28m china / monkey kite

[sgt. Salty]

Thanks for all your answers. I'm still not shure about it. There are also several 25m and RRD makes also a 28m. Don't you think that this sizes will become usual, like a 20m now. Anyone riding the 28m RRD?

I dont think that people who kite for some years thought 2 years ago that they would like a 20m. I the beginning of kitesurfing even a 12m kite was huge.

Westkite:
http://au.geocities.com/chinakite2003/

[sgt. Salty]

I took a look on the monkey site:
http://www.monkeykites.com

looks more professional but with way higher prices than china. Do they share the same design? I read about them also in another tread.

Here what I found out about the background:

1) Saul, a designer, offers his designs for free to everyone on the web.
2) His daughter runs Monkey kites with his designs.
3) China kites uses the designs from the web.
Is this right?

Could it be that Saul gives the latest designs to his daughter and publishes only the older or not so good versions on the web?

And what is it about Kitesurfcheap.com? Their site doesn't work. I cannot upload it!

[Westkite]

Thanks for the link to China kites. Looked at the photos and didn't really like the look of the kite. Look kind of floppy around the tips. Saw photos of the Monkey kites and thought they looked a step better. It reminds me of how "garage boards" looked in the surfing world. essentially the same designs but lacking in refinement and finish.

Wes

[sgt. Salty]

China kite is now called revolution kite.
http://www.revolutionkite.com/

I saw on their site that the High Aspect Kite is

not available for Australian & New Zealand market

Monkey Kites is in Aussie.

[zfennell]

Here what I found out about the background:

1) Saul, a designer, offers his designs for free to everyone on the web.
2) His daughter runs Monkey kites with his designs.
3) China kites uses the designs from the web.
Is this right?

1) yes,
2) sort of
3) dont know

saul explains his relationshig with monkey kites on his website,
http://www.zeroprestige.org/
I have not seen any credible reference to his relationship with china-kite, other than the obvious similarities of the Surfplan images.

-bill

[sgt. Salty]

typo, its his SISTER!

...
2) His daughter runs Monkey kites with his designs.
...

This is from sauls website http://www.zeroprestige.org/

Monkey Kites
I may as well dispell the myths and rumours upfront.
Yes it is true, my designs are now being used by my sister for http://www.monkeykites.com
My sister has been a designer for the surfing industry for 12-15 years and has sourced materials and done manufacturing and retail around the world. She saw an opportunity for fairly priced, high quality kites realising that not everyone would want to make them themselves. As a brother I naturally wanted to help her in this endeavour which she has based in Sydney, Australia.

The designs are not exactly the same as those on this site as they have been tuned to be extremely reliable and predictable and have all the good things that people would want in "production" kites. You should still feel free to make any of the designs posted at this site and you will not be disappointed for your efforts, i still prefer to fly something i've sewn myself, it's a double blast, plus it lets you think about all the things you'd change on the next one you make while you are out there and the wind drops.

One of my conditions for supplying her with designs is that I would continue the zeroprestige effort. It is too rewarding to see all the excited kite builders out there trying their own things and pushing the aerodynamics in new directions. As i see it everyone wins, fairly priced kites will be available to those who wish to buy them, and zeroprestige continues to push the edges of theory and design and here I can try all the stuff the doesn't work, or works only for very specific conditions. This year I expect to build some very weird and hopefully very interesting kites with new behaviour.

My big thanks to all the inflatodesign (yahoogroups) and zeroprestige and foildesign (yahoogroups) contributors who passionately push the boundaries and openly discuss new designs, methods and ideas. All those people are the Dogtown Z-Boys of kiting, developing new stuff for the personal gratification, and ignoring the high-label consciousness of a lot of other consumers.

My biggest interest is in making the thousand year old tradition of designing, building, and flying kites available to more people. I love the fact that it is a sport that puts you in touch with the elements and doesn't require fossil fuels.

I'm sure there will be a lot of shit fly around from retailers and others in the industry and lots of crap will be said. Oh well. They can go and fly a kite. Hopefully a monkey kite?

[Trant]

Flew a loaned Monkey 28m yesterday in a good 5-6 knots of wind. Unbelievable! I can rant and rave about how good it is but obviously I'll be labelled as biased.

Suffice to say though, it's solid, stable and turns surprisingly well for such a large kite. It never looked like luffing and it just pulls and pulls and pulls. The few other kiters still on the beach (from an earlier session before the wind died) also had a go and everyone went home with a grin on their faces.

Gotta love it.

I'm 95kg and never thought anything would even get me going in such light wind, never mind going upwind.

Oh and you're right, pumping it up is a mission in itself. Electric pumps are highly recommended!

[sid5150]

I followed Salty's link and found this - From Revolution Kites (Formerly China Kites):

"How do we intend to do this ?, by slashing our cost's barely covering them, no fancy website's, no advertising with young sexy model's in mag'z, no pro rider's, no fancy kite trips to far off destinations.  All this in order to bring you the most affordable kite ever, just for you.

If you want to look at fancy, hyped up web site's then I suggest going somewhere else, cos you won't find it here. Were so cheap I'm not even getting paid for this."


Finally, a company that UNDERSTANDS. I can't comment on the quality of their product, or how it flies (The prices look EXTREMELY resonable) - But I can say that I like their attitude.

Seems like those cats are keep'n it real.


I still don't know about a 28m kite. Then again, I haven't even SEEN one in flight, let alone flown one. It will be interesting to see what people thing of these mammoths...

Sid sends

[sgt. Salty]

Is there a way to test a revolution or monkey kite in one of this areas:

USA-Lake Michigan
USA-Florida
Germany-near Munich
Germany-North- or East-Sea

thanks