It is serious, i can show you both my 07s that have multiple rips on either side of the kite in these locations... think they're out of warrenty period though

Warranty period? Naish? Didn't even know Naish products come with 1.

I had serious issues with a Naish board,1 month old, broke in 2 pieces, no abuse from my side.
Naish int response: sorry not our fault.

No more Naish for me.

This is just a test to see if the text in the subject can be changed once for all!!!

Kane all the material in the world will show some marks of use if you bend them over and over...no quality issue there.
If you post again a post about that, I will post some pictures of my Jeans with the same marks and ask everyones if i should demand Levis because my leg might blow up in a few years...or kick out my wife because she can't iron them well!!

That said, it seems that your all family Kite every single day, which is great but surely you have all your kites pump up staying at the sun all day long...doesn't help...

As far as i see, you just have a 2006 Kite that blew up...the others dozens you have (lucky man), from 2007, 2008, 2009 just show marks of wear...which is normal, again...
I feel sorry for your dealer has it seems that they have all been changed in waranty at no cost!!!May be that's why you still ride Naish!!! Which other brand could offer such a great after sale services???
Pretty most of the others brands would have kick you out after 2 claims!!!
Take it easy, don't self launch your Kite, or hire the services of a dwarf to launch it...and everything should goes well...
By the way, I still have a Torch 2005 10m that I could sell to you at a good price since it seems that you regret it so much!

Keep it real...

like with any kite:


I thought this was 101 kite launch. If you use your kite wrong it will of course not hold up. I see this as, "I filled my boat with water and it sank, there is something wrong with the design of the boat" or "I hit a rock with my car and it got a dent".

My thought is that since to designs of flat kites, people are not used to the wingtips going down so far and therefore they tend to the turn the kite over too early and in the process bending the LE. If you cannot instruct you kite launcher, get a flat kite. To me this seems like an error in use.

I really do not get it...the initial poster has said he has received warranties...he only has pics of one blown out LE.....can there be something else going on here? If I got warranties I'd be pretty happy.

Woodfu: I have several friends with 07 Torches and they seem fine still. I mean I am not saying you didn't have a problem, but the initial post claim there is a trend and a design flaw. 3 kites out of thousands isn't a trend (I'm sure there might be more, but you get my point). I've had torches and never had a problem well except the bumper thingy on the 07, but Naish told us about it and gave out bumpers for the kite for that. That said, from what you write I guess you put those kite through the grinder tho Fun powerful kites for sure. My point is that Naish has nothing to gain from not addressing any flaws. I am sure they follow the warranty process pretty stringently, since it will cost them money every time they send out a replacement.

Grommet: Was that a recent board?

yep, bought 4 months ago 2009 model

Hi guys!

I've been flying Torches since ... X3 actually

I had similar problem with my 12m 2007 and 12m 2009.
I've noticed some time the leading edge folds when the kite is flipped for launch (which almost gives me a heart attack ).

The thing is , when 12m is inflated 7psi (as the manual suggests) or even 8psi the kite is not rigid enough to avoid folding when flipped or relaunched (unless my gauge is totally off the scale). Not to mention 9m that has a very very thin leading edge!

So, should / can / may I pump my kite up harder, say ... 9-10 psi? Wouldn't it void the warranty?

Would appreciate and advice!

Thanks!

I know the answer to this problem. We had a guy a year ago who managed to blow 2 Torch LE-s in a week, so we were alarmed, that there was some kind of manufacturing defect and it got as thinking in the same line as Kane44 is thinking.

The kites were pretty new which LE's he broke. He himself was riding some kind of SLE kites, but he helped to launch a couple of torches. The problem was with his kite launching, he didn't consider that the LE of Torch is very thin and he turned the kite like he was used to turn his SLE-s or other kites with wider LE.

By doing so he twisted the corner of a torch so that it formed a angle like "V" and the LE blew out because it couldn't hold the pressure. At first the rider thought it was a fault of wrong kite pressure or some other wear problem.

Few days later the same guy helped to launch another torch rider. As u guessed the same thing all over again. A blown LE & a unhappy torch rider. Luckily this time the rider saw how the launch guy twisted the corner before. So we figured it out that this can only happen when the kite is handled improperly.

To Kane44 i would say that those LE i'm seeing on your pics are the same i saw when those Torch corners got twisted.

People are riding real hard with Torch'es for years & 95% of problems i have seen or read are related to wrong usage or usual tear & wear. I have ridden 5 years with torches, have had only a blown out bladder on a 2008 torch, which was mostly result of a really hard crash. 2009/2010 models have bulletproofed this problem with new strut zipper reinforcement.

Kane44 i advise you to "get real". The thing here you are describing is a proof of a wrong usage problem. If you still believe that the problem is 100% manufacturers side or design flaw - maybe it's time for you to change your kite brand.

I've seen this happen on different kite now. Often unskilled kiters will turn and twist the kites more than more experienced. It actually takes less effort to lift and land the kites properly since you don't have to force it as it were.

I think my PSI is around 7 too, and I certainly will not pump it harder. I just give a short instruction to the person launching me. When landing I just immediately upon the person taking down the kite, I jus run over and grab the kite...I do this anyway since it is better for the landers to not have to wait or anything like that. I guess this is regardless of what kite I have up....

I too have fallen foul of this problem twice this year on my 12m Torch 08. Unfortunately my kite was bought second hand, but only slightly used and in impeccable condition (I inspected it very thoroughly). I say unfortunately because I'm assuming that this means I have absolutely no chance of comeback from Naish??? Any ideas people?

The first time this happened i was simply turning the kite over on the beach. Whilst I admit that a small amount of pressure was applied to the leading edge near the wingtip, I feel that this should really not have caused the leading edge to simply explode as it did. I have put similar (i.e. minimal) amounts of pressure on the leading edge (In various situations) of all the kites that I have owned and have never had any problems in the past.

I have 5 years kiting experience and am an IKO instuctor. I fully understand that packing kites away wet, or leaving them on the beach in the wind and sun for extended periods will accelerate the degradation process of the materials, and so I am very careful to look after my kites well. I have flown and launched/landed many many kites and I treated this kite in the same way that I have treated all of the others - carefully. On this occasion I was rather excited to get out on the water, and had a short time to kite so I was in a bit of a hurry to get on the water, but I stress again i did not handle the kite roughly, or in any way that I would not normally handle a very precious kite. The kite was pumped hard as I believe that underinflated kites are more likely to burst due to folding/creasing of the leading edge material.

On the second occasion I was attempting to relaunch the kite from the water, and there did not seem to be any undue pressure on the kite, or anything that would cause the kite to simply explode again in a very similar area of the leading edge.

Now I absolutely love the Naish Torch, and have done ever since I first flew it. It is in my opinion simply the best freestyle kite available. Although the octopus system can be frustrating and time consuming, my love of the kite's handling far outweighs the disadvantages of the octopus system. Incidentally my first kite was a Naish Boxer 04 and I still rate that as one of the best kites around at the time, so I do not post this as a "Brand-Bashing".

So now although I have cared for my kite diligently I am left with another expensive repair, and a kite that I do not trust anymore. Having had 2 (fairly major) leading edge repairs done, I will now be left with a kite that has limited resale value. I want to stick with the Torch and upgrade to 2010 but am obviously more than a little nervous about parting with my cash this time.
I seriously hope that Naish have finally fixed this problem this year. I believe it is a design fault that really should have been addressed by now. Whilst I understand and agree that the utmost care should be used when handling/launching/landing kites, I feel that the Torch really should be able to withstand the same handling techniques that almost all other kites seem to be able to tolerate. In this sport we will always have other people on the beach assisting us in launching and landing etc and it seems that all kites should be able to withstand a small amount of pressure applied to the leading edge since it is sometimes impractical to be able to coach your launching/landing partner in the finer points of kite handling on the beach.

Comments/ questions welcomed.

Hi,
I have experience with Torches as I ride`em from `05 model.
That could only mean I shouldn`t put my hard earned money to a something I can`t trust and believe me I abuse my kites riding unhooked.
I even trashed my kites on the beach missing the bar.
Missing the bar with my current 09 14 it inverted realy bad and that happened coz the kite hit the water as I continued to ride with realy slack lines and the wind rolled the kite...

No problems so far.

I always inflate my kites really hard.

L.