TristanJ

Hi all, just wondering if anyone has experience with either / both of these kites. I’ve been flying FS foils for years now but this year decided to go back to the dark side as I want to work on boosting big. I posted on some of the FB groups to see if anyone had a Boost 3 and then a couple of weeks later I bought a pair (9m & 12m) of pivots. Then yesterday I was contacted by a seller in Sydney that wanted to get rid of their Boost 3 9m (inc bar and lines). So option 1 is to keep my pivots and sell my 12m Speed5 , option 2 is to sell the pivots and buy the 9m Boost3 (and keep the S5, as I probably wouldn’t get much for it anyway). Any advice, especially on the differences between the pivot and boost in the 9m would be very much appreciated, especially the quality of the boost as apparently there were some quality issues in the first generations. Cheers!

19m Speed 3 now gone.

Hi everyone, up for grabs is my Mystic Warrior waist harness, size small. The Warrior is the middle model from Mystic, giving fantastic support and comfort whilst still allowing a great range of movement to the rider. As you can see from the photos it is in excellent condition and has always been washed in fresh water after use. Only selling as I have moved to a seat harness due to injury. Pickup in Pascoe Vale Sth, Vic or postage at your expense. Cheers!

This has now been sold, sorry. Hi, up for sale is a Gath surf helmet, medium size, white colour. Has a few marks here and there but otherwise in very good condition. No longer needed, so may as well go to a new home. Will post at buyers expense. Cheers, Tristan.

Hi all, 8m Psycho has now been sold. 19m S3 still up for grabs! Cheers, Tristan.

Hi everyone, the 10m Psycho 4 is sold pending payment. I have however decided to also sell my other Psycho 4, it is an 8m also in the deluxe fabric. Condition of the kite, bar and lines is very good, no repairs. Like the 10m, this is a super fun kite to fly, even more agile in the sky that the 10m and it packs down extremely small so you can throw it in your kit for those days when the wind is absolutely nuking. I have flown this kite in 35-40 knots and was the only one out with jumps that seriously scared the cr#p out of me. Photos to come, price $390. Cheers, Tristan.

I cannot say with any degree of certainty as I have never actually flown the kite. From all my research on the S3 19, it is apparently the sweet spot for the S3, and had some tweaks from the other sizes and I have been advised that as such it is halfway between a S3 and S4 as far as performance and handling with great boost and super long hang-time. I got it off another fellow who unbeknownst to me (at least until I received it) had had a go at recoating it with a spray-on PU that was completely flaking off, and I with the intention of recoating it using my very successful technique of Marine Goop / Xylene. Since receiving it I have invested probably upwards of 10 - 15 hours removing this coating and it is now completely clean and ready to coat, and if done correctly will again be an awesome light wind kite for someone not afraid of a few hours work. Hope this helps, Tristan.

12m Speed 3 now gone.

Hi everyone, so I have decided to move towards a Flysurfer Boost 2 kite (yes I know LEIs are heresy around here, but most of my riding these days is trying to jump as high as possible). As such, I am wanting to sell a couple of my foils to make funds available for the new purchase. Firstly, up for grabs is a Psycho 4 10m in deluxe fabric. This kite is probably my favourite as despite being a few years old now it is super fun to fly, great pop and super agile in the sky. General condition is excellent, the cloth still has the crispy feeling as it has been my least used kite. I have also recently stretched the bridle. Price $450 Second is a Speed 3 12m in deluxe fabric. If you have ever followed my threads on recoating kites, you will know that this kite has seen some significant work over the last couple of years. It has been completely recoated with a solution of Marine Goop and Xylene which vastly decreased the porosity and increased the strength without increasing the weight. Additionally the bridle has been measured and corrected with the addition of custom LCLs and is more correct now than any other Speed 3 out there I'd say. Price: $400 Lastly, I have a Speed 3 19m in deluxe fabric. This is a bit of a curly one insofar that it has been prepped for recoating but has not yet been done. I bought a Speed 4 18m last year on a close-out deal from FS and and such I have had no reason to pay any further attention to the 19m. There is a not insignificant amount of work in recoating a wing of this size, and as such I am putting it out for expressions of interest before committing to any work. I'd want at least $350 for this one if recoated, if you wanted to recoat it yourself you could take it as-is for $200. All kites come with their original bar and lines and bag. If you are in Melbourne, I'm also happy for people to test fly before purchase. If you want them sent interstate, I'd be happy to pack them up as there is now a service that sends a kite sized package for around the $30 - $40 mark. Cheers! Tristan

Hi everyone, I just wanted to know if anyone had a set (preferably 5, but 4 will do) of flying line extensions about 7 or 8 metres long they weren't using and wanted to sell? They are for fitment to my 10m Psycho 4. I'm heading up to Fiji on a family holiday and do not have a usable kite any larger than my 10m, I want to increase the bottom end range to hopefully get a few sneaky sessions in. Cheers in advance, Tristan.

Thanks Kamikaze for the advice. To be honest, it's not just about the weight allowance of the airline, it's also about me having to carry an enormous amount of crap through airports/taxis/boats etc. Just trying to minimise equipment this trip. I did however pick up a ProLimit Global kite bag from Kite Republic last week. It seems super simple and lightweight, but still bombproof. I'm looking forward to seeing how it fares. Cheers!

Hi everyone, am taking a trip in three weeks and am trying to locate a smaller second hand bag in usable condition. Prefer something with a pair of shoulder straps but no wheels. I'll be travelling with a twin tip and 2 foil kites so I'm wanting to keep the weight down to allow all of the crap that comes with a toddler and a 6 month old baby to fly with us as well. Please email at: sendtristanmail@gmail.com Cheers! Tristan

Hi guys, this test is certainly not commercial, just a reaction to being pretty pissed off at tip-tucking and other bad behaviour of my Speed 3 12m and not being able to do anything about it. Also, a lot of opinions are out there but precious little to back it all up. I like the idea of mounting the fabric to my car, I have had a bunch of the paraglider strips on my washing line for the last couple of weeks (and I live in a pretty windy place) and the darn porosity is still at 4-5 minutes. Nigel, just email me to organise a time to test your kites. I'm sure the results will surprise you. Cheers, Tristan.

Hi everyone, I hope your summer season is shaping up well. I have been planning a little experiment this last 12 months and have finally got around to it. That is, doing a bunch of side by side tests on recoating ripstop nylon fabric that has lost it's 'air-tightness' due to age. I'll be posting the full transcript on foilzone but just wanted to add that anyone in the foil community here in Melbourne is welcome to use my test rig if they are curious about just how porous their kite actually is. Here is the link to the instructions on how to make the porosity meter I have: https://vimeo.com/124682223 I for one was extremely surprised by the results when I tested my own kite as I had done the 'blow through the canopy test' and thought that my cloth was pretty good. Rest assured, anyone who tells you to test your kite in this way is fooling themselves as the actual tested reading on my S3 12m deluxe was about 5 seconds, as compared to an old paraglider which was still 4 minutes plus. Secondly, I am still after someone with either a kite that is so porous it does not fly, or one that is ripped in half that they would be willing to donate to the cause as I have been using uncoated new fabric (from Spotlight) and the old paraglider's cloth is still too airtight to get any useful data from when applying coatings even after it has been hanging in the sun and wind for the last two weeks. My initial testing has found three very useful techniques that I think would absolutely restore a kite to flying condition, but I am still very nervous going ahead on the S3 as a) it still flys and b. due to it's size I would have to invest further cash in purchasing larger quantities of the coating materials. Happy to receive emails directly at: sendtristanmail@gmail.com Cheers! Tristan.

After being away from Foilzone.com for a few months I tried to go back and take a look the other day but it seems to not exist anymore. Anyone know where it went or when it's coming back online? Tristan

Hi everyone, I'm in the market for a decent example of an 18m Speed4 Lotus. Please get in touch if you or someone you know is wanting to sell one. Many thanks, Tristan.

Do you know if any parachutes are Polyurethane coated rather than Silicon coated? My preference at this stage is to use a PU solution to recoat, this would most likely not stick to a fabric that was previously siliconised.

I also have read quite a lot about he is option and this will be one of the treatments I will try in the side by side test. An issue with this option however is that once you go with a silicon you can never go back as nothing else will stick to it (means that patching any damage can be an issue in the future). I have used silicon dissolved in thinners in the past to seam seal a tent and sand sticks like crazy the the cured end result.

Hi Loftywinds, unfortunately most of the LEIs are made from a different cloth to the coated ripstop nylon that is the norm for foils. I believe your kite is most likely made from a polyester based fabric. Thanks for the offer though.

Hi Norman, yes done the mixer test to death and talked with one of the designers from FS who worked on this design. Although the bridle need some attention (measuring and either stretching or lengthening) the first problem is the porosity which is evident due to the indented leading edge along the wingtips. This is leading to tip collapse. I thought I'd first fix the porosity, then sort out the bridle.

Hi everyone, I am trying to chase down some kite cloth, preferably FS deluxe fabric that has come from a used kite that is beyond repair. I intend to do some side by side testing of different recoating methods to nail down the most effective option. I intend to make approximately 6-8 samples 30cm x 30cm testing them before and after the treatments for both porosity and tear strength. For selfish reasons I would love to be able to use the same cloth as the kite I intend to treat (FS 12m S3) but if I cannot get my hands on that, any ripstop nylon of about 30 denier should do, as long as the original coating was polyurethane. I figure I could always just go and get some new uncoated ripstop, however I think the better option would be to see how the coatings react (and stick) to any remnants of the original treatment. A full write up will be done on my results both here and on foilzone, I figure it is an extremely useful exercise for all in the foil community to try and keep our beloved (and expensive) kites usable. Please PM me, or better still email me at sendtristanmail@gmail.com Many thanks, Tristan Melbourne, Australia

Went to the post office today, shipping to Wanaki is $70 Send me a PM or email at sendtristamail@gmail.com if you want to go ahead. Cheers, Tristan

Sorry didn't get the notice that you had replied. I'll check and get back to you. Cheers, Tristan.

Ok, seeing I'm getting no action on this at all, price drop to $25 Send me an email or PM if you are interested. Cheers!

Hi everyone, for sale is a padded travel bag with wheels for kite surfing. Asking price of only $25 ono. It is the golf bag style, which at least in the past means you did not pay excess to take your kite surfing equipment on international flights as golf equipment was exempt from extra charges. It is in pretty good condition, but it has been used and has a few battle scars. All zips and clips are heavy duty items and work. The wheel assemblies have been replaced with heavy duty Cabrinha items. It has the option of carrying on your back with shoulder straps, at one stage it had a flap that zipped over these but I removed it as the zips stopped working. It does not affect the integrity of the bag in any way however. It has compression straps on the exterior and smaller straps on the inside to secure your board. The maximum board length is about 135. You can easily fit a board, two kites (three foils) and associated kit inside. Pickup in Pascoe Vale Sth, or I can post at your expense. I am coming down to Geelong in the next little while, so if it works I can possibly meet down that way. Cheers!