Hi All
I'm new to the forum . I've been riding about 3 years , solid riding , jumping etc and just purchased my first quiver of kites : 2011 F-one bandit 4's - 10m and 14m.
I use them with the 2010 f-one bar and an f-one tx 4 board.
I'm lucky enough to have just come back from 5 weeks in the carribbean where i was kiting everyday with these kites but I have a problem I need your help with! I really like the kites - I found the boost , power on these kites is amazing but the relaunch in light winds and safety seems very poor - compared to the other kites I have flown a lot - RRD Obsession and Cabrinha Switchblade.
Either i'm doing something wrong or something is wrong with the kit ...I dont know, hence the post. Should say at this point as well I have no issues with f-one whatsoever ...i just want my kites to work as I think they should!
The issues..
Safety System.
When you pull the quick release velcro on the chicken loop the bar moves away from you and goes to the yellow stopper ball as I expect...only problem is the kite doesnt depower! it stays with all its C shape and sat on its inflated edge. moves directly downwind of you and then pulls you by the leash downwind. In five weeks I never got it to sit on its back or flag to the point that it stopped pulling me downwind. One day I got pulled half a mile before i could get in. If I pull on the bar it tends to kiteloop and crash sometimes - also a self rescue where I swim to the kite wrapping my lines as I go ...seems like a recipe for having a totally out of control kite on a half wrapped bar!. Got to the point now I just do not trust the safety, and when I eventually steer it into the beach....I'm quiet nervous the thing is going to start taking off kitelooping and crashing.
Relaunching in light wind.
The bandit has a reputation for being really easy to relaunch, but no matter what I do in light wind it does not want to launch. To give an example of what I mean...my friend is out on his cabrinha switchblade ..so are many others including me all relaunching fine . I drop the kite ....try to steer to edge of wind window to relaunch ...wont budge off its inflated edge no matter how much i pull. Same hour I take out my mates Cabrinha just to prove Im not being a muppet .....relaunch three times no issue whatsoever. Two instructors try the same thing ...get the same results. Because of this while everyone was having a merry old time upwind ...i was floating downwind and needing rescue or taking a long walk when I eventually got in...quite frustrating
Can anyone help ? If you have experience of teh B4 i would really like to hear from you.
I know there was another post about problems with the bandit 4 and I wondered if anyone has any hints or tips to get this sorted.
I did wonder whether the fact I'm using a 2010 bar and a 2011 kite there is a problem with compatability because the kites are so differant in shape? Reason I got the 2010 bar was because the airlite 2011 wasnt ready....are they very differant setups or just cosmetic changes?
Maybe there is a specific technique I should be using for relaunch? Tried pulling in the middle line about a metre then trying to relaunch....really didnt help that much.
all ideas / advice gratefully received. It could be my lack of knowledge , a kit problem ..I dont know but I'm open to suggestions
cheers
Patrick