Hi Hannes,
noch einmal der text
Grüße, ri
WHO BOOM KITES build kites for 6 years now, it began as an idea of Hannes Papesh an me. Hannes is co-owner and "THE designer" of Nova paragliding, one of worlds leading companies in paragliding business. I was building kites for a long time for fun and often got materials from Hannes, we then decided to work together and built several prototypes.
PHILOSOPHY Our philosophy was: design a safe product, make it easy to use and make it as performant as possible. BOOM is only a small part of NOVA and after some investments in PR in the beginning we decided to concentrate and invest more in technical design than in promotion. This might be the biggest difference to other companies. Well, customer care might be another point: I spend lots of hours personally answering emails of customers.
HISTORY We designed the first foil kites offering a depower system that changed the angle of attack of the whole wing, we implemented a drainage system to allow water to escape the wings, we designed several different systems to allow changing the angle of attack and always used the best materials available - with the paragliding background this was no hard work. For example the flying lines we use are well oversized with breaking strength of almost 400kg ? but I remember Tom swimming more than an hour to get to shore after a line snapped (this was in the very beginning when we used 250 kg lines)
RESEARCH To design the wings we use software that is constantly developed by Hannes Papesh. This software is fed by parameters (well, LOTS of parameters :-) ) and calculates everything within a second: it gives us the patterns for the cutter, it gives a 3D model, it gives the coordinates needed to make further performance calculations. This piece of software allows to influence skin tension at any point, it allows to adjust the bridles, diagonal ribs, inflation holes/valves, the brake bridle (where to pull how much) it optimizes the cell width concerning the pillow and a lot more details. We also design the shape of the airfoil we use and do quite a lot of calculations related to that 24/7 for several years now.
DEVELOPMENT We have our own production plant so we can have prototypes whenever we want - we design a kite and have it here for tests a few days later. The first tests (and if required adjustments) are done by me, then it's given to other members of the R&D team, some prototypes are sent to team members around the world and when feedback is positive we build a small series for more tests, then we check again and begin serial production.
PAST STEPS Kiteboarding is a dangerous sport. The air has a lot of power and any detail that makes the sport safer is welcome. This is why we improved the setup of the kites from time to time:
- The first kite we offered used 3 lines: two to turn the kite and the third was a safety line that stopped the kite the moment the bar was released.
- We implemented a depower system then and had a setup with 4 lines: Two line to turn the kite, one line to depower the kite (by making the angle of attack smaller) and the safety line, still connected to the trailing edge that still stopped the kite when the bar was released (and you were un hooked).
- The next step was a new speed system that also used the brakes to turn the kite. We used a 4 line setup with two lines to each side of the kite.
- Another speed system followed and there were some steps in between to improve the built in quick release systems. We built lots of different prototypes for those systems and the most important factor for me was to follow the guidelines of safety. That's why our emergency quick release at the chicken loop might look complicated and I admit it requires concentration to rebuild it - but it allows to be triggered even under loads of 300kg. Other systems I tested require much more force to be triggered. The kite we currently offer is the SKITE that was designed as high performing yet easy to use snowkite. It sold ok last winter and lots of customers asked for a water version, so we built in valves at the inflation holes and drainage outlets. Two valves can easily be rolled to the front, so the kite is safer for landuse when the leading edge is partly open - when landed air can escape the wing much faster. When unrolled, the air stays inside and allows the kite to float. The kite fills within seconds and can already be turned quite well even when not inflated. It can be launched from water much easier than any tube kite and can be depowered using the speed system built in the bridle.
CURRENT WORK We are currently working on a push out system and I'm happy to take the opportunity to talk about it, so nobody can claim a patent for it :-) . The idea is older than 2 years now but time has come to step further, so I set up a web site:
NEXT STEPS We also work on a few kites for different applications:
- a fast design with high AR for speed sports like buggy, maybe also for snowkiting
- a low AR design for very easy handling (snow/water kiting)
- a wing offering more performance
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND My own professional background has no relation to sports or technology, I studied psychology (yes, actually I?m Dr. Richard Grauss) and still work as psychotherapist. But there is one thing in both jobs I?m very interested in: it is to understand how things are working ..
WHY FOILS? Well, that?s what we are good in.