Just saw these new kites form Gaastra.
Very interetsing outline, will hav a high projected area and so with smaller sizes more power.

GXS:



G Spot:

i heard they keep the flat shape because of some kind of sail-batten?
has anyone seen these kites in real and can tell ahow this looks?

this might be a disadvantage, because the measurements of the packed kite would be really big ?!?

i contacted them to get answers ...
here's what i konow now:

The kite keeps it's flat shape with use of a specialy designed leading edge
profile. The combination of a custom epoxy tube batten on the underside
center portion of the leading edge with the LE inflated tube creates a more
ridgid foil section. These elements combined create the patent pending
Gaastra Accelerator Stabilizer System. The custom epoxy tube batten section
varies in lenght and diameter depending on the kites size and model. Our
intention is to keep the batten as small as possible, while still increasing
the overall performance of the kite.



no bridles are used ....

...and the battens are not long:
The kites main leading edge batten will range from 1 - 1.5 meters long,
split into 3 parts for ease of transport.

This is an interesting variation. I think the traillig edge will still have a tendency to reduce the angle of attack in the center section without a bridle, how has this been sorted out?.

yeah, you're right.
this is keepeng me awake at night since i've seen this kite.

a tubekite 'wants' to be U - shaped. and if you want it flat like this, you gotta force it - but keeping the leading-edge flat is simply not enough.
how does it happen ?

ok, i got more:



The form of the kite under load retains the flatter profile in the leading
edge, the trailing edge takes more of a curved shape.

More details will be shown on the website in early January and the kites
will become available to the public in March 2002.



now, we gotta wait for the first pics to appear

and the first test reports