Strutless Kites?!

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Aloha
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Re: Strutless Kites?!

Post by Aloha » Thu May 09, 2013 6:33 pm

I loveeeee it

I am thinking Splitsurf 3 + Naish Trip + Indo who's in? XZSD

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Re: Strutless Kites?!

Post by jowall » Thu May 09, 2013 9:33 pm

Isn't that board spending a lot of money to save a little money? I can't believe it rides that great either. It's not hard to find surfboards near most spots. Rent, buy a beater, get creative.

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Re: Strutless Kites?!

Post by Aloha » Thu May 09, 2013 10:44 pm

jowall wrote:Isn't that board spending a lot of money to save a little money? I can't believe it rides that great either. It's not hard to find surfboards near most spots. Rent, buy a beater, get creative.
It depends ... if you're going to Mexico or Hawai'i or something that is one thing - but if you're going exploring in places around the world where there aren't any people, let alone surfboards nearby trying to ride spots that have never been surfed, let alone kitesurfed I could totally see the potential

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Re: Strutless Kites?!

Post by etxxz » Fri May 10, 2013 11:05 am

Loscocco wrote:Yeah Bowen rides those at Crissy from Maui Waveriders and he loves them I flew it and its super sweet A lot of power for the size and when sheeted in it flies perfectly but when you sheet out it flutters a bit but is fine.
I have the Airush One.. flutters low/fast through the wind but the power is there. Hell i remember in Tahoe one low-wind day during an F-ONE demo. None of the 14m kite could stay up. Just me on a 12m and a dude in a 17m. Talk about low wind performance.


Atleast i have ONE giant strut for the water. I would be very interested to fly the strutless and see how it handles water...



edit: flutters on the beach like a mofo too. Always have to hold material down with sand. Strutless must be insane. Borderline sand or it'll rip itself apart?

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Re: Strutless Kites?!

Post by rowboat » Sun May 12, 2013 7:43 am

Just saw this thread. I have an 8m and 10m Cloud (boardridingmaui.com) and have ridden them a fair bit this season at Crissy and OB. The kites pack up tiny and weigh about 50% of a regular kite due to lack of struts. I've posted a few pics on my facebook and having read it I can say that the TKB review http://www.thekiteboarder.com/2013/04/t ... less-kite/ is pretty damn accurate. The kites turn super quick and pull like trucks, you really can rig down by 1.5 to 2m. My perception has been that they do suffer at the top end, but I think that I'm still just over-rigging. Hard to shift your mindset to rig an 8m when it's blowing 19mph, but that's what I have to do... top end on the 8m is like 24mph.

Heading to Maui tomorrow for a warm-water test of the 6m!

Happy to answer any questions or swap kites for a quick demo if you catch me on the beach..
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Re: Strutless Kites?!

Post by Bulldog » Sun May 12, 2013 4:23 pm

After posting this I remembered the simple maxim of strapless kiting:

No board bag, no board bag fees, rent a surfboard.

I wouldn't buy a kite just because it packs down small, but if it flies as well as other kites and has just as much range, I would buy it. I imagine other kite co.s are working on theirs as we speak.
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It says 10M, but it's really a 9.

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Post by Ayer Nakite » Sun May 12, 2013 6:04 pm

I was lucky and got to test out the Naish Trip 10m in light wind conditions where mostly 12's were working. The power is clean and well defined, and the luff as you de power is both visible and easily felt in the bar. On the water the kite was quick to turn and thus I was able to stay out by flying the kite a bit faster and because it was much lighter than the kites most of us fly. There was no surf but I gave the kite some hot turns downwind as if heading down the line, works fine, drifts when you need to and then responds when you jibe and head back out. Solid Naish build in a nice small bag. Tested with a Naish 6' Global.

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Re: Strutless Kites?!

Post by rowboat » Sun May 12, 2013 9:03 pm

@bulldog - exactly! No fees, no hassle. No straps, no struts - next, no fins? Looking forward to trying the Paipo actually...
Here are my Cloud 8+10 packed for Maui tomorrow. Could even be a bit smaller if I had really tried...
BRM Cloud 8+10.jpg
BRM Cloud 8+10m packed for travel
BRM Cloud 8+10.jpg (127.16KiB)Viewed 3555 times
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Re: Strutless Kites?!

Post by rowboat » Tue Sep 17, 2013 9:58 am

BTW - just started a FB group for Cloud riders -- pls join if you are on the Clouds...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/cloudriders/
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Re: Strutless Kites?!

Post by Aloha » Tue Sep 17, 2013 10:02 am

Okay that is pretty amazing

I am so over how much space all my kitebags take up...

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