Hi team,
I have a 2016 North Neo 10m that has served me very well over the last few years. The last few sessions on it have been strange, I have found that I struggle to get any speed up and even stall occasionally, despite the wind being easily strong enough (18 knots + yesterday). I record my sessions on my watch and did 25km in 2 hours, compared to over 40km by my mate who went onto the water at exactly the same time as me, with the same sized kite, but he was riding a 10m Naish pivot. He would just cruise away from me at a good speed whenever we came near each other, I could do nothing to stay with him, this was never an issue in the past.
I checked my line lengths a while ago so I don't think that's the issue.
I'm also definitely not the best kiter out there, but I have been doing it for long enough to be fairly sure this isn't a technique issue.
Any suggestions/ideas would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Check your lines again to rule out this issue: www.kitebud.com.au/kitesurfing-online-courses/kitesurfing-line-tuning/
It's not clear in your explanation whether your kite is front stalling or back stalling ?
If you put your kite at 12 after launching it on the beach in winds of about 18 knots and pull the bar all the way in, the canopy should not be flapping at all and the kite should not be back-stalling either.
hope this helps
Christian - KiteBud
Canopy stretch and bridle stretch tend to accumulate over time so its unlikely to see a sudden change.
Did the 2016 Neos have the two front line attachments for quad and 5th element bars? I know the 2017s did. Is it possible you just attached to a different front line attachment knot?
Hi
About 8years ago I had a kite that went weird really suddenly...
It was all fine one week..the next everything was wrong
Turned out to be the bridles
An engineer friend helped decipher the problem..
So yes it can happen quick no idea why and how at all to be honest; maybe it was because I was doing thing like sand bar jumping and things at the time the pull&stretch loadpop etc..
but honestly it was all fine the week before
Got the measurements and redid the bridles and it was 'brilliant' again.
R.e canopies never known of that being so sudden I have one kite at the moment with a worn/stretched canopy that is awful at tacking
Same kite same year good canopy it edges really well...
So it's just a 'downwinder cruise' kite now mostly
Could be the bridles which the pivot/neo has I believe.. they did change suddenly once for some unknown reason..
I would re-measure them...
My guess is its that..
..or something else bar line length etc as said above
Hope this helps
North Bridles should have the lengths printed on them on little labels. They are intended to be measured when under tension. Expect to see them quite a bit shorter. You can wash them in detergent to help restore them (though getting to the original length is unlikely.
I think the effect of shrunk bridles is more evident to powerful riders who can really load the kite up. Not sure how tolerant the Neos are to bridle change. I know the Dice was pretty sensitive in its early designs.
