Hi all,

I went with a friend for a downwind session, quite far from shore when my beloved Swing 4.2 bursted in my hands.

I circled the area where the seam started to crack.
It took me 30min to get back to coast on my knees, with just enough traction from the wing to counter tide current.
Thanks to clamp - not included- the leading edge was still rigid enough.

The shop I bought this wing from had seen this happen before.
He said that this occurs between front and back handles, at the point where the boom flexes the most when pumping.
Little by little the stitches get worn out in this area, which is to be frequently checked.

Then he reached for F-one french after sales service and told me this damage is not covered by warranty.
Apparently, they've seen too many kites with scratches caused by friction on sand.
I'd say this particular seam is the least likely to get anywhere close to abrasive surfaces, anyway...

The guy who fixed the wing (for a cheap 37euros) said the sewing thread was a bit thin to his eyes.
Sorry for the "revenge post" aspect of this story but I'm clearly disappointed, and it's not a question of money.
It's a question of understanding what we need : equipment we can rely on.

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Pierre74 said..
Hi all,

I went with a friend for a downwind session, quite far from shore when my beloved Swing 4.2 bursted in my hands.

I circled the area where the seam started to crack.
It took me 30min to get back to coast on my knees, with just enough traction from the wing to counter tide current.
Thanks to clamp - not included- the leading edge was still rigid enough.

The shop I bought this wing from had seen this happen before.
He said that this occurs between front and back handles, at the point where the boom flexes the most when pumping.
Little by little the stitches get worn out in this area, which is to be frequently checked.

Then he reached for F-one french after sales service and told me this damage is not covered by warranty.
Apparently, they've seen too many kites with scratches caused by friction on sand.
I'd say this particular seam is the least likely to get anywhere close to abrasive surfaces, anyway...

The guy who fixed the wing (for a cheap 37euros) said the sewing thread was a bit thin to his eyes.
Sorry for the "revenge post" aspect of this story but I'm clearly disappointed, and it's not a question of money.
It's a question of understanding what we need : equipment we can rely on.

Still up and riding again for 36 euros. F-one wings are light as hell. Same as if you buy a lightly glassed surfboard and complain about dents.

I had the same incident happen to me. Riding waves a mile offshore and my 4.2 blew out at the seam between the handles on the boom.

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DaHammerBDA said..Riding waves

Warranty gone.

Join the club

I must confess I'm new to inflatable gear and it's quality standards.
I didn't know this was to be expected.
I'll put "reliability" on top of my list for next wing purchase.

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Pierre74 said..
I must confess I'm new to inflatable gear and it's quality standards.
I didn't know this was to be expected.
I'll put "reliability" on top of my list for next wing purchase.

fine balance between light weight and too farkn heavy as Slingshot found out

The "top seam" of the strut fails from being literally pulled apart by the web panel pulling on this seam under high loading. It is the dirty little secret of the industry right now. I have seen, and know personally, of 7 failures from 4 different brands. All top brands.

It's not your fault, and they know it. If you monitor this seam and spot stitches starting to break, this is when you file the warranty claim. In my experience it gets covered. Once it explodes, they point fingers, as no proof of what happened.

Using a harness accelerates this failure.

Bigger sizes are more prone to it.

So everyone should check this seam periodically, especially on bigger sizes, on all brands. You are looking for any broken stitches.

I'm curious about how many times the failed wing was used prior to the blowout?

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hilly said..

Pierre74 said..
I must confess I'm new to inflatable gear and it's quality standards.
I didn't know this was to be expected.
I'll put "reliability" on top of my list for next wing purchase.

fine balance between light weight and too farkn heavy as Slingshot found out

I have another brand to F-one and the weight difference is quite a bit.

I'll give up some weight for safety's sake. Apparently "light" has a price and it could be a big one!

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emmafoils said..
I'm curious about how many times the failed wing was used prior to the blowout?

In my case the wing was 7 months old with 50+ sessions. I like the F-One wings, I like how they handle. I replaced my blown out F-One with another F-One.

I had same blowout on my 5M Swing. F-One acknowledged that I was not the first and sent me a fedex label within 2 hours to ship it off for full warranty repair. Very impressed with customer service speed. The repair shop in Hood River also acknowledged that this was a thing happening to the Swings. I probably had over 100 sessions on it when it happened. Normal conditions. I was just lightly pumping, already on foil. So, it must have been unstiching itself previously. I have wrecked a bunch of wings in my 10 month winging career. Don't expect your wing to last as long as your kite that is 100 feet away from you and your foil all the time. I'm sure this fix is at the top of the list for the V2. While we are whining about F-One, How about that ridiculous pump valve attachment required for the Swing? Gong also has there own special one too. Props to Slingshot for eliminating any pump attachment needed.

Thanks all for the honest discussions. I'm seriously considering getting a larger wing, to complement the first gen 4m squared wing that many learned with. It's good to hear about trade offs, some may choose to give up one thing for another, especially if it involves more $.

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emmafoils said..
I'm curious about how many times the failed wing was used prior to the blowout?

The wing was 80+ sessions and I like it very much as well.
It is one of the first release batch (serial n? is 000009).
I had a mate trying it and he bought one immedialely 6 month ago.
I noticed some serious reinforcements on his more recent wing compared to mine.
But it's allways surprising how some brands would rather choose customers unstatisfaction (at least in France) over dealing honestly with a problem they're aware of.

Stitches seem fine on my boom seriously though that's a bit of a major issue . Some of the downwinders I do put me Km's offshore . Probably good lesson for everyone to check stitching on the entire wing but doesn't seem to be an issue in kites.

While we are at the F1 topic can F1 please put a little longer handle on rear handle or add one for us heavier riders on V2 6m as definitely need another 1/2 hand or so 3-4" further aft on last handle be much better and comfortable for lighter conditions for us HW riders not every wing rider is 160-170lbs!

I'm have my paddle strapped to the handles on my wasp and use it as a boom for 2 reasons ,I prefer the boom and second if the wind dies I can get back, now I have a third reason.I wonder if the paddle being secured at several points distributing the load on the strut reduces the stress on it as well and the chances of a blow out.
You can buy some strap on your arm type Epirbs now which would be good if you go offshore a fair way.

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Piros said..
Stitches seem fine on my boom seriously though that's a bit of a major issue . Some of the downwinders I do put me Km's offshore . Probably good lesson for everyone to check stitching on the entire wing but doesn't seem to be an issue in kites.

Hahah pot calling kettle black. The first Duotone wings were a nightmare with pinholes in the bladders

Don't know about that one Hilly my DT 4M is the original test wing sent to QLD , it spent 6 months of hard labor in the demo camp and then I bought it off SurfFX . It's apx 1.5 years old and still going strong on all original parts except for repairs on the canopy from foil cuts. Original boom and no stitching failures at all and I have been flogged multiple times in the surf and now using same boom om my Echo 5m.

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hilly said..

Piros said..
Stitches seem fine on my boom seriously though that's a bit of a major issue . Some of the downwinders I do put me Km's offshore . Probably good lesson for everyone to check stitching on the entire wing but doesn't seem to be an issue in kites.

Hahah pot calling kettle black. The first Duotone wings were a nightmare with pinholes in the bladders

I had that issue on my 5m DT.

When we pulled it out, it already had a repair patch.

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Piros said..
Don't know about that one Hilly my DT 4M is the original test wing sent to QLD , it spent 6 months of hard labor in the demo camp and then I bought it off SurfFX . It's apx 1.5 years old and still going strong on all original parts except for repairs on the canopy from foil cuts. Original boom and no stitching failures at all and I have been flogged multiple times in the surf and now using same boom om my Echo 5m.

Everyone here had heaps of issues with the bladders and stitching where boom attaches.

Recommended max pressure is 6 PSI for the F-One Swings (it's written on the wing) but they work far better when pumped to 7 or 8 PSI.

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simonp said..
Recommended max pressure is 6 PSI for the F-One Swings (it's written on the wing) but they work far better when pumped to 7 or 8 PSI.

The recommended pressure varies according to Wing size. I usually go 1 PSI over the recommended number. It's voodoo really because my pump gauge is probably not super accurate.

Good info. I've had my 5.0 FOne for 6 months, at least 50 sessions. I'll definitely be checking the stitching now. I love the wing and I've tested against quite a few other brands. My only beef or else I'm switching is one more handle behind the front one would make transitions so easy and the other is the handles are the harshest out there. I appreciate the direct feel but the sacrifice after a few hours is really sore hands. The Ozone's felt like butter. I'd say the Naish felt in between the two.

Thanks for posting on this. I checked my wing and found the seam coming apart where you guys said. Emailed the shop with pics and got it fixed no worries and no charge. They beefed up the stitching all along the strut and it was back within a couple of days. Now I just need some wind....
Cheers HB

I went to sell my 5M swing to my buddy and blew it up for a quick inspection per above recommendations and found a few popped stitches and slight bulge in the strut in the area. Easy warranty claim and its being repaired now. I also reached out to my closer kite repair shop and they quoted $20 for the repair. Thanks for the heads up everyone! My friend who's 20kgs heavier than me surely woulda blown out the strut first go! That woulda been more than a $20 repair!