Interesting! - looks a bit like the old c kite platform but obviously without the struts - that does it I'm not pumping up the struts anymore - obviously a waste of effort LOL

At one point the trailing edge of the kite did seem to have a bit of flutter - is the strut less kite just a light wind wonder??? ( ie cant handle any top end for its size??)

I'd have to say that after todays kiteing here on the Gippsland lakes in a 3/4 wetsuit it looks pretty sweet!!

i wouldn't be surprised if a strutless kite is a b*tch to re-launch out of water too...

I reckon it'd be more aerodynamic thus get more power out of the kite and turn well.

That is if they could nail it.

how do you stop the trailing edge getting stuck to the water in a downwind re launch?

Love the batman graphics. Typical of airush trying something different.

Im not a kiter but those kites looked like they flew very well with heaps of control and power. Almost made me want to have a go at kiting

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doggie said...

Im not a kiter but those kites looked like they flew very well with heaps of control and power. Almost made me want to have a go at kiting

dont do it Doggie!

Nice kites, do they make them for men?

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bjw said...

doggie said...

Im not a kiter but those kites looked like they flew very well with heaps of control and power. Almost made me want to have a go at kiting

dont do it Doggie!

Dont worry bjw, your sport is safe

... I have a hard enough time keeping my 7 strut kite not to deform let alone zero strut kite Definetely not for the larger gentlemen!!!!!

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doggie said...

Im not a kiter but those kites looked like they flew very well with heaps of control and power. Almost made me want to have a go at kiting

For a non-kiter your spending an lot of time in the kiting forum. Are you sure you don't want to give it a go?

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jev7337 said...

doggie said...

Im not a kiter but those kites looked like they flew very well with heaps of control and power. Almost made me want to have a go at kiting

For a non-kiter your spending an lot of time in the kiting forum. Are you sure you don't want to give it a go?

The reason I come in here is to see board builds and other bits and pieces, I might have a go at some stage. A mate and I used to fly stunt kites and the one in the video looked alot like one of the kites we used to fly. They were kites from Hold The Line and were high performance and heaps of fun to fly.

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jev7337 said...

doggie said...

Im not a kiter but those kites looked like they flew very well with heaps of control and power. Almost made me want to have a go at kiting

For a non-kiter your spending an lot of time in the kiting forum. Are you sure you don't want to give it a go?

you could say the same about some fail troll kiters who seem to hang out in the windsurfer forums as well jev

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Odkite said...

i wouldn't be surprised if a strutless kite is a b*tch to re-launch out of water too...

+1 I don't think strutless kites will ever really be successful for this reason.

Luke 12:17 - God bless the innovators, for they shall inherit the earth or be embarrassing failures destined for bankruptcy.

My 2 cents worth, feel free to disagree, Less struts makes a kite much lighter and faster turning, Problem is if you crash it face down, there is less support to make the middle canopy stay open/up. Support in strong winds with heavy riders may not be great, but as a light wind fun kite to fly it would be great, relaunch might be tricky.

What happened to the 1 strut kite released a year or 2 ago from a large brand? how did it ride?

I would have thought that leading edge and bridle would have had more impact on drag than the struts?? I'm guessing it might be as much and maybe more about weight saving for light wind performance.

Can't say that the big bridle is exciting though. I still have bad memories of cutting kites in half with bridle like that.

Thanks for posting my video Surfer62. The kite has been an awesome project. Nearing completion as the 5 - 13 are dialed, and am finally in a light wind pattern to work on the 17. She's a different animal for sure, and takes some getting used to, mainly due to a short throw in the bar trim. Was my interest to keep depower within reach for smaller riders, so works best with different input than most of us are probably accustomed to. To address some of the questions that have come in, I totally understand where they are coming from. Initially pursuing the concept, I had no idea what we'd find. Rather expected it wouldn't be good. But has exceeded my greatest hopes. Stability is excellent, as is relaunch. Real test of relaunch came last week in the first high surf advisories of the season here. Stoked! Thanks everybody for your interest.

This is one of the "feel good clips" of the year. Such a Mahalo Vibe. Great riding skills, makes me want to get started shaping the Alaia board that I always wanted!
Its great to see people out there trying new things, being innovated, and having their family stand by their side while they share the stoke with the rest of the world. I only hope good things for mr maui here as he represents all the things I love so much about the ocean.
Big +1 from me

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suniboy21 said...
Nice kites, do they make them for men?

Bah ha! Thats funny. It made me think of Harleys and the bearded ladies that ride them. Don't ask me why.

The simplicity looks awesome to me for the surf. If the relaunch and durability are good, I would buy one for sure. There's so much advantage to having a light weight kite when surfing.

dafish - Thank you so much for the stoke! Really. Its a huge help to overcome some of the challenges that can otherwise be delivered on platforms like this. I'm not new to the industry, but I've been so committed to this project that its super hard not to take the negative as a personal attack, bringing me down. I was a seppo transplant to NSW for a couple years, but its been a long time since I've been back. Need to change that.

bobajob - Never been called a Harley riding bearded lady before. Not sure how that sat with me at first, but thinking now that biker babes can be rockin, and that I just need to loose the beard.

sunseeker - Stoked that you comprehend the mission. Been trying to make a promise to myself that the next video posting will be with waves, but was such a long flat summer that when I swells hit I couldn't be bothered with the GoPro. Will try to change that.



Here's a cool pic I just got a couple minutes ago from a friend of the 17m testing today.

couldnt agree more 'Dafish'!!! Such a cool vid made me feel all warm n fuzzy inside

YEAH - definitely a 'feel good' vid all round. Loved it.
But such a ground breaking concept surely deserves a whole heap more real kiting action to show us what you have got going there.
How about some of that wide angle stuff showing kite & rider with smaller kites in some real wind.
Sorry if its too early in development to be asking but super keen to see how it works in 'real' kiting conditions.
No anti's intended (at all) - very impressed with what we've seen already just want to see more.
If you havent jigged with the speeds it looks like it turns through the window incredibly well (almost unbelievably well) for a big kite in light wind.
Give us more please - asap.

quick PS
Have to agree with others on the relaunch question.
Always ready to be corrected but cant see how it could get off the water without massive rider input.
Please prove me wrong - kiting is due for some ground breaking developments.

Cool video, thanks for sharing.

What a great project. Really hope this kite delivers the goods.

@boardridemaui - how does it go unhooking? Looks like there is no trim rope which would be a problem for tuning the kite?

sunseeker look again at the video in the first 10 seconds shows under bar depower .

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suface2air said...
sunseeker look again at the video in the first 10 seconds shows under bar depower .

Thanks

puppet on a string - Thanks for the awesome compliment.

Yes, will work on more video content. Couple days ago added a voiceover to the video at the top of this post. Don't wanna spam this forum with more photo/video unless its wanted. Otherwise, anyone interested in viewing the voiceover can check out the boardriding maui facebook page created today and/or the boardriding maui youtube channel.

Regarding real wind; clips in the video vary from 15 - 30mph. Been stoked to have been getting some 10 - 15mph lately for big kite testing, but none of that was in the video.

Nope, no clip speed jigging to misrepresent how the kite flies. I'm pretty low tech in the media department. GoPro into imovie, so probably no opportunity for BS. But, kites weren't all that big, nor the wind that light. Pretty typical Maui stuff, but maybe looks light because a lot of the clips are "inside the pond" @ kitebeach.

As for relaunch, this design actually responds very poorly to massive input. All the way up to 17m relaunch great with two hands on the bar. No need to harf on leader lines. A three minute video of that stuff would be way too boring, but I will work on some quick 20 second clips to illustrate how its working.

I ran into a friend today that hasn't been kiting in a long time. He had heard about my project and honestly didn't believe that it was possible. So, if a friend can't believe it, there's no way that someone that doesn't know me and my experience in the industry can!

junglist - Thanks for the stoke.

sun seeker - As surface2air noticed, much of the video shows us using stock or modified bars from other brands. I have a system in development, but won't be finished in time to join the kites at their commercial launch. My feeling is that kites and control systems, while needing to work together, can be seen as two separate choices. In my opinion, there are plenty of decent control systems available for riders that like to unhook. But, I don't think there are many control systems that are ideal for riders that ride only hooked in. I've normally been riding with a prototype bar with much longer travel, no trim, no swivels, no hook on my spreader bar even. So nice to be able to lay on the board. Anyway, I could go on and on about control systems, but that probably wasn't really your question.

I didn't design with unhooked freestyle in mind, so I've been super stoked that I've gotten awesome feedback. Comments from the kids has been that its super smooth throughout the window and always attached. Those are the kids in boots. Honestly, I haven't gotten feedback yet from unhooked surfboard riders.

Bridles on the kites are set to suit any bar with all lines @ equal tension when loop is at the bar, which I think this is generally held as the industry standard.