i have been flying my hq montana 7m on a control bar in 10-15mph, sometimes gusty, perhaps turbulent wind, for two months. it tends to overfly at the zenieth and deflate. i also have that trouble at the edge of the wind window. I know that can happen on the left and right sides of the window, but not over head. i'll be resting a bit with it overhead and BAM! DEFLATE.

Does anybody have first hand experience with the montana? Any suggestions on tuning? ie with the tuning straps and which knots work best to attach the leader lines

thanks
matt

Matt -

I have no direct experience with a Montana, but I can speak from experience with other depower foils and LEI kites.

If you're experiencing sudden deflation at the zenith, most likely you need to fly the kite with the minimum angle of attack set a little greater than you have been. Your depower strap needs to be let out a little bit more, particularly in gusty conditions. The kite will sit back a bit more in the wind window, but it won't tend to overfly and deflate.

There are many ways to narrow the depower range or limit the minimum AOA. My current favorite is a stopper ball with thumbscrew both above and below the bar on the depower line that lets me constrain the depower range at both ends. The depower strap now just shifts that entire range up or down.

Chris