Hey guys,

I got an 11m 08 Cab Revolver in March which was an ex-demo (only ridden by the staff apparently) and on saturday after it coming down in the surf, while I was re-launching, the leading edge tore open completely and the bladder burst a 4 inch tear (matching the LE fabric hole) It looked like a humpback whale when it went the spray of air and water was so big!

The kite was not getting pumped by waves at the time, although the LE and canopy had collected some water in it from the previous wave... So what I'm wondering is, did this happen because I had too much weight in the kite and pulling on the back line to relaunch caused too much torsion in the LE?? The tear and blowout occurred when the LE was about 45 degrees off the water, just about to relaunch...

Now, I thought I'd always done pretty well to look after my stuff, I only put it away wet maybe 2 times, but the repair guy said the stitching on the other seams has started to pull in the LE fabric too! He said he'd seen worse kites last for a year and better kites last for a day... So now I'm not real confident with the longevity of the kite! When I asked him, the kite guy said maybe I'd been overinflating the kite, or putting it away wet caused the material to deteriorate (which is not the case). I have always pumped the kite up until it was difficult to bend the leading edge, and everyone had always implied on here that you'd break your pump before you burst a bladder/LE!

If anybody have any thoughts as to how I could avoid this happening again, I'm all ears!

Cheers!

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If anybody have any thoughts as to how I could avoid this happening again, I'm all ears!

Get a slingshot, and I'll get ready for a bashing

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walshd said...

If anybody have any thoughts as to how I could avoid this happening again, I'm all ears!

Get a slingshot, and I'll get ready for a bashing

Hahaha Walshy u mongrel! Real constructive mate! Im just waiting for one of the Palmy locals to come on here and tell me to get a North or Naish!

Until I see something I like worth getting I might just get my boss's old Liquidforce off him for a couple of hundred as a backup... Now I'm just asking for taunts arent I???

Yeh sorry trav,

My only thought is that maybe the kite has been trashed by a wave it its earlier days and gave the LE a bit of a stretching

Best of luck

Mate you should get yourself a North or Naish

jacko

Big claims....

any kite will dismantle itself in the surf.

Last summer every brand got destroyed in the waves.

Get it fixed and don't crash it.

Quote: I have always pumped the kite up until it was difficult to bend the leading edge, and everyone had always implied on here that you'd break your pump before you burst a bladder/LE!

Get someone experienced to check that you aren't pumping it too much as busting a bladder by pumping it is a lot different to over inflating it and then having it burst when stressed by impact or something. consider adding a pressure gauge to your pump if you are really concerned, but a change from dull to higher pitch when flicked is the indicator all my mates use.

Never let a wave hit your kite if it over 2ft. Let the bar got and hope for the best.

ex demo kites are for customers and retailers to try out and compare to others.This will most probably involve smashing the kite onto the sand or in waves, and the thing is no one cares because the kite is a DEMO. Your kite probably had a tiny tear somewhere in the LE and the smallest crash ruptured it. It's worth spending a couple of extra hundred bucks and getting a newy. No kite is bombproof including slingshot. The bombproof gimmick came out in 04 with the fuels, and i fell for it. let me tell you a kite has never given me so many headaches than the famously quoted Bombproof slingshot kite. My advice is not to buy EX DEMO

Hi trav,
Could have been any number of things with ur kite. Previous damage, line hitting leading edge etc etc. It's frustrating but tears and breakages happen, esp in the surf. Hold a garbage bag in a 2 foot wave and feel the force it exerts, let alone a kite. I don't have anything negative to say about other brands, but ask any of these guys that are pushing you a different brand, if they guarantee their kite against any damage sustained in the surf. I doubt it! To stick up for cabrinah; I had the SB3's last year and now have a 6,8, & 10 SB IDS and love them & have never had a problem. Take a look at photos/film of most of the surf riders and you will see they have disconnected or not wearing a safety, so you can totally eject the kite if it is about to be hit by a wave. (not recomended in front of reef, crowded beaches, or launching and landing).

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paul.j said...

Mate you should get yourself a North or Naish

jacko

Hahah thanks Jacko, I knew one of you would say something after the ribbing you all gave me the other saturday arvo! Ah well, its all good, at least I got a nice warm can of rum to stave off the hypothermia!

Have you mastered the hydrofoil yet???

Thanks for the tips guys... I guess I just kinda expected a kite to be stronger than it really is. On second thoughts I remember that I was pretty much right in a rip which obviously was going the opposite way to the waves so it wouldnt have taken much whitewater to exert a fair amount of force... I know now and will avoid this happening again as much as possible! I've only really put the kite down in the surf a few times but I'll be extra careful now to make sure I dont!!

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SLINGSHOT are absolutely bombproof

Aden slingshot are not bombproof- in fact far from it. My Rev lasted a whole of 1 month before it started coming apart. Due to this and lack of action from SS I'll never buy SS again.

Bombproof is the biggest bull** claim that kite companies make. No kite is 'bombproof'. As discussed on other topics there is no way kite companies can guarantee this when they're made thousands of miles away in China/Thailand etc and the kite company HQ are in Maui/Oz/Europe.

-Sorry for the rant, but I hate the claim 'bombproof'.

Travesso, sorry to hear about your kite mate, hopefully it was covered under shop warranty.

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CQKiter said...
Travesso, sorry to hear about your kite mate, hopefully it was covered under shop warranty.

Thanks mate, I didnt even worry about a warranty. Buying 2nd hand off the shop I doubt I have any claim. It was only $158 for WakenSurf to fix it anyway. Jeez those guys work fast! I dropped it off and 1.5hrs later he calls me and says its done! I'll try it this weekend to see how good a job they did ... fingers crossed!

I see you are from Yeppoon... whats the kiting like up there?? Im actually flying up on the 20-21 Sept to check out a boat that I might be buying in Yeppoon. I wont be brining any kite gear though, only paid for carry-on luggage on the flights . PM me if you are having a kite that weekend though cuz I wouldnt mind seeing your Slingshot kite in action.

Cheers,

Trav

Kiting at Yeppoon isn't bad. You have a few options, and when the wind blows hard, you can get up to chest high wind swell. Also have a few not bad flat water spots around the joint. Kiting is the only thing that keeps me sane in this ** hole.

I'll actually be down on the Sunny Coast in September, and hopefully be getting rid of the devil kite (Rev) and replacing it with an 09 North Rebel.

Cheers

Aden are you a 14 year old pre-pubescent?

Just wondering? Just some of the comments about ss ....come on....

agree with the whole not bombproof thing. saw kav go through 3 revs at the wave nats