so it was already fully inflated.