Airstyle kite design

[marlboroughman]

I am no designer but I have a gut feeling that this design from 07-08 came closest to what we are looking for. Ozone never made it bigger than 13m so maybe we didn't understand it's full potential. What I like about it is the high aspect, thin leading edge, flatness in the middle and still the squarish wings for half decent turning. And the key of course, that bridle at the end of the fifth to hold something like this together without buckling. Why they didn't make it bigger at that time I don't know. Maybe there were design constraints, maybe they could be solved now.

[Toby]

anything with big depower, great lift and hangtime, tighter loop and not too fast is awesome for Airstyle !!!

[sijandy]

anything with big depower, great lift and hangtime, tighter loop and not too fast is awesome for Airstyle !!!

i believe they're called bow kites

[Toby]

Dyno 2011 wasn't a bow. But what was it?

[marlboroughman]

07-08 Edge was indeed a bow and the only one I liked and I think it was because of that fifth line bridle. It could use more grunt which was common complain and of course the bar was a disaster but a lot of riders fixed it to their own liking.

[marlboroughman]

Dyno looks to me like a DeltaC Hybrid and in those big sizes has enough opening to glide the controllable grunt comes from deeper profile in the middle, I think.

[edt]

high aspect ratio does nothing for airstyle. if you look at efficient wings, they can get enormous glide ratios like 10 or 20 to 1. A typical kite will have a glide ratio of 3 or 4 to 1.

But glide ratio is not what you want in a kite. In an airplane or a hanglider this will tell you how much distance you can travel. But it doesn't tell you how much airtime you have.

If you compare two kites that are the exact same size in meters, jump them both to the same height, one has high aspect one has low aspect, the high aspect kite will travel far, the low aspect kite will fall nearly straight down but the time they spend in the air will be the same.

Toby had it all figured out a long time ago. Airstyle needs big hang time. Which means big kites. Depower helps because it lets you ride bigger kites in higher wind.

[Westozzy]

anything with big depower, great lift and hangtime, tighter loop and not too fast is awesome for Airstyle !!!

With some positive bar pressure might I add?

[marlboroughman]

Maybe because of my weight 76kg the higher aspect feels better in those big sizes. I am using smallest possible board 127x37 but still those grunty kites are a handful to hold the edge.

[BWD]

I am no designer but I have a gut feeling that this design from 07-08 came closest to what we are looking for. Ozone never made it bigger than 13m so maybe we didn't understand it's full potential. What I like about it is the high aspect, thin leading edge, flatness in the middle and still the squarish wings for half decent turning. And the key of course, that bridle at the end of the fifth to hold something like this together without buckling. Why they didn't make it bigger at that time I don't know. Maybe there were design constraints, maybe they could be solved now.

There was only one spider big enough to weave that bridle and they don't live forever, I'm afraid.
I heard they are feeding the replacement a fresh kook every day but it will still take another 5 years before the spider is big enough to make a 13.
They just don't live long enough to make a 17, sadly.