Stefano,

Didn't Seasmik made some good size kite (11.5 m2 or so probably the
same range as a 15 LEI)?

With some simple integrated bridle system, we may be able to make a
fully sheet out LEI...

The other advantage of a fully sheet out kite is that if you can sheet
out 100% then you don't need a safety leash as your front lines IS the
safety leash (full time too).

Hung.

--- In kitesurf@yahoogroups.com, "Stefano Rosso" <stefano.rosso@a...>
wrote:
> === good point Hung Vu. When I was in Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) I tried
> the ADVANCE kite which was similar to the SEASMIK which was similar to
> some other French company as well.. It was a LEI kite with a half bridle
> that could be sheeted out like a sail.. Basically you could sheet it out
> 100%... Those kites never seemed to make it in the market because they
> didn't scale well when you made them big. The biggest was a 6 m kite -
> equivalent to a naish 9.0. Problem was you couldn't make them stiff
> enough if you made them bigger...
>
> I tried the advance kite - it was the 5.0 and it was pretty windy and
> gusty - ideal conditions for that kite... And it flew ok and could be
> depowered almost fully (I don't think you want total depower or the kite
> will fall).. But ... I didn't really like the style with which it
> flew... If you werent real good at dealing with the depower (fine tuning
> all the time) you tended to loose power very easily... Of course I only
> flew it twice and any kite you need some time to get adjusted to but the
> market didn't respond to these kites either... Maybe we will get back to
> them in the future ?
>
> ====
>
>
> I had this talk with a number of expert kite designers in the past (kite
> designers with more than 15 years experiences, not 1 to 5 years
> experience kite designers) and ask them why don't they give kite flyers
> full control of the kite (i.e., be able to sheet out the kite 100% like
> in sailing - for those who DON'T KNOW, this is when we can depower the
> kite %100 - and those who want to depower the kite 300%, please talk to
> Stefano ;-).
>
> The answers I got back that they don't trust kite flyers and afraid that
> kite flyers would stall the kite and blame the designer for a bad
> design.
>
> So this trend seems to be persistence until today (the young designers
> probably don't even know why it is designed this way),
> kiteflyers/kitesurfers can only control the kite to a certain point
> because kite designers don't trust our ability to keep the kite in the
> air.
>
> The kitesurfing/kitesnowboarding/kiteskiing company that can give 100%
> control of the kite (or at least a larger percentage of it) may likely
> create a new trend that may change our sport drastically.
>
> Hung.
>
>
>
>
>
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