Hei,
I'm thinking off building my own NPW9b. I tried downloading the kiteman-calculator but I can't open the program. Can anybody help??
Also: I'm not really sure about the size of the kite. I don't want to use it with a buggy, just for flying around, probably with board, skates or ski... I weigh about 65-70 kg. Thought about 2,5 - 3 sqm for the kite. What do you think?

thanx a lot,
sailorsqueen

It depends on what type surface you will be on and what the wind is blowing for the size kite. Right now not enough info.

Susan (npw goddess)

Hey, yes I had a similar problem with the kiteman calculator... some missing dependency or something or a dll... can't recall what it was. Do you get an error message?

I am 160 lbs and I find my 6.0m to be the most versatile for me. Landboarding, snowboarding and skudding. Can be an absolute beast in moderately strong winds. Definitely needs to be respected.

I started out with a 2.0m which flies awesome and can pull pretty hard in high winds. Small size was manageable as I was learning to sew as I went. If you are competent with the sewing I'd say go for a 4.0 or 6.0 meter depending on the winds. If you are on a landboard on a hard smooth surface you won't need much kite, again depending on the winds. Nice thing about the Nasa's is that they behave pretty well with different flying line lengths.

Hope that helps some.

Dave

Thany for your help!

I'll mostly be flying on land - wanna try landbording or simply fly. Surface: grass and/or asphalt. The winds in my area are moderate, I would say - between 2 and 5-6 bft. Sewing is no problem.
Do you know how to use the calculator - I keep getting a "missing dll"-error

thanks a lot,
tessa

From my experience and its limited and others will probably be able to advise you better but I'd say a 4m would be a good place for you to start if you are new. Should be good to gain confidence on the calmer days and will provide some excitement on the windier days once you are up to speed.

By kiteman-calc do you mean: http://members.shaw.ca/kiteman/Downloads.htm

What dll is missing... if I remember correctly I just had to install the missing dll and I was good to go. You may want to get a computer savy friend to help you out. Worst case I can send you pdfs of all the info you'll need to build the size you want. His program outputs everything you need quite nicely. Would only take me 5 minutes.

Cheers,

D

Oh... and please don't get me wrong. The right winds and right conditions and a 4m could seriously kick your butt. Be careful!

What operating system is your PC? The program may need to be run in an emulated mode.
Right click the exe, select properties, then compatability and select an older op system. Mine runs fine on XP.