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UFO Questions.

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Northwest Kiteboarding -> Gorge / Portland / Oregon Coast
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Nak

Since 19 May 2005
4199 Posts
Camas
XTreme Poster

CGKA Member


PostFri Jan 22, 21 1:21 pm    UFO Questions. Reply with quote

I just got a 5 & 7 UFO and was able to ride the 7m for two sessions last week. Obviously I don't have a lot of experience with the UFO yet. I absolutely love the kite, but I have three questions.

First off depower throw. Eric had posted a thread about longer throw bars for the UFO, so I figured I'd be good with my bar which has 28" of throw. The thing is--and I didn't measure this exactly--it seems like I reached full depower for the kite at about 16" of throw. Anything beyond that and I was just slacking the lines, which made turning the kite impossible. It seems to me that a shorter throw would be desirable, but that flies in the face of what others are saying. What am I missing?

Second, every review I've read talks about the remarkable stability at 12:00, the kite just stays there. That wasn't my experience at all. The kite immediately falls to one side or the other if I let go of the bar. Again, am I missing something?

I've never had a kite where the lines went slack at such a small throw, so I'm wondering if this next issue is just my lines. When I was riding over-powered--about 25 mph--there was an intense "buzz", like an angry hornet. It was actually quite loud. At the time, I hadn't checked where the lines went slack and it's possible that this buzz was the slack lines. I've never heard anything like it from a kite. Has anyone else experienced this?

I really, really, like the kite. I read several reviews stating you couldn't reverse relaunch it, but I thought it reverse relaunched quite nicely--on land anyway. (I didn't try it in the water.) The kite just does not want to stay down, it relaunches with just a flick of the lines. The drift is just amazing and makes transitions so much easier. I flew the 7m on the beach in 9 - 12 mph wind and was surprised at how much power it had and how well such a small kite flew in 9 mph winds. Power delivery and depower were both very smooth, with a very sharp drop off in power when you reach max depower for the kite.

BTW, the bar & lines were freshly tuned; all four lines were precisely equal length as well as I could discern.

Thanks in advance!

EDITED TO ADD:
Here's a video of me testing the kite on the beach. At 0:35 you can see the slack lining of the kite at just over half depower.
https://youtu.be/qxb47sSnvec

Last edited by Nak on Fri Jan 22, 21 8:56 pm; edited 1 time in total

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DrewB

Since 16 Aug 2006
381 Posts
PDX
Obsessed



PostFri Jan 22, 21 5:26 pm     Reply with quote

UFOs are real

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phill

Since 26 May 2016
56 Posts

 



PostSun Jan 24, 21 10:03 am    UFO Questions. Reply with quote

I too had slack lines with full trim strap pulled , seemed more so than with other kites , yet all the lines seemed to be equal length.

With half trim , flies great in super light conditions.

Los Barriles , I miss it so much , it used to be my winter home each season.
A big hello to all my buds down there , though I understand they are winging now.

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Post new topic   Reply to topic    Northwest Kiteboarding -> Gorge / Portland / Oregon Coast All times are GMT - 8 Hours
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