help with mastair 12

[slingshotucf]

i just purchased a 12 meter mastair. it has the standard lines and chicken loop. i heard that there is a pulley system that can be made to depower better with it and i heard that if you use longer lines like 40 meter that it flies much better. also i noticed that it wants to collapse at the end of the window, does this go away with longer lines?any info on these two things would help me very much. thanks~Nick

[Toby]

if you won't get answers send an e-mail to Armin@flysurfer.de
he can help you.

Good luck

Toby

[Mr Jo Macdonald]

Hi Nick,
The Mastair 12m is a great kite for 6-16 knots depending on your weight and board. It is a high AR high-performance foil though so it can take a bit of getting used to, once you do you'll love it.
On the depower conversion I've heard about the UDS depower conversion, which sounds really good (I haven't checked it out personally yet). The UDS depower is Manfred's and you can get more info from him or his site:
ENGINEERING SERVICES-ESM
"Paraflysurf"
Switzerland
http://www.paraflysurf.ch
mm@paraflysurf.ch
0041/79/4522713

Details on his site
http://www.paraflysurf.ch/shop.htm
http://www.paraflysurf.ch/UDS-Depower.htm

Unless you're used to flying foils my advice is to get used to the kite first with the standard settup and on 30m lines and in less than 10 knots because it's a real power machine.
Then you can try 40m lines, I normally use mine with 40m lines and can even get overpowered below 10 knots on a directional, great stuff.
For jumping, 30m lines will get you higher, 40m lines better hangtime.

If you have a problem with the a tip folding when you try to park the kite at the edge of the window, try not depowering it so much at the edge of the window, especially in light wind. If you pull the bar to tension the line on the other side of the kite this should also sort it out.
If all elase fails and the tip is folding into the bridle drop the bar and let the leash sort it out, see my thread on relaunching on how to grab the depower to relaunch the kite before it even touches down, unbelievable stuff.
If the kite tends to reverse (fly backwards down to the ground) when you pull the bar all the way down, mark the depower line where the original knot is now and then try making another knot about 3cm lower (shorter) and try it like this, when you get the trim right you can have a higher knot for low wind and a lower knot (shorter depower) for high wind.
A good way to preinflate is through the butt plug while you sort out the lines.
I also tied and taped down the end of the knots on teh main lines (you''ll see what I mean) because a bridal line can catch on these sometimes screwing up the trim obviously, Since I've done this, I can drop the bar, fold the kite in the air, grab the bar as it floats down, hold the depower on the bar with one hand and fly it back up like it's tail's on fire before it touches down, great stuff.
Once you get the trim right and learn how to fly the kite to straighten the tip, launch/relaunch fast, it's great, it'll fly in very little wind, when all the inflatos are falling from the sky in about 3 secs so you can even practice on otherwise no-go days. In very light wind keeping it moving so it always has a bit of apparent wind will help it through the lulls.
If you do a search for Mastair on the forum you'll find a lot of stuff I and others have written on the kite,
like this for example
phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=3144&forum=1

More good tips here:
http://www.flysurfer.de/index-eng.htm
http://members.iinet.net.au/~ianyoung/FS_tips.html

Feel free to ask any other questions
Have fun
Jo

[Dr Surf Australia]

On 2002-11-09 10:41, slingshotucf wrote:
i just purchased a 12 meter mastair. it has the standard lines and chicken loop. i heard that there is a pulley system that can be made to depower better with it and i heard that if you use longer lines like 40 meter that it flies much better. also i noticed that it wants to collapse at the end of the window, does this go away with longer lines?any info on these two things would help me very much. thanks~Nick

Use the Mastair as standard with the 30m lines. The pulley system should be built into the upper lines/bridle. If there is no pulley system at all you don't have the proper setup and it won't work effectively.

Collapsing at the edge of the window is a matter of technique unless the lines/bridle are incorrect. If you are in very light wind, let the kite go right to the edge of the window or are too abrupt with turning the kite you can cause it to collapse somewhat. Once you are used to the way the kite flies you shouldn't have any problems.

Have fun, it's good in light winds, Dave (Dr Surf)

[slingshotucf]

thank you everyone for the advice. i've been using a f-one shadow 7 for about a year now. the upwind on it seems really hard but the 12 seems so much easier with the depower. i haven't gotten a good day in the water with it yet, but i've used it on my earthboard on the shore and it's just awsome for speeding and boosting in 8 knots. thanks again~Nick