BayAreaKiteboarding.com

I bought my 12M Best Nemesis back in early April of 2004 and it's been by far my most used kite. I probably have 80 days on it and I think the canopy is fairly stretched out. All the bladders, seams, stiching are still in great shape, only the canopy looks stretched out.

The kite flies great in good wind, but in light wind it's become very unstable and it's probably one of the first ones to drop when the wind dies. Other things I've noticed is that it's top end is noticibly higher now. Yesterday I was kiting at Treasure Island and the wind was cranking at 25mph+ and I was fairly comfortable. Most poleboarders were on 4.5-4.7 sails. Normally I'm lit on 10M in those winds and way overpowered on a 12M.

Sonny or any other kite repair person, can this problem be fixed? Can you "nip tuck" the kite and tighten the canopy to extend the life of my kite?

Another note, I see where RRD got their idea to put zippers in their kites. By opening up the zippers, the kite has the same properties of a stretched canopy, which gives the kite greater top end.

I do not have any experience on tightening the canopy and it would not be cost effective to fix an old Best kite even if I did.

Never heard of such a thing, and I've been sailing for a very long time. Old sails get blown out (stretched) and "handed down" or thrown away.

I'm not sure of the technical details, but the porosity of the ripstop canopy also degrades with UV exposure and use. I don't think there's anything you can do to fix that, and it will also move a kite's windrange more towards the high end.

Thanks ya'll. I didn't think it was possible, but was wondering if anyone had ever done it. It's a bummer that kites don't last very long. I'm mostly a weekend warrior and can't even get two full seasons of use from a kite before it significantly degrades. :evil:

The best way to wear out a sail is to let it "luff" in the wind.

For kites, this would mean parking it on the beach, where the wind can shake it to death.

Might be better to roll it up and pack it away asap.

what do you expect from a "cheap"kite????

What makes an expensive brand kite more resistant to canopy stretch?

Don't answer that, I know you're just flaming. If you had something intelligent to say, you would've signed in and identified yourself.

It's too bad that this site is starting to attract the trolls....

What makes a good kite better??
* Pannel layout and material used
* Stiching - how it's done, how it's reinforced, materials used
* How canopy attaches to LE
* How canopy attaches to struts
* LE construction, stiching, materials....

aside from that, a kite is a kite.....I get over 100 days/kite w/no streching from the reputable kites - Naish, North....

It's OK, I can always start "moderating" some people's posts.

Take the kite wars and flaming to kiteforum.

Another option is to disable Guest posting, so all posts need to be from registered users.