Bigwavedave said...
IMHO Cabrinha kites would last at least a couple of extra seasons if their bags weren't so small.
The canopy must be getting damaged every time you squeeze those suckers into such a small bag. They are the only kite I've seen (and thats a lot) that get that crazy-crack crinkled appearance.
My Flexifoils are akmost as good as new after 5 seasons. The good size bag is some of the reason why.
There's more to this Bigwavedave, but I agree small bags will have a degrading effect over time, but not a big one in my experience.
Cabrinha use their own custom made sail cloth, they have been working with a large manufacturer for around 3-4 years. In this time the manufacturer has supplied cabrinha with cloth that has had a polyurethane coating that is thicker than it needs to be. This makes the cloth quite strong, but the downside is "chalking" or premature cosmetically unappealing crinkling of the cloth. This has been proven with our school kites over the last 3 years. This years seem cloth seems to be perfect, but the year before last was the worst for that excessive "chalking" and last years were ok but still did it more than we would have liked, especially on some colours.
