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2003 SlingShot canopy material

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Johnny TBKS
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Postby Johnny TBKS » Thu Oct 03, 2002 3:47 am

On 2002-09-25 19:18, jever98 wrote:
Very interesting picture:

http://groups.msn.com/flkitesurfer/surf ... PhotoID=41

It's a 2003 Fuel with a canopy made of foil. Anybody able to clarify. I would be SO in for that!!!
Ok, so maybe I lied about canopy to get you in here, but I think you'll find this interesting too and I think that this is of as much importance as canopies and their materials.

Something we failed to mention about this kite pictured. All the clear on it is what is currently made of rippy stop, but that's not important. What is important, to me anyways, is that the reason this kite was built was so that you can see the reinforcements easily.

All of the orange colored sections are Mark cloth. Very important. This may look stylish, even cool, but what's really cool about it is it's there for a reason and a purpose. Does your kite have this on it? It's surprising to me that we aren't seeing more of this. I bet we start seeing it more on other brands soon too...protection that is there for protection, not style. Anyway, it's the ultimate in ripstop protection.

The black on it is DP Dacron, except for the scuff guards you see going around the LE and the scuff gaurds you don't see near the spar ends.

The grey you see on it (wingtips) is 5 Ply Dacron, with DP Dacron reinforcing it. This helps to increase the wingtip stiffness for precise control and feel. Oh oh oh...yes I love my new SlingShots! :smile:

All the seams are visible. Shown in both black and white. All of these seams are taped for reinforcement.

Segmented leading edge.....

WHY the hell doesn't SlingShot advertise all this great stuff?? Oh well, I'm thinking this years kites, like last years kites, will speak for themselves.

Performance has come a long ways in a few years for pretty much most of the kite brands, this is for sure. So what are we looking for next? I see some mentioning better canopies. Some want more turning speed(try new slingshot). It's kinda like give and take. We want stronger canopies, but we don't want heavier canopies. We want faster flying and turning kites, but ones not prone to other not so desirable qualities that you often encounter trying to make kites faster. Kites can be too fast too. They can turn too fast. So that's all give and take and compromise. So it's a matter of fine tuning them,(which each person may find ones tuned more to their liking and styles, and this is fine), and reinforcing them to be stronger and more durable.....I guess. This is why I was asking, cuz I don't know! What's do we as kitesurfers want next?

We wanted leading edges that we can pump up until they are super drum tight and not have to worry about them exploding...we have that now at least.

Maybe one day we will have kites we can crash in the streets, into cars, into trees, houses, lifeguard stands, Beach umbrellas, volley ball nets and poles, power lines, boats, channel markers and any other suitable target we may be able to find with no fear of damaging our kites. I doubt it though. I've been flying kites for about 12 years now, and to date, pretty much every kite I have EVER owned, aside from foils, has been a fairly fragile toy to play with. They are kinda like planes...designed to fly, not designed to crash. A plane designed to crash is too heavy to fly.

E-NUFF rambling....so now we know the story behind the clear kite that SlingShot built and read a little bit of rambling. Don't ya feel better now?

Pea's Out!

Johnny
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Postby kitesports.co.nz » Thu Oct 03, 2002 6:57 am

Nice! I can't wait
Tim.


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