Hi Guys,

Being locked at home thanks to CV19 here in Cape Town has given me a chance to look at a new project.

A few years ago I wrote my own parametric kite design software. Over the last couple of weeks I've rehashed it into a web enabled tool called Karoro:

app.shapediver.com/m/200426-kite-design-with-le-scaling-18

Very much a work in progress, but feel free to have a go and let me know what you think.

Cheers

DK

Rob Smallwood and some mate's made a 21 mtr kite I had the displeasure of blowing it up once

I made a few foil kites in the early days of kiteboarding. Downloading and printing a design and making it was not super difficult. It definitely got easier with a little practice. Sewing is fun. Taking over the living room to mark out and cut is also kind of fun.

Designing my own kite was a whole different task. You can enter the parameters into the design software and it will render it and give you all the stuff to cut and sew.

None of that helps you build a kite that would actually fly. I decided there were way too many variables to deal with to build kites and test out the effect of changing various parameters. Way too much time and way too expensive.

I know of a few people who have become professional kite and paraglider designers. They were all taken on by existing businesses and learnt the trade in a sort of apprenticeship.

All the good guys now are full-on rocket scientists. There's way more science and mathematics than there used to be. Some paraglider manufacturers buy the designs from contract designers then the test pilots trim and tune the wings into their final form.

Looks very cool. But why go to this effort for others. What's your end game decay? Are you looking to manufacture kites fir dudes who design the kite using your software?

Hi DK.

Your design software is impressive and it takes some real skill to create and release as a web app.

However I notice that you've created an LEI kite similar in design to many sold by the usual kite companies. I'm not knocking you for this, just wondering if you have the skill, and no doubt access to and understanding of the practical aerodynamics of kitesurf kites, if you could come out with something completely different and revolutionary which could take kitesurfing a giant leap forward from where we are today?

I say this after 20+ years of flying LEI kites of various brands and styles, and riding TT's surfboards and foils, I tried a snow kite with a hydrofoil. It was a revelation and I now mainly use these snow kites, the Flysurfer Peak4's, for foiling and can't get over how a simple, lightweight, inexpensive kite, never designed for water use, has become my go to kite 95% of the time. I sell the Peak4's as well and I know many others who have had the same experience.

I guess what I'm saying is are we just at the stage of minor incremental changes to existing designs or is there something we haven't tried yet which could be fantastic. Seeing as you have plenty of time in lockdown I thought you might like to ruminate on this

Fair enough. I've thought about making a kite momentarily. But the upskilling required would be huge. The labour to make it would be massive and I would end up with a kite around the performance of 2006 kit if I was lucky.


I don't think the average Joe has a hope in hell in getting close to current kite performance. Kite designers have been honing their designs for years and years with continuous improvement and incremental changes. It's really those small changes in angles and bridle placements that make all the difference. Hell even a 5cm change the bridle adjustment of my enduro makes it go from awesome to crud.

Being in the kite industry i'm sure you have access to the latest magic number. so that will make your build a success.

Post up some pics of the build and some footage of you blasting on it when complete. It certainly is an awesome feeling designing, making and riding something you design yourself.

Have you thought about a light weight no strut for foiling. None are available in Oz easily, Gong have one but it is heavy and a Cloud is not available for shipping to Oz.

drsurf said..
Hi DK.

Your design software is impressive and it takes some real skill to create and release as a web app.

However I notice that you've created an LEI kite similar in design to many sold by the usual kite companies. I'm not knocking you for this, just wondering if you have the skill, and no doubt access to and understanding of the practical aerodynamics of kitesurf kites, if you could come out with something completely different and revolutionary which could take kitesurfing a giant leap forward from where we are today?

I say this after 20+ years of flying LEI kites of various brands and styles, and riding TT's surfboards and foils, I tried a snow kite with a hydrofoil. It was a revelation and I now mainly use these snow kites, the Flysurfer Peak4's, for foiling and can't get over how a simple, lightweight, inexpensive kite, never designed for water use, has become my go to kite 95% of the time. I sell the Peak4's as well and I know many others who have had the same experience.

I guess what I'm saying is are we just at the stage of minor incremental changes to existing designs or is there something we haven't tried yet which could be fantastic. Seeing as you have plenty of time in lockdown I thought you might like to ruminate on this

Thanks for the feedback drsurf.

I can kind of understand where you are coming from - and for sure if I had a whole bunch of time to put into this project I'd like to explore the 'what if'.

However this whole project started life as a 'programming exercise' for myself - a challenge to learn some new skills. Quite honestly I just got carried away - never imgained I'd have the skills to produce a usable tool in this form.

If there is a 'road map' for the project I'd like to make a 'wing thing' version and later a parafoil version - neither of which would be very far removed from the under-lying source code.

Cheers

DK

weebitbreezy said..
Thanks for allowing us to play with the online tool. I'd need a lot more knowledge to make something useful out of it personally. Let us know when you make updates available.

P.S. Really enjoying listening to your stories on the podcasts recently.

Thanks weebitbreezy - its was fun to go over the past with kitesurf365 - lots of old memories of fun times with awesome people.

I'm hoping to do a 'how to' process video of a typical kite design in the next couple of weeks things might make some better sense once you see that.

Cheers

DK

cauncy said..
Something went badly wrong on my software

Maybe hacked somehow through some vintage porn site

Designing a bra for the missus mate?

cauncy said..
Something went badly wrong on my software

Maybe hacked somehow through some vintage porn site

It looks like a hang glider raped a windsurfer.