Does anyone who's flown HiFi 08 know how to set it up for bottom end windrange?

I just started using 12 m one (i'm 83kg), and whilst it's been ok (in our early seabreezes 16-19 knts), i find it very weak around 15-16 knots or less... i've attached the back lines to the pigtail knots closest to the kite (which to get max angle of attack), and i still have the bar pulled in all the way most of the time, and i still have to fly it hard to keep going. Sombody mentioned in one of the last season threads that they have a special fine tuned setting for low end ? I'm thinking this is as good as this kite gets for a 83kg load, but maybe there is a setting i'm not aware of...

Thanks for the help.

p.s. if you also have a suggestion on how to attach safety leash to the 5th line for unhooked riding, that would be a bonus. The 5th line attachment is very far from the bar, requiring very long safety leash, i'm not sure if 2 m leash would even cut it if you want to attach to the back of the harness...

put front lines on the further back connection point... youd notice there are two places you can put the front connection point just move it back. also 5th line on the slackest setting on the 2 or 3 knots you have available (gives more power in the turns) and then for unhooking just clip above your cl on the centre line or onto the cl itself, kite has more than ample depower for when you stack, there is absolutely no need, especially on a 12m (suggesting your flying in lighter winds) to put your leash on your 5th line.

the above suggestion will help a little bit, but it wont change the fact that the HiFi has a **** low end.

yer 08 wasnt magical in low end department... 09 n 10 have shyt ton more low end though

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Charl dv said...

put front lines on the further back connection point... youd notice there are two places you can put the front connection point just move it back. also 5th line on the slackest setting on the 2 or 3 knots you have available (gives more power in the turns) and then for unhooking just clip above your cl on the centre line or onto the cl itself, kite has more than ample depower for when you stack, there is absolutely no need, especially on a 12m (suggesting your flying in lighter winds) to put your leash on your 5th line.

Thanks Charl. Actually a guy at the beach who flies Liquid Force Havoc pointed out that the rear lines also have adjustable knots near the bar (which i wasn't familiar with coming from Fuels). I had that on the furthest knot originally - hence low power. I moved it to the middle knot, and the middle knot near the kite (for the back lines), and it looks like it will do the trick (haven't tested in low wind yet as it was 20 knots averaging last night).

As for your suggestions, i'm hearing that the front of the kite has another connection point at the kite (i can't remember seeing anything, but i'll trake a look when i get home).

Also, you lost me a bit when saying "there is no need to connect leash to the 5th line" (i'm assuming you are refering to the centre line)... Since with 5 line kites, you normally use the centre line (aka 5th line) as your safety to connect the safety leash to. The difference with Hi Fi is that the connection ring of the centre line is about a meter above the bar... where on the Fuels the connection is beneath the bar making it close and convenient... I always keep the centre line slackest as you said though.

i think what he meant was that there is more than enough throw in the bar to not need to attach it to the 5th line (i.e just run suicide style - attach your leash to the chicken loop/just above).

yer u know the big thick centre rope? u clip it at base of CL where that rope and CL meets... or just onto the CL itself, "suicide" is the term but the kite depowers so much it wont matter that your not flying it off the 5th line safety.

make sure ur 5th line when connecting to the kite is on the loosest setting..

where u look at the pigtail hanging off the kite for front lines you will see a small tab slightly further back, take the pig tail off the kite and attach to the small loop further back on the kite then attach lines.. this makes the kite sit back further in the wind window.

Awesome. I haven't flown suicide style before, because of a differnt safety setup on my previous kites.

So i guess it really means in case of emergency, you are really depowering just by letting the bar go... is this 100% safe though? The other day when the kite crashed, i was pushing the bar as far away as i could reach (whilst still being hooked in), and the kite was down-wind, leading edge down, but it still kept pulling me quiet strong... and this doesn't happen when releasing on centre line... i prefer safety leash giving me 100% confidence that the kite will stall down to zero power... absolutely no pull... but i don't have much experience with these so called "100% depower with the bar" kites... i guess i'll experiment with it next time i hit the beach...

thanks for help, it's useful though.

[edit] yeah, after looking around older posts, i figure suicide leash is not as safe as standard flagging setup... but i guess may try it when the conditions are right [/edit]

Like Charl says, if your flying the right size kite in the right conditions attaching to your depower line on LF kites is the best option. More advanced riders can go suicide, but I would recommend pushing your stopper right up so if you let go of the bar the kite will depower to some extent.

08 HiFi is still one of the best kites I have flown, especially the 9m.

yer sammy i bought your 9 and was flying it in 16 kn3 weeks ago and im 87-90kg,9m absolutely rips i find rear lines to tight on the hifi 9-12m and they bog down in low wind like most of them