Guys! My first post on your forum, hope to be here regularly now that I know about it.
I saw some web traffic coming in from this thread and it lead me here to see what you were chatting about. I hope you don't mind me jumping in but I'd love to lend you our company's position on the Venturi Kites for this season and answer any other questions you might have.
So, to address some of the stuff that has already come up:
1) I am surprised by waveslave's comments that the kites lack grunt. I have found these kites to be the gruntiest we have produced and we are recieving some very solid on other international forums and through user driven demo days here in North America. (for example,
kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2342366&start=90)
2) There is actually no draw back to having the vents on the kite. When flown at a normal angle of attack the airflows over both the top and bottom surfaces of the kite. Bernoulli's Principle (
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernoulli's_equation) relies on this air flow on both sides to produce lift. As the angle of attack is increased turbulence builds up on the back side of the wing and the air flow peels off of the kite. This disturbance reduces lift and invokes the stall. By introducing vents on the kite we allow clean flowing air to push through these vents
only when a vacuum is forming in the turbulent area and pull this turbulence down and away from the kite, relaminating the airflow and reducing the onset of the stall. When flown correctly the kite's clean flowing air flow over the top will not actually allow the vents to open.
3) The biggest benifits we have seen in the introduction of these vents is the reduction of the onset of a stall. This is key for riders in the surf, unhooked new school tricks and for beginners who tend to oversheet the kite when learning. I have also found, and others agree, that the vents seem to increase loft in the kite making for a slower descent from jumps. This was un expected but appreciated and is obviously a nice feature with smaller kites!
We intend to continue producing kites with Venturi Technology on them well into the future. The Chad makes mention of LE vortex generators. I can tell you that there are a number of aeronautical innovations that airplane designers have introduced over the years that we are looking at incorperating into our kites for future development. Obviously the single biggest concern is balancing weight concerns with potential performance benifits.
Also, Junglist...I like the avitar. I used to listen to a lot of Metalheads back in the day (like way back). I saw Goldie a couple times in '92 and '94...quality stuff. Check out an artist named Burial, new school Dub Step stuff that is really clean and nice!
John Z - Ocean Rodeo Sales.
PS. Here's a picture of 2 of our team riders hitting Lanes in Maui late last month.
(You can see the full set here: www.flickr.com/photos/oceanrodeo/sets/72157604264746949)