Semi-single skin. Or semi closed cell. Always thought it would be simple enough to add pockets for bladders but closed cells would be nice.
Depending on how long they hold air.
Three cells don't offer a lot of volume. Loss would be fast. But better than nothing.
Chris Krug-Owner @ Hardwater Kiting. Authorized Dealer of Ozone, Flysurfer, HQ kites. www.hardwaterkiter.com 603-986-2784
Semi-single skin. Or semi closed cell. Always thought it would be simple enough to add pockets for bladders but closed cells would be nice.
Depending on how long they hold air.
Three cells don't offer a lot of volume. Loss would be fast. But better than nothing.
Agreed Chris. Not sure what to call this kite (single skin, etc.); seems a hybrid design. I'm not jumping all over it with V-1.0. I've gotten
burned on both the PL Uniq Quad 1.0 and B-K LongStar V-1.0. Time for others to step up as "first adopter" on this one! :P
Not just you. Several times I've freeze framed the video trying to look at the bar. It does seem odd. Maybe this kite needs a lot of line action to
operate in its stated low wind range. While a really long bar can be pain for packing purposes, it is a darn right nucence when seated in a buggy,
particularly if you have anything mounted on the down tube that protrudes (GPS, GoPro, water bottle cage, etc).
A while back I was playing around with an F-Arc that we had installed a bridle on to make it fly with a flatter profile. To get it to turn the bar
needed to be big. I wonder if that's the same thing here.
Chris Krug-Owner @ Hardwater Kiting. Authorized Dealer of Ozone, Flysurfer, HQ kites. www.hardwaterkiter.com 603-986-2784
I've gotten burned on both the PL Uniq Quad 1.0 and B-K LongStar V-1.0.
I didn't remember if it was posted ...but what was wrong with the LongStars...?
Yeah....... water relaunch w/Peak? Forget it. In the best circumstances it's possible..... But for most of the time I really doubt it.
Until Monjet back their claim and outstanding feature- with an actual video of a water re-launch, no one should give a nickel for one
of these if they plan to use on water.
I've gotten burned on both the PL Uniq Quad 1.0 and B-K LongStar V-1.0.
I didn't remember if it was posted ...but what was wrong with the LongStars...?
Yeah....... water relaunch w/Peak? Forget it. In the best circumstances it's possible..... But for most of the time I really doubt it.
Until Monjet back their claim and outstanding feature- with an actual video of a water re-launch, no one should give a nickel for one
of these if they plan to use on water.
I'm sure I wrote about this at one point or another, but I was never a fan of the LongStars. I really, really wanted to like them but they just never
worked for me.
First, the good part. I think they look fantastic! I love the extended wing profile; they always make me think of Batman. If Batman was into
powerkiting the LS would most certainly sit front and center in his quiver.
On the negative side: the five lines were a pain in the seat meat. If you are used to and appreciate the simplicity of the three line NASA Stars then
the LSs will likely feel very cumbersome and irritating to set up and put away if you are going to be detaching the lines from the kite each time you
pack up.
Second, the LS bar seems to offer the worst of all worlds. You need to fly these kites hooked into a harness if you are going to use Steffen's bar.
Once hooked in, 50% of the load goes through the harness hook into your body, but the other half is on your arms all the time. This is bad enough,
but made worse by the near constant fussing you need to do for optimal smooth flight. This is no Park and Ride setup.
If you try and devise various schemes to get away from his 50/50 loading bar there just doesn't seem to be good setups that don't result in the kite
doing an awful amount of backflying. Once a LS starts to fly backwards it is near impossible to get it going right again until the back stall has run
its course across the entire wind window.
The kites just don't seem to fly as well as the NASA Stars. No way around it, they just don't seem to fly as well.
On the positive side the kite is a bonefide four line flyer (5-line really) and as such is proficient at reverse launches. Easier to get the kite off
the ground upside down than some of the Stars.
Finally, it just doesn't seem to have any better upwind performance than the Stars.
So there you have it. I'm just not a fan. Wanted to be but in the end just couldn't be.
I apologize, my computer opened this thread to the first page where people are commenting about no water relaunch video. I just saw that video was
posted yesterday. I did not see the second page until now...
I apologize, my computer opened this thread to the first page where people are commenting about no water relaunch video. I just saw that video was
posted yesterday. I did not see the second page until now...
No worries! The larger question is when on earth is this kite going to be available and will it actually fill a niche? I don't do wind powered water
sports so I don't see the point for me personally, but who knows, maybe there are a bunch of folks out there just begging for a light weight water
flyer for low wind days. If yes, then I would think they need to bump up the sizes quite a bit. The original prototype was 9m, not this 6m kite. I'd
think you'd want to be in the 12m - 15m size zone to get enough grunt on low wind days. Once the wind is high enough to make a 6m the right choice
there are plenty of good water options out there.
I noticed that the video showed a beautiful nose down position in the water. Often times when SS kites come out of the sky it is due to lack of
sufficient wind. The kite may well collapse and hit the water in a wet mess, closed cells be damned. That's the way Peaks and LS2s often fall.
I'm also curious how the closed cells are inflated. Pump? If yes then why not go all the way with an LEI for all its advantages. Weight would be one
major factor, thus the call for bigger sizes.
It looks like a hybrid between an LEI and a closed cell foil. I'm guessing that the 2 baffles on the front inflate a large bladder in the leading edge
similar to an LEI.... just a guess from what you can see of the kite.
The point beyond water relaunch would be added stability in wind shifts. There are 2 intakes at the leading edge for inflation. Since it's still in
proto stage it will take time to see the bigger sizes. Scaling a kite is a huge project. But if you are going to make a one off, you make a small
one. Easier, less sewing, less expensive and less risky. Give the poor guy some time. He's doing some pretty impressive work.
Chris Krug-Owner @ Hardwater Kiting. Authorized Dealer of Ozone, Flysurfer, HQ kites. www.hardwaterkiter.com 603-986-2784
Yeah scaling kites is tough. Makers need to tweak the kites at each size to maintain the same flight characteristics across the range. It has to do
with the myth that a bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly according to our understanding of aerodynamics. The fact is that scale changes the way
airfoils react with the air. If you scale a bumble bee up to the size of a person or a car, then I doubt it would fly. The scale matters so much.
NAPKA US8008
Kites:
Ozone R1 V3 7m
Flysurfer Sonic v3 15m
Flysurfer Speed 3 Deluxe 19m
Peter Lynn Charger 2 12m
Ozone Access Reride 6m
Peter Lynn 2013 Reactor 5.5m
Peter Lynn 2013 Reactor 8.6m
Prism Tensor 5.0m
Give the poor guy some time. He's doing some pretty impressive work.
I didn't intend to come off harsh. I'm personally thrilled he is innovating in the SS DP lane! I just went on their website and see that they are now
looking to release versions of this kite in 6m and 10m sizes. That's a nice little quiver.
I've gotten burned on both the PL Uniq Quad 1.0 and B-K LongStar V-1.0.
I didn't remember if it was posted ...but what was wrong with the LongStars...?
Yeah....... water relaunch w/Peak? Forget it. In the best circumstances it's possible..... But for most of the time I really doubt it.
Until Monjet back their claim and outstanding feature- with an actual video of a water re-launch, no one should give a nickel for one
of these if they plan to use on water.
Video's aren't all that compelling. Take enough video and you can show even a NPW water re-launch.:D
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