Foil kites on wet beaches

[joriws]

In my experience foil kites would start showing signs of age at 100 hours. LEI kites are still going strong at over 200 hours.

Funny I have Psycho 3's from 2006 - going strong - the odd replaced bridle - but not much else - my 2009 Fuel with much less hours on it is held together with spinnaker tape

Exactly, I've Psycho 4 from 2008(ish) and still fresh. I had Pulse2 and it was flying good too. LEI where plastic is pressurized inside fabric is a stich/fabric ripping machine. My Edge with maybe 15 sessions is already slowly leaking on freaking bladder. Foil kites - just enjoy riding.

[kiteykitekite]

First Paragliders are not kites or used as kites. A tube is not even considered safe or functional as a paraglider. Paragliders have a short rated life for an extreme margin of safety. This is not needed in a kite, hence why tubes are even used That said a foil will last many multiples over a tube, 3x 4x, making them much cheaper to own and much more reliable.

[Pump me up]

In my experience foil kites would start showing signs of age at 100 hours. LEI kites are still going strong at over 200 hours.

Inflatables have a vastly superior lifespan cf ram airs

After several weeks of use, ram air bridles typically stretch and deform, further compromising aerodynamic performance: http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php? ... 58&start=0

Have you done a mixer test and checked your SPL length? SPL = spare parts line = the bright yellow lines that go through the pulleys... they can shrink A LOT and bork up the handling…

Moved to a foil kite 5 years ago (flysurfer pulse 10m)... I found after 6-9 months that the RAM started performing very poorly especially in gusty conditions I assume this was due to bridle stretching, I did manage to trim the bridle regularly to what I thought was intended spec however as already stated these are complicated bridles with many attachment points and I'm not sure if I did a perfect job! In the end I couldn't get the kite to feel anywhere near how it performed during the first 3 - 6 months of it's life. I think the kite and the bridles became quickly blown out...The kite was expensive and an attempt to resell the kite at half its purchase price failed...

Hey bro's. I'd like to make my speed 3 less stally. Apart from resetting the mixer what else do you recommend?
Is it simply a matter of lengthening the rearlines or shortening the front?
Should I lengthen the Z line abit?

I am assuming a few things:
1) You have reset the mixer to 0
2) You have compensated for Back line shrinkage by shortening your front lines using the Black Line above the adjuster. Front and Back lines should be the same length when the Adjuster is fully open and the bar is pulled all the way down to the chicken loop. Best to tie up the end of the lines to a tree or other solid stationary object to test this.
So. If the kite is still to backstally, try lengthening C. B will adjust itself harmonically by itself. This will sacrifice a bit of stability, but will give you less backstall. Lengthing Z will just make the kite turn slower and will also reduce the Low end of the kite.
Gunnar

For the complete discussion on the diabolical problems associated with "resetting the mixer,” ”compensating for line shrinkage,” “adjusting the adjuster,” “adjusting lines "C", "B", & “Z,” & trying to stop ram airs from back stalling, check out: http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php? ... 91#p778491

RESALE
Contrary to the propaganda of ram lovers, ram airs have inferior lifespans compared to inflatables. The initial cost of ram airs is ~ 2-3x that of inflatables and their relatively greater depreciation over 2-3 years means you LOSE a lot more $. Also, a major determinant of lifespan is obsolescence. In 2-3 years, today's kites will be superseded and won't be worth much. In addition, bridled ram airs lose performance quickly because of bridle stretching (see "bridle stretching" above).

REPAIRS & COMPLEXITY
Ram airs are shockingly complex. They have over 1000 parts, many of which require regular tweaking e.g. http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2374470 Ram air repairs are a LOT more expensive eg http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4612 Trained PARACHUTE repairers are often needed for big rips. Bills >$1000 are common, eg http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2348790 Ram air companies sometimes refuse to honour warranties, e.g. the case above where the kite was <1 year old. A large part of the reason for Flysurfer and other ram air kites "exploding" is their rapid deterioration caused by salt water and UV radiation.

Kite propaganda.
And the lies.
Of ram airs ignore.

Pumpy ………………………

[jatem]

Pumpy full of wind, ram airs are so last year. Single skin foil kites are where it's at. Light, durable, safer to launch, and super drifty.

Single skins are really easy to dry out.

[edt]

double skins for life. Single skins are nice but they don't hold shape as well in gusty conditions

[PrfctChaos]

double skins for life. Single skins are nice but they don't hold shape as well in gusty conditions

Ummm what? Peak4 is the most fun kite to fly in gusty conditions. Conditions where i cannot use double skins or tubes.

[edt]

Interesting. Well that's not what I've experienced

[Foil]

Useage, foil boards or TTips.
it's important to make the point of reference when talking about pros and cons.
foil use on TTips is a totally different discussion surely?
foil kites on foil boards are under lesser loads and stress, and have many advantages over lei kites and very few disadvantages.
however when used for TTips, then things change, quite dramatically in my experience.

[PullStrings]

Ram airs companies had epiphany

Ramming air in double skin kites is not that good

We are learning our lesson from LEI companies

Single skin is the way to go

We can sell more kites

Too bad they still have dozens of spaghetti bridles

Oh well that still makes LEI kites superior for sure

In all kinds of weather

[kiteykitekite]

Clearly the problem for these companies is the color choice. If they just wrote core on their kites it would do a lot for the performance.