Hey Marvin,

I can tell you what we want in a good school kite after having taught for ten years on various kites :

Firstly, it must be simple to use with a simple uncluttered bar

Kites should not be too powerful which rules out about 70% of the kites on the market.

Kites should have steering settings which require more effort to turn. (detuned)

Kites should preferably NOT have pulleyed bridles, less maintenance and tangles

Kites should be light weight, so three struts is best so they fly well in light winds.

Kites should be extremely stable in ALL wind conditions (windy and light)

Kites should be highly resistant to stalling and luffing.

Kites should relaunch easily with bar out and one back line tensioned.

Bar should have a simple above the bar cleated trim system (NO dangly toggles with straps)

Bar Safety system should flag easily and QR should work well under all conditions.

Bar depower should be a short stroke. No longer than 60cm.

All gear should be maintenance free and simple.

Seperate Bar should be set up with 15m lines for 1st lesson, then another bar on 25's.

I've just described the Ozone Catalysts. No kite comes close to this good for teaching, and they're a sick wave kite and freeride machine when tuned "up". The 2010 Catalysts were almost perfect but required a couple of inches more depower length. Ozone fixed this last quibble with the 2011 bars. Sorted, they should be perfect this year and can't wait to start using them in the school.

Cheers,

DM

i just bought 2 slingshot rallys....
ive used the QR when some one went through my lines close to shore (was windy and was scared both kites would power up and drag us along the beach... its a push away system... u dnt needf much force to push it away.. ie really easy! and it completely depowered the kite, was massively impressed with this
also relaunch is a piece of p1ss... bar out, pull one of the back lines and its straight back up in the air, hav dropped it a few times in the surf and have had no dramas... i absolutely love this kite and i rekon it would be a fantastic school kite
my 2 cents

Hi Darren,

thanx heaps for your time and good advise.
You cover almost all the important aspects for safety systems and i agree with all of what you have mentioned.
We taught on the Core Riot XR this year and im quite happy with how they went in school use but we are very keen to try the new Ozone Catalyst and put them to the test.
QR works on Core and Ozone very well.

cheers

TurtleHunter said...

You might also like to add a kite that can sit on the wing tip with the bar let go and not fall back and shoot across the window

^Catalyst

All Darren's points into various aspects of design, performance and therefore benefits are spot on.
my favourite kite to teach on is the Kahoona. it relaunches in 10-30 knots no matter what the size. It has a short depower and a huge windrange, and is as stable as any kite on the market. If anything should go wrong ( I've had absolutely no probs.) there's not a lot of meterage to go wrong.Others will be teaching on a 12m and having issues with relaunch and students are happily flying a 9.5

The Rally is similar to a generation1 kahoona.

Hey DM, your wishlist seems to describe my 2009 North Rebel. No centre strut seems to keep the wing flat, and very light.

AKSonline said...

Hey Marvin,

I can tell you what we want in a good school kite after having taught for ten years on various kites :

Firstly, it must be simple to use with a simple uncluttered bar

Kites should not be too powerful which rules out about 70% of the kites on the market.

Kites should have steering settings which require more effort to turn. (detuned)

Kites should preferably NOT have pulleyed bridles, less maintenance and tangles

Kites should be light weight, so three struts is best so they fly well in light winds.

Kites should be extremely stable in ALL wind conditions (windy and light)

Kites should be highly resistant to stalling and luffing.

Kites should relaunch easily with bar out and one back line tensioned.

Bar should have a simple above the bar cleated trim system (NO dangly toggles with straps)

Bar Safety system should flag easily and QR should work well under all conditions.

Bar depower should be a short stroke. No longer than 60cm.

All gear should be maintenance free and simple.

Seperate Bar should be set up with 15m lines for 1st lesson, then another bar on 25's.

I've just described the Ozone Catalysts. No kite comes close to this good for teaching, and they're a sick wave kite and freeride machine when tuned "up". The 2010 Catalysts were almost perfect but required a couple of inches more depower length. Ozone fixed this last quibble with the 2011 bars. Sorted, they should be perfect this year and can't wait to start using them in the school.

Cheers,

DM

^^^^^^Ît should still be a "BIG ISSUE" no matter what stage your at.
I think at that stage,when you are feeling conferdent with your skills, you tend to get a bit complacent on the safety side = hello hospital.
We all do it.....been kiteing for a few years,never had to hit the QR, think you no longer need the safest kite cause you've got it all sorted,,,,then BANG,,ouch

TurtleHunter said...

I prefer a single line flagging whether it be a 5th line or front line for teaching and for anyone not unhooking. Like you said waxman if a rear line goes around a wingtip your mini 5th line isn't ideal.

That's why I have always stuck with uncomplicated 5th line kites.
When all goes wrong you know a full length 5th line will flag the kite.
If the kite design has a good balanced C shape (toe nail shape is no good) and respectable size leading edge, the kite will unravel into shape and relaunch on command.
PS mini 5th lines and auto relaunch is dangerous, the system is a gimmick for kite schools.