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Fragger wrote:Dont know if another bar fits the kite. You can mail Seb.Cattelan for it,hes the designer. @telekiter,bar pressure is high indeed. Ive ridden Epic kites and that was medium. Maybe bit like Ocean Rodeo and Naish. So i can not reccomend the kite for you, sry!

hmmm sounds strange. I did have a Naish helix 14 and that one had realy light bar pressure, a bit like my switch elements. The closest ive been to an Epic kite is the old Eclipse Thruster 16 (2008 version), wich was a fantastic kite, in book anyway. I would rate the barpressure at "medium" on that one.

/Urban.

Here is something I changed that was potentially dangerous for me.



For the life of me?? I cannot figure why I hooked back-to-front on the Blue side ..twice in one day? Unlike my other kites where the bridle ends are quite far apart, these ends layout nearly side by side when you are ready to connect the lines. I self-launch, so I almost always hook up my lines from out the back of the kite - the Red bar end to the right. (upside down)

The front bridle lines are all Black on both sides .. but the factory puts Blue ends on both blacks bridles .. and Red ends for both the Red and Blue steering lines. You would have thought Red/ Blue on the blue side was obvious. Yet, I cross rigged them? I cannot explain why I did this?! There is some process in my brain that somehow disconnects the red ended blue from the blue? (there used to be a good rule: only attach front or backs first.. then the other two.)



But I fixed the shit out of it this time. I only had small black line -fronts are the most important- so I made up matching heavy, dynema Gray pigtails. I also fixed something that made me nervous - those teeny knobs at the exact ends of the blue attachment points. Larks heads are great, but I want to be damn sure they have something solid to choke.

...and now that I have two extra bits of blue at-the-ready, I will take the red end off the Starboard (blue) bride and make it match the rest so I have proper Red - Gray/Gray - Blue.

I was lucky I caught it both times. (most people who have a friend helping launch them would have seen this as soon as they tightened the lines off the water.. You do wait to see, no?) Rather, I set up in a wind shadow behind a point and simply drag the kite into quiet water, walking over to the wind. Both times, the kite -still on the water- looked odd?

The first time I thought it was because I did something wrong with my new EPIC bar/line set, so I switched to the Genetrix bar. I modified the Epic to match the the Genetrix bar including a full depower, sliding front line. Being alone most of the time, I do not like kites that 60% depower, so the Epic Screamer is now a 5-line kite with another bar. The Epic bar has the sliding stopper I like for kites that come with heavier bar pressure.

Jim

Hi Chaps - I got a Hydra V5 '12 a couple of months ago and had some problems in the beginning. The bridal knot connectors were the wrong way round. After swapping them around the kite flew great. It needs a more wind than a "normal" 12 and only from 16 knots on wards does it start to feel comfortable - it handles up to 32 to 35 knots. It is fast.... fast and jumps super high.

There are however some problems.

1. The line lengths when connecting the lines to a single point. That was already covered in Wetstuff's post - (so now I do not have to adjust it.)

2. The frontline bridal connections itself seem to be different than shown on the online Hydra manual. Without being too technical, the manual shows (working from the outside), the first strut connection line goes to the second strut connection line and then to the 3rd strut connection line, which then runs through to the connection knots. On my kite it runs from 2 to 3 and then to 1 which then runs through to the connection knot. I contacted Genetrix and they seem to think it is fine, but was hoping someone could confirm whether their bridal connection is the same as mine or as the manual.

3. In the sea (waves) the stage one de-power, - LETTING GO OF THE BAR - is a problem - the kite immediately looses all power and does not float - one has little time to grab it before it hits the waves. I suppose a stopper ball could take care of that. - Having said that it is a speed kite, not a wave kite so you need that huge immediate de-power.

4. Stage 2 safety - the quick release is so close to the final (third) release that if one releases the 2nd stage it quite easily also releases the third line. Or they are so close together, if you fall or just work the bar aggressively the third safety engages. One does not always notice it as it does not effect the kite. Pulling the second stage then safety means you loose the kite.

Safety problems are obviously the most important, however I really would like to know about the bridal connections.
Thanks.

@wetstuff, i normally trow the steeringlines to the side and then connect everything.
@timop, its indeed not a kite for the waves. Crashed it yesterday and no restart or what so ever. Had to QR and swim. Maybe on the pic. you can see the bridle. Cheers

Thanks for the pic Fragger. It is a bit difficult to see on the pic - does the line on the first strut - "the outside one", run directly to the connector? If so then it is the same as mine, but not the same as the manual. The manual (http://www.genetrixkites.fr/ups/userguide/hydrav5fr.pdf) shows the 1st line as first connecting to the second strut and then running down to the connector.

Perhaps it does not matter, but I just want to make sure as I am not entirely satisfied with the low end range of the kite and if the connections are wrong it may effect the low end.

And yes so difficult to relaunch in waves I find you have one chance, but if a wave hits the kite, it is almost 80% you are going to swim . It does however go fast and one seldom feel out of control even at speed.

After extensive fiddling with foils I know that even a very small change in the bridle makes massive difference. Even if one of the bridle lines is just 3 cm (2") off, the kite can be almost unflyable! guys, make sure you sort it out so it is correct.
/Urban.

Tim.. Mine is a Hydra 4.. It flys fine. #1 directly to the pigtail.






I got a great deal on a Ben Wilson 10 because the lady who bought it was not experienced enough to spot the steering line on one side was mis-rigged and she quietly said; "..It's not for me." (rather than - "The sucker almost killed me!") Out of all the various kites I have had, it was the first where it left the factory this way - that I have seen. It was obvious and easy to spot, so I simply contacted BW and they told me which side was correct.

Jim

Thanks for the info and pic Jim - That is the same connection as on mine and I do not think much has changed from V4 to V5. (Why the connection shown on the manual is different remains a mystery)

Glad you could sort out the incorrect connection when you bought it. In my case the pigtails were swapped. The first time I flew the kite I thought - "what did I buy here" - it had absolutely no power - (I also said - "Not for me":-)) - Genetrix undertook to inform the factory of the fault. I can see where Urban's remark came from. The difference in line lengths before and after the swap was a lot - about 8 cm - and it went from impossible to fly to a bomb.

Thanks again for the help

Tim

Wetstuff wrote: I had hopes Bruno's last effort would rub off on Eric in Cabarete, but sadly his last kite, the Ovando I bought was a disaster ..for me.

Jim

Jim,

What was so bad about your Ovando? Which size did you have?

Ed

Could anyone detail the differences between v4 and v6 in 7m ? in particular in bar pressure and relaunch in high winds (30-50 knots)