Nice overview on foil kites

[joriws]

Gin-kites, also PG

marabou
Likewise, of all those I stay with the Soul

I think Gin designed North's Ace (or Duotone's softkite or ...). Gin also holds LE stiffener patent. But I've never flown any "Gin kite" unless it was North Ace which I've demo flown.

[kf4chris]

The North Kiteboarding Ace was designed by Kari Eisenhut cofounder of Advance, Switzerland but seems to be a discontinued product (NKB web site)


Gin KB is a swiss company and TMHO got nothing to do with korean PG brand GIN (predecessor of korean EDEL PG)

The Peak on the other hand is a single foil made by Flysurfer (a brand from german PG manufacturer Skywalk)

[joriws]

Gin KB is a swiss company and TMHO got nothing to do with korean PG brand GIN (predecessor of korean EDEL PG)

Oh, I though they (Gin kites and Gin paragliders) were the same company cluster. *edit* I checked Gin kites website what they say and I think both were right . If Gin kites were founded without Gin gliders it would have mean trademark court wars :

2004 - THE VERY FIRST STEPS
It all started in 2004, the very first GIN kite was created within the structure of the famous paragliders brand: GIN Gliders, www.gingliders.com. It was a foil kite with handles for power kiting and snowkiting.

2005 - FABIENNE KAUFMANN - THE SOUL OF GIN KITEBOARDING
Fabienne Kaufmann discovered kitesurfing in 2000 on the shores of the NEUCHÂTEL lake in Switzerland. She quickly became hooked on this new sport. Every chance she had, she would take her kite out, both on the water and on the snow. In 2003, she won the title of snowkite world champion in Silvaplana. In 2005, she was employed by Gin Gliders to manage the full GIN kite range. Her first project was the MAORI, the very first GIN tube kite.

2007 - GIN KITEBOARDING WAS BORN
2007 was the real start of a business fully dedicated to kiteboarding equipment and completely autonomous. GIN kites split from the paragliding activities and Fabienne Kaufmann founded the brand GIN KITEBOARDING, with its HQ in Switzerland and a brand new logo. A full team is now working for the Kiteboarding brand to bring innovative and durable products to the market.

[kf4chris]

Yep, you are right. The old website shows that there had been a kite section featuring for example the Maori tube kite

[Hardwater Kiter]

Gin currently offers the Marabou in their active product line.

The video of Sans is not much of a video. No discussion of any details in terms of conditions, what was under his feet or bar set up. If he was on a 9m and it produced no power, something wasnt right.

His only input was his opinion that the Marabou is "crap".

If youre on FB, check this link of the 12m in action.

Hq/HQ4 no longer offers any closed cell performance kites.

[kf4chris]

The video of Sans is not much of a video.
[...]
His only input was his opinion that the Marabou is "crap".

If I remember right, he was talking about a kite called Shaman, wasn't it?
From Gin Kite website: SHAMAN 3: Get ready to discover the new snowkiting dimensions!
Of course not much of an review, but I laughed a lot, so let's they "very entertaining" instead of educational

HQ powerkites / HQ4 no longer offers any closed cell performance kites.

I guess that's because they hadn't too much good review on their builts

[joriws]

Gin-kites, also PG

marabou
Likewise, of all those I stay with the Soul

I think Gin designed North's Ace (or Duotone's softkite or ...). Gin also holds LE stiffener patent. But I've never flown any "Gin kite" unless it was North Ace which I've demo flown.

I checked this one, F-One's Diablo is designed by people from Gin Gliders. I just had vague memories and traditionally LEI companies have no knowledge on doing soft kites.

https://www.thekiteboarder.com/2015/04/ ... interview/
--
North's predecessor kite (before split to Duotone) to Ace was actually a re-branded Elf kite for North's racing fleet.

[kitexpert]

Those early HQ water kites were bad, but I don't know how much it was because of the ridiculous heavy and soft fabric. Designs were simple but not without weird details. They were very slow and sluggish kites, on of the worst I've ever flown.

Little Cloud PG's (or at least that one I saw) are completely different, very light weight wings and apparently well designed. Pelican kites look balanced mid AR designs and mentality behind them sounds reasonable. Video manual shows the correct way to pack a foil kite.

[kitexpert]

I checked this one, F-One's Diablo is designed by people from Gin Gliders. I just had vague memories and traditionally LEI companies have no knowledge on doing soft kites.

Wasn't it F-One started with foil kites? But seriously, for sure it was better they consulted Gin when they decided to start race foil kite production.

[kitexpert]

If I remember right, he was talking about a kite called Shaman, wasn't it?

In the video it was Marabou kite, a hybrid single skin. Shaman is "usual" single skin kite.

I guess that's because they hadn't too much good review on their builts

Some Montanas were ok kites, even good. They had quite a lot boosting ability and respectable upwind drive. But some versions had stability issues and leashless safety wasn't that great after all. Matrixx or Zeekai kites were a bit cheap designs for what they were supposed to be and longevity of them is questionable. No possibility to adjust mixer, bridle has very long thin lines and UL fabric is not that durable. Cell shape/count design I'd call less than good, it is more like weird.Very light weight kites however. Apex kites were beginner kites, slow, soft and low lift.

HQ LEI kites vary from good to horrible , don't buy these without testing.