How long will gear last.
I wash bar and lines in fresh water and pack a kite dry.
Check lines, bar and kites for wear, what else?
Is a potential break / weak point obvious.
Got AR Wave kites, 9m (2014) gets more use than my 6m (2013) except for last few days.
Got no complaints and no reason to upgrade.
Thanks cheers mike.

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dowls said..
How long will gear last.
I wash bar and lines in fresh water and pack a kite dry.
Check lines, bar and kites for wear, what else?
Is a potential break / weak point obvious.
Got AR Wave kites, 9m (2014) gets more use than my 6m (2013) except for last few days.
Got no complaints and no reason to upgrade.
Thanks cheers mike.

How long is a piece of string?
.
.
.
.
.

Half Twice its length.

It will depend on many factors. Temperature, how long each session is, weather you leave the kite flapping on the beach, how often you loop and crash your kite. Waves/flatwater, hpw many kites you have, how often you get out. But most importantly how you launch and land and one what surface.

I recon the general rule of thumb would between 100 and 200 sessions.

For me and my 5 kite quiver and 100 ish sessions a year. I expect to be replacing my most worn kite once per year.

Cheers plummet, haha yeah as I wrote I was thinking it was a "piece of string" question.
That's a good measure if you get 200 sessions out of a 4K outlay then $20 per use gives full depreciation.
Shame I lost count.

Its a very hard question .

I still have and use a set of bar/lines that i purchased new in 2002 .

They get used quite often and are my short lines 17mtr setup for a local break that gets a lot of windsurfers .

They are what i would call "Still in good condition".

Another set of lines i had only lasted about 6 months before i had a front line snap , for no obvious reason.

I put that failure down to poor quality type line.

Kites on the other hand , It depends a lot on how well you store and pack them up , also "Don't drop your kite".

Kites will last 2000 hours of riding.

However.

1 hour flappin/sitting on the beach= 5 hours of riding when >21.5knots

= 3.75 hours of riding when <21.49knots.

Every hard crash = 22.94 hours

Every self assisted launch = 1.21 hours.

Self assisted land = 2.76 hours.

UV light is the killer. 400 hrs is the protection the UV protection layer applied when material is made, is expected to survive.

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dowls said..
How long will gear last.
I wash bar and lines in fresh water and pack a kite dry.
Check lines, bar and kites for wear, what else?
Is a potential break / weak point obvious.
Got AR Wave kites, 9m (2014) gets more use than my 6m (2013) except for last few days.
Got no complaints and no reason to upgrade.
Thanks cheers mike.

The question should be: how much is a kite worth once it leaves the store!

I am still using 2008 Naish kites that fly perfectly fine. Wind is wind and will be the same in 1,000 years!

I've noticed my kites last a hell of a lot longer since I kite with a surfboard, my lines aren't fraying due to constant looping. Though don't land the kite in the impact zone otherwise that is the quickest session to the kite repair / new kite shop you may have.

It seems that the life of a kiting gear is determined by hidden weak spots.

I have had lines break after 130 hours and others going strong after 200+ hours each. I have other kites but I don't use them very much.

I had a kite that was brilliant but it had a design flaw that caused the LE to flex in one spot and that spot would tear.

Older style kites used fluoro dyes that were susceptible to UV degradation. I had a fluoro yellow kite and it was ragged after 180 hours. Modern dyes don't suffer the same problems.

My current favourite kites are 5 and 6.5 years old with 200+ hours each. They look and work like new.

The biggest concern I had is some of the lines looked a bit old. It was inhibiting fearing that they would break. I recently made new front lines and new chicken loop lines. My confidence in the gear is back and I am much more confident pushing hard.

The other thing is that by flying really old kites I don't care too much what happens to them. I still take good care of them but it would be very cool if they went out in a blaze of glory in some big surf.

I always soak my bar and lines and wetsuit and harness after each session. Partly because the manufacturer recommends it, and partly because it feels better handling clean gear.

I only ever wash my kites in the sea. I do wipe the leading edge of the kites with a damp chamois when packing on a grass area. I don't know if it does anything for the material, but it does keep the kite looking clean and that makes me feel better.

I always self launch and land. I am quite good at it and can do it without sliding the kite on the sand. Honestly, if you can't do it then you should go an learn. You don't really understand how your kite works so you're only operating at 1/4 efficiency on the water.

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Underoath said..
Kites will last 2000 hours of riding.

However.

1 hour flappin/sitting on the beach= 5 hours of riding when >21.5knots

= 3.75 hours of riding when <21.49knots.

Every hard crash = 22.94 hours

Every self assisted launch = 1.21 hours.

Self assisted land = 2.76 hours.

Where do you get your evidence from? I have never seen any independent studies in the wear and tear of kites to the extent you just put out there. If you say its from experience then we all know its BS.

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kitebt said..

Underoath said..
Kites will last 2000 hours of riding.

However.

1 hour flappin/sitting on the beach= 5 hours of riding when >21.5knots

= 3.75 hours of riding when <21.49knots.

Every hard crash = 22.94 hours

Every self assisted launch = 1.21 hours.

Self assisted land = 2.76 hours.

Where do you get your evidence from? I have never seen any independent studies in the wear and tear of kites to the extent you just put out there. If you say its from experience then we all know its BS.

Bait taken.

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kitebt said...

Underoath said..
Kites will last 2000 hours of riding.

However.

1 hour flappin/sitting on the beach= 5 hours of riding when >21.5knots

= 3.75 hours of riding when <21.49knots.

Every hard crash = 22.94 hours

Every self assisted launch = 1.21 hours.

Self assisted land = 2.76 hours.

Where do you get your evidence from? I have never seen any independent studies in the wear and tear of kites to the extent you just put out there. If you say its from experience then we all know its BS.

You must be a bunch of fun at parties

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Underoath said..
Kites will last 2000 hours of riding.


Every hard crash = 22.94 hours

But if you are looping it, it's only 11.47 hours. The magic healing power of loops.

Huge boosts actually extend the life of your kite due to the special coatings over the canopy and how they react in that biggest boosting situation.

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SibboV1 said..

Underoath said..
Kites will last 2000 hours of riding.


Every hard crash = 22.94 hours

But if you are looping it, it's only 11.47 hours. The magic healing power of loops.

Huge boosts actually extend the life of your kite due to the special coatings over the canopy and how they react in that biggest boosting situation.

If you kite with a Unicorn Charm Bracelet to give you luck you will never have to replace your kite........or is that kiting into a thunderstorm with a Unicorn Charm Bracelet I always forget.

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kitebt said..

SibboV1 said..

Underoath said..
Kites will last 2000 hours of riding.


Every hard crash = 22.94 hours

But if you are looping it, it's only 11.47 hours. The magic healing power of loops.

Huge boosts actually extend the life of your kite due to the special coatings over the canopy and how they react in that biggest boosting situation.

If you kite with a Unicorn Charm Bracelet to give you luck you will never have to replace your kite........or is that kiting into a thunderstorm with a Unicorn Charm Bracelet I always forget.

I thought bracelets only worked for windsurfers - that's why they all wear them?

Thanx for the belly laugh kitebt