Windwing, what happened?

[Trant]

As for me, I plan to leave this life with a full complement of body parts, and WW products don't fit that plan. Now that Bill Hansen's gone from the company, I wouldn't wipe my *ss with a WW product.

Nice first post!

[kitegrommet]

Thanx for the reply WW, I guess a bad apple showed up on the forum.

One post, and that's what the bad apple had to say?

I hope WW does well in the future, as you have in the past..

[zfennell]

well,
i've got a few posts under my belt and have to admit that
"downsizing" and removing a few "bad apples"
is a suspicous way to spin that fact that they have lost the man that has been the heart and soul of the company since its inception.

I have no dog in this fight at the moment and have enjoyed WW products in the past. However, if you asked me to purchase a kite without first trying it, I would be more likely to buy something with Bill Hansen's name on it. as opposed to the WW logo.
For now, I'm definitely in a 'wait and see' mode.
Wipika and Takoon, both survived after Bruno. Anybody think they are better for it?

-bill

[spidermedic]

I rode Rage IIs for a while. Decent kites, but the CC Bar was a bitch and promised fixes never materialized.

Then once they shut down manufacturing I lost all confidence in the company.

I wish them the best, but won't be investing in their kites again.

[kitesurf66]

Thanx for the reply WW, I guess a bad apple showed up on the forum.

One post, and that's what the bad apple had to say?

I hope WW does well in the future, as you have in the past..

Taking sides or blindingly accepting a promo release is probably not good. How do you know bad apple is not telling the truth? I'd say let's wait and see because the proof is in the pudding.

K66

[Wannabe]

There are so many former "bad apples" from WW that we wouldn't all fit in a room. Most of us have moved on to bigger and better things (myself included) and really don't care what happens to Chao Inc. anymore.

Good to see that he is still blaming everyone but himself for his failures, nothing has changed apparently. In the 3 years I was there, we never showed a dime of profit, in fact we lost far more money than ever immaginable, so "doing better than ever" isn't saying much -- in fact it's pretty funny if you know the whole story.

If people knew the real story of how Chao (C+S as he posts here, posing as a kiter but has never kited in his life) completely burned Bill Hansen and a long list of others, there would not be a single post in support of the people who now call themselves Windwing.

Let the bad apples fly, or just let Windwing die, doesn't matter to me anymore.

Okay Toby, time to protect the hand that feeds you, I'm sure you'll move this to "flamer's paradise" or delete it all together soon.

[boardingbob]

Sorry about the bad apples. I guess some may say we have sour grapes as well?

Glad to hear we are all moving on to bigger and better things and hope we can put the bad apples to good use. Good thing Windwing has a very good new crop of apples and kites ready for harvest in Hood River this year. Sometimes you just have to cut down the old tree to make room for a more productive and better one. I'm glad we can now build the kites I want, but I guess that could make me a bad apple as well to some? Like apples, I know I like some kites more than others. But it is nice to have the choice and I know not everyone will like what I do. So it is nice to be able to choose. That is why Windwing offers so may options.

At the moment Windwing is about to introduce a new kite with a higher aspect model to follow. So far results and rider reviews have been very good and hope to get more info out soon.

Spidermedic, Please contact us at info@windwing.com. I would like to get you the parts you need. We were able to recently drastically improve the CC-Bar and it would be nice to give you the oppertunity to try the new one. We are now in a better position to implement customer feedback since our production is off to a good fresh start for 07. We appreciate your feedback and would like to have more. Just like most of the industy, we will continued to improve.

[vietkiter]

If people knew the real story of how Chao (C+S as he posts here, posing as a kiter but has never kited in his life)...

C+S... Is this really true... that's pretty fraudulent behavior

[spidermedic]

Spidermedic, Please contact us at info@windwing.com. I would like to get you the parts you need. We were able to recently drastically improve the CC-Bar and it would be nice to give you the oppertunity to try the new one. We are now in a better position to implement customer feedback since our production is off to a good fresh start for 07. We appreciate your feedback and would like to have more. Just like most of the industy, we will continued to improve.

Bob,

Thank you for the offer, but I no longer have the Rage IIs. I'm on Crossbows now.

[Wannabe]

If people knew the real story of how Chao (C+S as he posts here, posing as a kiter but has never kited in his life)...

C+S... Is this really true... that's pretty fraudulent behavior

That's just the beginning. He makes fake posts on the WW forum (and possibly others?) all the time posing as hyped-up customers. At one time he encouraged his employees to do the same, but nobody was really into being a fake. Maybe that's what made us all "bad apples." If you want an example, do a search on the WW forum under the screename "Windhound."

At one time I had admin priveleges for the WW forum, Chao had 4 or 5 fake names he was posting under. It was really obvious and Bill Hansen hated it, and called him out on it in a meeting. Bill's a "bad apple" too.

Maybe that would be a great name for a new kite company -- all the former WW employees could form "Bad Apple" kites. With Bill as lead designer! Anybody got a spare mil to invest? Didn't think so...