Hi

I was wondering if anyone could give me some information about the principle or pictures of the blowout valve on the Flysurfer Pulse.

I am flying a PL (foil) and like any other kite it does not like to be crashed hard. In general it can take a beating but what I find is when the front lines of the kite are slack (i.e. landing a jump down wind of the kite) the kite will loose it's shape and will drift like a leaf in the wind leaving the "pilot" without any control. What happens after that can result in a major crash blowing seams or worse.

I'm playing with the idea to put in an blowout vent to prevent the kite from damages. I heard that the new Flysurfers have a blowout valve and was wondering how this works and whether this can be applied to a PL.

Any info, pictures or ideas are very appreciated.

With kite regards, Martyn

Hi Rob and Bjoern,

Thanks for the info that is much appreciated. I wonder if those rubber strips are very stiff or magnetic? For now I'm thinking about opening three cells at the trailing edge of the kite and close it of with velcro, the question is will it close again if the velcro is applied to the full width of the cell? Secondly looking at the video of the Psycho, it looks like the valve is close to the leading edge of the kite, Germans do things with a reason so perhaps a blow out valve at the trailing edge might not protect the kite from damaging. The final obstacle if I use velcro how wide should it be, the wider the more force it will take to open, the narrower the easier. Well I guess I have to do some experimenting. Anyway thanks again for your info, all input is appreciated. I'll post my results if you're interested.

Kite regards Martyn

hey martyn..
if you can wait for a week, I can show you in perth what it looks like, and how it works.. arriving in perth on the 6th in the evening and hope that we'll rip on the 7th at woddies.
for those who are interested as well, i let you know, where we'll hang arround..

cheers
mathias

Hi, I had a good look at this the other week. The material is stiff as has been said. The reason for placing it towards the front would most likely be that this is where the pressure is initially generated when the kite hits the water, by releasing it immediately it is more likely to reduce potential damage to the kite. They do not "pop" open due to the pressure but more from the deformation in the kite. Orientation is perpendicular to the leading edge, if they were parallel they would probably not work as when the kite hits there would be no deformation along that line. So by placing them along the trailing edge as you have suggested you are going to be relying entirely on the pressure increase to open it, not on any change in the kite dimension. This would probably mean that you will have issues with it closing and sealing again. With the flysurfer kite, once the initial impact is over and the pressure wave has released from the kite, the distortion finishes and the kite will return to its dimensions and the valve will close automatically.

Mind you this is just my take on the situation. :)

Cheers

Hi again.

Just for my own interest, in the PL, is the over pressure release in the same place as the Flysurfer?

Cheers

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the input. I am very interested in the valve with the pending patent. I guess that the deformation helps the opening of the flysurfer valve. That would explain why they placed it vertically.

I wonder where the biggest pressure build up in the kite is when it is crashed. I recently had a blow out through a seam, it started about 30 cm from the LE and opened the seam for app 60cm towards the trailing edge. I guess it is the weakest seam/spot that goes. The problem is with a foil that it fills with water and that it is quite a mission to get it back on dry land in a beating surf as at Floreat beach.

I guess the more simple the solution the better the result/durability and that follows suit with the PL approach so I'm still leaning towards the velcro. The PL's have sand/water bailing velcro openings at the wing tips. When I launch I always open them to bail any sand and when I land I noticed that they are always shut close. The length of the opening is quite short and the width of the velcro is app 2cm so this does not open too easy (perhaps the pressure build up in the tip is not that big to open it anyway). On an occassion I forgot to close my (middle) deflating zipper and crashed the kite on the water. It took me a while to sort out my lines and the kite was quite deflated when I relaunched. So relaunching with poorly inflated kite is possible and the principle of closing a short opening with velcro while flying works. Will this also work for a bigger opening or should multiple short openings (2 or 3) in one cell be applied?

Well any input is appreciated and thanks again for thinking along with me ;-)

Kite regards, Martyn

I would definitely go with one big opening. I would put on just one and then see how well it closes up after being forced open. If it closes well the stick them on every 2nd or 3rd cell. If it stays open put them on every 4th cell. This way the kite will stay inflated nicely while flying after big crash. And i would only to it on the middle cells, I doubt the cells near the tips would pop.

mike

Hi All,

So here are my findings: to start with it does not work

In case of a crash it does not open while my seem still ripped.
Also it leaks air and even worse it lets in water into the kite.
The loss of air will lead to an increased chance of bowtieing while the water just makes relauching impossible all together.

What did work is that the velcro closed on its own so one little plus.

So much for my idea, I'm looking forward to any pending patents coming onto the market.

Kite regards, Martyn