futique

Ahhhh! Great point! I hadn't considered that it might have been a cause, but it makes perfect sense.

Yeah, it's pretty intense. I should take a picture of it and post it. It looks like it was torn apart with a pair of pliers!

Thank you so much for the lengthy reply. It turns out there were heat shrink stoppers glued onto the rods, but they *just* fit through the sleeve, and I managed to work the rods out without having to cut or remove anything. I was amazed to find that the rods themselves hadn't broken, but rather the metal ferrule had sheared, almost right in the middle. (A testament to the strength of graphite, I suppose!) I called the local shop, and they said they had a replacement rod, but I'd need to put my own ferrule on it, and replace the stopper. Not really wanting to throw aftermarket parts in a kite with less than 20 minutes of airtime on it, I decided to order the replacement part from Prism. Probably won't make a lick of difference, but psychologically it does. Now, the best part is, I am on vacation next week, and I don't think the replacement will be arriving in time, so it looks like I might be buying another stunter that will compliment my Ozone, and get me in the air while I wait.

OK, so who wants to talk me through replacing a leading edge on my Ozone? The wind picked up rather suddenly, and I didn't have time to bring it down before the upper leading edge decided to snap. Ugh. My fault, of course.

Thanks for the replies and the warm welcome. I just registered at GWTW, and will be trying to locate some locals to help me get my head around things. Looks like there is some breeze right now, so I might just have to shut down the laptop and get outside.

Hello all, I recently moved to Boulder, CO., and last week I bought my first dual line kite: a Beetle 2100. Naturally I became instantly addicted to sport kiting, and immediately became frustrated by the stop/go/dead winds of this area. What to do? Oh- I know, I'll go buy myself a Prism Ozone! (Wide wind range, great looks, durable, and room to grow into it.) So I get the Ozone home yesterday, and using the included instructions, begin to assemble it. It took about 10 seconds before I realized that the included instruction card was not current, as it refers to "elastic" wing tensioners, which it definitely does not have. So, after about 15 minutes of trying to figure out how to get the wings tensioned on my own, I managed to find a section of the Prism website that discusses how to tie off the tensioners. Not a big deal, but moderately annoying. So I get the Ozone assembled, attach 50# 60' Spectra lines, and go out to the park behind my house and give it a quick check out flight. The wind was essentially dead- but I did manage to get it in the air, and play with it for a bit. Here's my question: There is a T-fitting along the spine through which the bottom spreader passes, and the bridle attaches. It's clear to me that there are two distinct settings for the bridle that can be made here, by selecting one of 2 knots to use as the attachment point. I assume one of these knots is used for "radical" flight, and the other is used for "forgiving" flight, yet I can't find documentation anywhere that mentions it. I've even tried downloading the Ozone manual from the Prism website, but it's the same field card that I received with the kit. I assume I can just make the change the next time I fly, and see for myself- but I'd like to understand the mechanics behind it beforehand, of possible. It appears to me that using the knot *furthest* from the bridle would result in an increased angle of attack, which I assume would make the kite turn more aggressively? The corollary being that using the knot closet to the bridle would result in a decreased angle of attack, which would slow the kite down, and allow it to fly in lighter winds. Am I on the right track? Thanks in advance for any advice that you may be able to lend!