Hi everybody,

had more than three years back posted a video of the predecessor to this latest prototype of mine, which had earned me some praise as well as some mockery, due to it looking slightly weird, this one is much better looking, faster, smaller, handier . . . . Feedback, positive or negative, highly appreciated!

[youtube]https://youtu.be/EI4pqAplEo8[/youtube]

Quite interesting design. It looks very fast and you make it look easy to operate. (though I would imagine there is a learning curve.) The large foil in the front and the kite rigging system seem essential to its operation, but do make it look a bit strange. To make it economically viable I believe you would need to make it so that the boat could be carried on top of a car and assembled quickly at the launch point. Good luck with your project.

Looks like a nicely crafted machine. I have two questions though after watching the video. With the lines running through a captured point how can your safety work ? Standard front line or 5th line safety requires the bar to ride up the line freely to flag the kite. Secondly it appears all turns require you to bring the kite up and over to reverse direction in order for the craft to operate properly ? If the kite were kept low just off the water in the turn it would seem that doing so would create a dangerous condition in the rigging/foil section of the craft. Certainly looks nice though and perhaps could be competitive in the marketplace if the kinks are worked out.

Quote: Originally posted by kteguru

. . .With the lines running through a captured point how can your safety work ? Standard front line or 5th line safety requires the bar to ride up the line freely to flag the kite . . .

when triggering the safety or dropping the bar, the connector ring is automatically released (triggered by the change of direction of pull in relation to the lever arm), so the safety system does work, at least with the two bar systems which I haved tested (Flysurfer and North)

Quote: Originally posted by kteguru

. . . Secondly it appears all turns require you to bring the kite up and over to reverse direction in order for the craft to operate properly ? If the kite were kept low just off the water in the turn it would seem that doing so would create a dangerous condition in the rigging/foil section of the craft. . . .

to reverse direction indeed requires bringing the kite up to nearly the zenith, keeping it lower will just keep the foil immersed, if steering the kite through the power zone to the other side of the wind window, the boat will accelerate rapidly and if forces get to big the foil will stall and might get pulled out of the water but will immediately immerse again. However the apparent wind will drop to almost zero after the maneuver and the the kite will probably drop as well.

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

. . . you make it look easy to operate. (though I would imagine there is a learning curve.) . . . Good luck with your project.

Thanks, I haven't thus far let others try the prototype (mostly because kiters are very rare where I live), but it indeed is quite easy to operate and anyone comfortable in operating a kite should be able to learn at least its basic operation within minutes.

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

. . . I believe you would need to make it so that the boat could be carried on top of a car and assembled quickly at the launch point . . .

the prototype weighs ~20 kg incl. foils, so its easy to transport it on a roof rack and I need less than 10 min to assemble it (two front-hydrofoils fitted with two nuts and bolts each and one fin with tuttle-box fastening at the back)