I am curious about how people are getting their foil kites repaired. Most foil kites come out of the paragliding industry and the care and precision of manufacture is extremely high.
The fabrics are extremely light and can be sewed with high quality domestic machines, but the care and skill required is critical. I used to do all my own repairs when I kited with foil kites in the early days. It's not that hard to do, but you have to have the materials and huge amounts of patience.
There are a couple of specialist paraglider repairers who could do foil kite repairs but I doubt if most kiters would know about them.
Most inflatable kite repairs are done by sail makers, mainly because leading edge seams need industrial sewing machines. Some sail makers can be a bit "heavy handed" doing repairs on kites. I would not want a random sail maker hacking away at my hugely expensive foil race kite.
So, you have have access to specialist foil kite repairers? Do you use the local kite/sail repairers? Do you get your mum to sew things up?
Hi Gorgo.
I think it is very important to differentiate between sail makers and specific kite repairers.
I am the latter of the two and although the majority of my repairs are to standard inflatables I also carry out a large number of foil kite repairs each season.
I wouldn't particularly agree that it Is "not that hard to do" - modern race foil kites have developed a long way from the old flysurfers and Peter Lynn kites back in the day both very tight access and multiple layers coming into the bridle attachment points......
I'll be the first to admit that I prefer working on inflatables but if anyone is in need of foil kite repairs then shoot me a msg
Cheers
Ryan
The Sail Doctor Kite Repairs
Select to expand quoteCornishryan said..
Hi Gorgo.
I think it is very important to differentiate between sail makers and specific kite repairers.
I am the latter of the two and although the majority of my repairs are to standard inflatables I also carry out a large number of foil kite repairs each season.
I wouldn't particularly agree that it Is "not that hard to do" - modern race foil kites have developed a long way from the old flysurfers and Peter Lynn kites back in the day both very tight access and multiple layers coming into the bridle attachment points......
I'll be the first to admit that I prefer working on inflatables but if anyone is in need of foil kite repairs then shoot me a msg
Cheers
Ryan
The Sail Doctor Kite Repairs
Got to agree with Ryan 100%. Most kite repairersI know come from a kite background, not sail. Our understanding of a wing and materials very alot to a sailmaker.
I cover paraglider repairs aswell. Attention to detail and understanding a wing is critical. Also a good stock of materials to do different wings helps. That's why we are "kite repaireres" and not sailmakers.
Stay safe folks
Hey Ryan
Maybe it's time to rebrand. Can I suggest "The Kite Surgeon"
Sail doctor may give some the wrong impression.
Ryan and Adam are the people I recommend for all Ozone repairs, foil and inflatable. Adam on the East Coast and Ryan on the West Coast. I've seen their work and its first class. We have also sent kites back to the Ozone factory but thats costly and takes a long time compared to getting the local guys to do their thing.
I spent a morning working a slight hangover off slurping on tea at the sail doctors workshop
Watched him repair and check numerous Kite brands and models, was pretty interesting seeing some of the internal work that we don't see go into a Kite, he'd just done some foil Kite repairs
which was a work of art and patience getting everything lined up perfectly, pretty intricate stuff, matching up colours, seams and stitching
making your shredded Kite look like it originally did and flying like it did, Ryan took the foils for a fly post repair to ensure they were good to go back to their owners , having an exsperienced kiter who repairs also is another plus imho
Select to expand quoteGorgo said..
So does anybody know of a specialist kite repairer in Melbourne?
Sparrow in Torquay does a great job!!!!!
Repairing a modern day foil kite is difficult and complicated, exacting work best suited to pixies with tiny hands. There is nothing easy about them any longer.
+1 for Ryan here in Perth, he "looks after" the racing fraternity here in Perth and does some excellent work. Problem is, many of the repairs are internal structure which is difficult at best.
Flysurfer offer a free repair service for all but their race kites. Return to Germany of course, but fixed by the guys who build them. I believe the turn around isn't as bad as you would think, just gotta cover freight. I would use that service for a major catastrophic failure like a badly torn kite.
DM
