Power Kite Forum

NPW's

fletcht - 17-4-2007 at 09:25 PM

I saw them at NAPX, didn't have the opportunity to discuss with anyone. Can you give me the good, the bad, the ugly?
Thanks

Tom

Pablo - 17-4-2007 at 09:32 PM

I'm no expert on them, but wicked power per square meter, simple, durable, cheap. Not the fastest kite in the sky though. Doesn't do upwind that well. A big one will pull in almost nothing.

Kiteboarder2B - 17-4-2007 at 11:30 PM

No good for jumping, but awesome for pulling. They can be flown off the handles, a very versatile feature as you can play with your windrange this way. Also nice to use on handles in crowded areas.

They like brakes to help them hold their shape, like a rev I hear, not in that it needs brakes to hold it's shape but that in you fly all 4 lines like a rerv.

I've heard different opinions on upwind capabilities of NPW's. Mine is that to reap the most upwind force out of it, you need to point the nose in the direction of travel and then pull on the brake line of the botttom side. IE- going to the left, the kite's nse points to the left and I pull on the left brake line more than the others. To me this is like hitting the turbo button.

They produce a lot of sideways pull, but on a Dirtsurfer that's not too much of an issue. And because of the dirtsurfer's design, I can just lean back heavily against the kite to regulate pull, and this produces and amazing upwind tack.

kitemaker4 - 18-4-2007 at 09:52 AM

I have been flying and making nasa wings for several years now. They have a very low aspect ratio and keep you safe in gusty winds. I fly them when I buggy inland and fly foils on the beach in smooth winds. Like Kiteboarder said they need brake input to fly right. You need to keep tension on the brake lines at all times. I can do anything that a foil can do with nasa wings. It all comes down to your skills with the kite. You can fly them on different lenght lines from 100 ft., 50, 20, 10 or directly on the handles. I hope this helps.

Susan

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PKD Brooza's 2, 3, 4 and 5.5 meter
Libre V-max and big foot light V-max buggys
Nasa wings
Quadrifoil xm for sale

sockhat - 19-4-2007 at 11:12 AM

Trust Susan, she knows her NASA's:yes:
And so does her dog...:smilegrin:

(say hi to Beau for me):wink2:

Rob

fletcht - 26-4-2007 at 04:38 PM

Thanks for the feedback. Any differences between the NPW5's and NPW9s' ? Sounds like one would work well for me in my area. Small soccer fields with homes surronding. Makes flying the foil hard because winds are not consistent. The winds are also gusty in my area. Makes the learning curve that much harder. Do the skills needed for buggying transfer between NPW's and foils? I don't want to learn something new before I learn the original.

Tom

kitemaker4 - 27-4-2007 at 02:36 PM

Npw9's have a higher aspect ratio. They have stoped making them so they will be harder to find. The buggy skills will be the same no matter what you fly. The only difference is the nasa wings take more brake input an foils.

Susan