Archive March 2012
Advantages and Disadvantages of C-kites
Advantages and Disadvantages of C-kites
The C- kite is considered as the original kite used for kiteboarding. Until today, it is the sole inflatable kite available on the market. It consists of square corners; it forms a deep C-shaped arc in the course of flying. Its lines which are attached at the four corners of the kite give its unique characteristic.
This type of kite has advantages and disadvantages.
Some of its advantages include a ‘direct’ feel when riding. C-kites constantly pull and put pressure on the rider enabling him to feel more attached with the kite. C-kites also turn faster than the bowkites and they tend to turn around a pivot instead of an arc which is the case for the bowkites. Whether this is an advantage or disadvantage can be discussed, but the fact that the c-kites turn faster make them easier and safer to loop and they do not generate as much power in the loops as the bowkites. Bowkites can’t be looped as quickly as the c-kites, the result is more power in the loop and at the same time more likely to crash in the water (since they need a bigger looping radius).
C-kites also offer more performance for their specific wind range. They can only fly well in their hardly specified wind range; thus, prepared to be fine-tuned for a precise range.
These are very specialized kites completing a higher performance kite. These kites are also great for unhooked riding; it means that the kite doesn’t need to be slipped in and out more often.
The shape of the C-kite also maximizes SLED boosting; thus, improving jumping performance.
C kites also have some disadvantages. First of its disadvantages include having a very specific wind range. It means that more kites are needed to cover all possible winds which can be very expensive. To cover all wind conditions, around three to five kites are needed. But even purchasing five of the cheapest kites is also expensive.
A smaller wind range also means that you will need to put together kites more frequently. It also involves water re-launch. To be able to re-launch, these kites need to be spanned onto their back and directed to the rim of the wind window. With the limited sheeting ability, C-Kites can be unsafe for beginners. It means that they can’t be de-powered just like bow kites.
To fly the kite, there should be more power to control it. It is very disadvantageous for beginners because they do not have enough experience.
C kites consist of safety releases; however, they don’t have the ability to plunk a lot of power by sheeting out.
Kites continue to evolve, so the pros and cons will keep on shifting. But one thing remains; these kites are outstanding performers. Not many kite manufacturers design pure c-kites nowadays. Most of them try to design kites that benefits of the advantages both from c-kites and bow-kites. These kites go under names such as Hybrid-C, Delta-kite, SLC-concept kites etc…
However, Slingshot still design pure c-kites to please a small but faithful band of kitesurfers have realized that c-kites is the only way to go! The Slingshot Fuel is also known as the c-kite’s c-kite!
LEN10 MEGALOOP CHALLENGE
A nice video from the Len10 Megaloop Challenge. As you can see not all riders are using Slingshot kites. North, RRD, Naish, Best. Alberto Rondino shows that it´s even possible to make kiteloops with Cabrinha. However as we all know Lewis Crathern won this challenge and what is he riding with… Slingshot Fuel! Maybe a coincident that the riders choose Slingshot, maybe not… 😉
1The History Of Slingshot
Slingshot was founded 1999 by the Logosz brothers, Jeff and Tony. In 1998 One of Jeff’s friends was calling him to talk about a guy he had seen riding upwind with a kite and wakeboard, something no one ever had done before! The name of this guy was Lou Wainman and he is probably the main reason to why kiteboarding began to evolution to what it is today.
By this time Tony Logosz already had a company that were designing kiteboards so taking the step into designing kiteboarding gears became natural. The two brothers didn’t want to interfere with Tony´s own company, so they decided to form a new company solely aimed for kiteboarding gear, the name was Slingshot!
Many of the windsurfing companies saw the potential in kiteboarding why they also started to manufacture kitesurfing kites. These windsurfing companies already had an image and a legacy reputation that they had to honor. Slingshot was formed solely as a kiteboarding brand that could do whatever they wanted since they had nothing to lose and they had the freedom to create their own image.
Slingshot became an innovative and creative company that wasn’t afraid of doing any mistakes that could hurt their brand. For example they were the first company that actually put some graphic on their kites in the form of flames, suddenly some sort of coolness was added to kites.
The first kite that Slingshot designed was the “Stealth” kite, a full size kite that literally sucked which they also were honest about. Stealth was a megaflop, but Slingshot learned a ton on this lesson and from that time sort of become obsessed with the quality of their products. They started doing massive changes to their kites and the R&D team were constantly testing prototypes. If something wasn’t top notch then they had to fix it!
The company grew from zero to one of the global kite companies and Slingshot has definitely helped the sport to develop to what it is today! With the popular C-kite “Fuel” Slingshot targeted a new small group of extreme hardcore freestylers. The Fuel is a kite that makes it possible for riders such as Ruben Lenten to go crazy with insane kiteloops, he simply needs this super high performance kite that it is.
After Fuel came RPM, a kite that once more made Slingshot the emperer on the market!
Slingshot has always had a drive for making the kiteboarding sport better, safer and still more extreme! The technology behind many sports such as golf, tennis, bicycling etc. have been developed so that perfomers have been able to achive better results. This was not really the case for kiteboarding gear. The wakeboards that were released on the market around year 2000 were the same old crap that were designed 15 years earlier, just in a new costume. Slingshot was the first company that started to design boards with flexibility which added pop and made landings softer. The same drive to improve their products also mirror the kites. Slingshot has released some great products year 2012, but don’t think they have reached some kind of plateu. Kitesurfing is a sport with endless of opportunities and it will continue to grow. Slingshot will keep pushing the limits and bring safety to the equipment!
Stay tuned for the 2013 products that soon will come!
