Faction kites produced a kite with a second skin on the underside near
the leading edge. I never flew one but I understand that it was not a
tremendous improvement. The company is now defunct. I do recall
launching one and having a tough time holding the kite since I
couldn't get my hand around the leading edge.

Incidentally an airplane wing works when air pressure pulls the upper
surface upward from above, not pushes from below. It is more critical
that smooth laminar airflow occur above the wing than below.

Chris Glazier


--- In ksurfschool@yahoogroups.com, George Sarris <jakefarley2000@...>
wrote:
>
> I believe that kite designers can improve on their
> designs in one other way. That being the drag
> produced by turbulence around the leading edge
> bladder. They have improved in making the LE bladders
> smaller in diameter and this has required increased
> pressure for the kite to hold its shape. However, I
> wonder if there have been any experiments with adding
> another "skin" to smooth out the bottom of the kite
> reducing the turbulence and the drag making it more
> like an airfoil.
> Just curious.
>
> Cheers,
> George
>
> --- hungvu2000@... wrote:
>
> > I have been using and playing with a number of bow
> > (or almost bow) and
> > SLE kites in the past year.
> >
> > What I have found is that SLE is better in term of
> > stability (remember
> > the flatter is less stable formula with Seasmik) and
> > jumping performance
> > (the Sled Boosting effect). On the other hand, the
> > bow is probably
> > better in term of speed performance (less fabric,
> > lighter kite for same
> > construction)
> >
> > So at one end you have SLE like Waroo, the other
> > end, you have bow like
> > the Crossbow, and a bit compromised Waroo-Pro (this
> > is between SLE and
> > mid-SLE), SwitchBlade, One, etc.
> >
> > The flatter the kite, the more concave the trailing
> > edge need to be
> > (probably only a true bow kite need to have concave
> > trailing edge) or
> > use a trailing edge bridle like the Seasmik.
> >
> > It is very interesting to observe that the flat kite
> > revolution that
> > started with the Seasmik, the Nexus (a bit too foil
> > oriented), this
> > experiment:
> >
> http://www.template-toolkit.org/tpc5/kitesurfing/index.html
> >
> > (has both curve LE and bow trailing edge) , the
> > Flexifoil curve leading
> > edge (probably taken from the previous experiment),
> > the bow patent
> > application from Bruno and ended with the SLE.
> >
> > Personally, the main reason why I want a SLE/bow
> > kite is for this reason
> >
> http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/kitesurf/message/67005
> > (and the
> > market in 2006 has probably showed the preference).
> >
> > Hung.
> >
>
>
>
>
>
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