Liquid Force NRG 12m - Tweaks & Adjustments

[JimmyRyder]

Hello guys,

For those of you who ride on Liquid Force – and especially on 2012 NRG 12m kites, I have this topic opened in order to help each other get the most out of this “power-plant”.

I got into the LF NRG 12m tube coming from a Ozone FRENZY foil and found few issues - from my point of view (according to my weight – 210lb or 95kg, and local mostly light wind condition) - so maybe different riders don’t have this issues or have other issues then this.

My opinion is that the 2012 NRG 12m is a great kite overall a “power-plant” made mostly for intermediate & advanced riders.

The goodies and positive aspects of the 2012 NRG 12m I am sure everybody knows them, they are pointed on the vids on youtube, vimeo, LF site, etc. => so I will only refer here at the issues I have with it (the cons).

2012 NRG 12m Cons:
(from my point of view, at my skills level on Freeride style)

1) SLOW TURNING => I would be interested to see if any of you tweaked with the 2012 NRG 12m and what types adjustments you did to improve / eliminate this issue?! (It needs some tweaking/adjustments to be more agile on commands)

2) HARD to Re-Lunch in Water => is frustrating and also dangerous not to be able to Re-Lunch especially in deep water. So what could be done to improve this issue?!

This brings me to the following conclusion:

2012 NRG 12m - needs Tweaking / Adjustments to make the kite:
- turn faster
- be a bit more stable during gusts
- work better on lighter wind
- especially easier re-lunching in water

Like I was saying I am more of a freerider (no crazy things) just enjoy cruising and some occasional jumps or tricks, so the "park & ride" thing is a good choice for me.
But sometimes quick direction changes are needed to be quicker on waves, or in case of wind changing directions, or gusts blow differently for few seconds... all this will have to do with quick control response and that is why I was saying it was a bit slow in movement and needed some adjustments.

A good friend told me:
"There is no perfect kite, each kite have better features then others, better something then other... but no one kite have it all"

Here are few tweaks that worked for me in order to correct the above issues:

1) To get faster response and control in turning and also re-launching the kite will react faster with this adjustment – I moved the steering lines to one knot closer to the bar.

2) To increase the back line tension in the kite and create faster impulse reaction, you can also unwind the bar, then right above the floats on the bar are the leader lines – they are plastic coated and right above that there are a series of knots. On each side move the steering lines to one knot closer to the bar. This will make the NRG respond faster and will also shorten the steering lines so when it’s re-lunched the kite will react faster.

3) To ride on lighter winds move the knots on the kite to Light Wind Knot (at the bridle side).

4) When I release... the kite is going very far and is kind of hard to pull back and arm it especially in deep water.

Looking at the problem, I measured the NRG leading edge (inflated) from tip to tip, and then from the Control Bar towards the kite I measure one 1.5 times longer the distance and placed the Stopper Ball on the flag line (example on the attached picture).

Now when I release is just flagging down to that stopper ball, kite goes down but the distance is much closed and I can reach the kite much faster and easier.
(or you can just attach your leash to the 90% depower and will be almost the same)

I got some "Ronstan Shock Block Sheavless Pulley" and it works great - because there are no moving parts on this type of pulley (example on the attached picture).

This is what I did to my 2012 NRG 12m – so if you guys did something different, something better – please don’t hesitate to share with the rest of us so we can all get the most out of this kite and enjoy our time on water !!!

Look forward to your Responses on this topic !!!