I’ve been reading the forum for a while, but I just registered, so I want to say hello to everybody here, and happy birthday to Toby.
I’m a kiter and windsurfer, and regularly kite with a Cabrinha 12.2 BT/ 2002 and a 137 cm wakeboard, on straps.
I have a question for you guys:
Just bought an old (98 /99) 2 line Wipika 6.5; and converted it to 4 lines (with the ‘V’ setup) to use it with the Cabrinha bar. I bought it as a cheap alternative for a rare windy day, that I may not have my windsurf equipment handy.
Yesterday I gave it a first try. On land it looked fine. The depower worked as it should, and it turned OK, so I decided to give it a try on the water. The kite pulled normally, but for some reason I couldn’t go upwind at all. It was really frustrating. Wind was a bit gusty, mostly around 20 knots, but the kite felt well powered up. But after 10 ins an outs I was almost 200 mts downwind, when I can usually go that distance upwind in a couple of in and outs with the Cabrinha.
Can anybody give me an explanation for this? Is there a different technique to go upwind with old, low AR kites? Do old kites have so little upwind performance? Can it be something wrong with the setup?
Thank you.