MY KITE FOR WAVE & FOIL
WEIGHT & SIZES
LIGHT - EFFICIENT - AGILE
Light
Light kites always fly better than heavy kites. In principle this is nothing new and is widely known. For a long time not much attention was really paid to this as the kites were instead unnecessarily overdesigned to achieve the highest possible quality look. The Maverick III follows its own goal and should cover my range of use perfectly which is mainly in the waves with the surf-board and with the hydrofoil. On the foil the kite has to be particularly light first and foremost whereas it has to be particularly stable for use in the waves. Thanks to new materials and a modified profile the Maverick III is now able to cover both ranges of use perfectly and also perform very well on the twintip where lightweight kites are simply more fun.
Efficient
The special efficiency of the Nerio II is the high performance for use on the hydrofoil as well as waves and the particularly large wind range. I don't want to keep going back to the shore and inflating kites just because the wind has just picked up or dropped. On the foil you are quickly overpowered and with on the surfboard with the push of a big wave you also appreciate a kite with great depower and sovereign flight behavior. The lowest wind range on the other hand requires a powerful kite in order not to starve. But it's not just the pure wind range that is important to me. My kite must also have a linear pressure build-up and be totally easy to relaunch even in very little winds. I also want to kite the 5m with the same bar as the 12m.
Agile
I have never liked a sluggish kite. It could lift you up so well and jump as high as it wanted. For me it was always much more important that my personal kite was extremely agile but not nervous. I don't want to be limited by the kite which could happen very quickly in the waves with a lame kite. In my opinion an agile kite is also a clear advantage when hydrofoiling as I can react much faster, because when foiling you often have very little tension on the lines and a sluggish kite is only a hindrance. Over the years I have consistently developed the Maverick in terms of shape, bridle system and materials. Even the first prototypes of the Maverick I were developed with this particular agility in mind and now it is even more pronounced in the Maverick III.
FEATURES
"The primary goal when developing the Maverick was always to be able to kite a small kite as early as possible and not a large kite for as long as possible. Big kites are always more sluggish than small kites and I simply don't like sluggish kites."."
New LE-Material
A lot has happened in the materials sector in recent years. Aluula laminate in particular has opened up completely new possibilities in kite design. However the sensitivity of this material has always bothered me which is why I have never wanted to use it for my kites. I wanted a material for the front tube and struts that was not only just as light as Aluula, but also had the same incredibly good strength values, but was also much easier to pack and more durable. The development of stretched PE fibers was just what I needed. The UPE cloths with this PE fiber have almost the same technical values as Aluula and are even superior in some areas. The combination with the black, laminated Aramid threads results in an extremely tensile material which now gives my kites a completely new riding experience. This makes the kite much more controllable and therefore even more powerful especially in the very upper wind range. Previously my kites had a Dacron cloth for the front tube and struts with around 145 gr/m2. The new cloth is only 85 gr/m2, but is much more stable.
New Canopy
Due to the enormous weight saving in the material for the front tube and struts, I was able to use a new canopy material for the Maverick III which is slightly heavier than the cloth previously used. I deliberately opted for this heavier cloth because the kite is not heavier overall than before, but its flight behavior is even more direct. In comparison the new cloth now weighs only 9 gr per m2 more. However this "small" difference makes a big difference in the tensile strength and also in the durability of the kite. The previous cloth in combination with the new UPE material for the front tube and struts would actually have made the Maverick III a good deal lighter, but the test rides with the previous cloth and the new canopy material have made a clear decision. All my test riders and myself found the prototypes with the new canopy material much more direct and powerful. Especially in the upper wind range the Maverick III now behaves like a high-performance wing and is therefore particularly recommended for use on the twintip. Many kiters switch from foil to twintip when the wind suddenly picks up without wanting to change kite.
Profile
A kite that should be agile, strong and at the same time easy to handle even in the upper wind range must have a profile with a clean air flow. As the Maverick's range of use is clearly defined I only considered a profile with a clean air flow immediately after depowering. This creates a homogeneous pull on the bar and not the unpleasant ON/OFF behavior which is far too jerky for me with many kites. A good basic pull is an advantage both on the foil and on the waveboard, but in the upper wind range, the kite must not be a tractor that constantly pulls me over the board. With the Maverick III I have intensively revised the entire profile. The highest point in the profile is now positioned a little further backwards. I have also made the profile significantly flatter especially towards the wing tips. These changes make the kite feel more neutral on the bar without losing its good forward performance.
Struts 1plus2
My kites should always be light even very light. No-Strutter are very light, but mostly have a small wind range. They work very well at low winds, but as soon as the wind picks up you have to change kites because the handling then becomes disastrous. Single-Strutter can do that better, but even then I missed the support of the profile at the wingtip when forcing the kite into very tight turns. On the other hand developing a classic three-strutter would have taken me away from the goal of developing a very light kite. That's why I've modified the two struts near the wingtip to micro-struts with extremely thin diameters and call this 1 plus 2. This design is almost as light as a single-strutter, but the kite turns way better and in the high end wind range it has more control, because the profile is better stabilized.
Twist
The way birds fly has always fascinated me especially their maneuverability. They achieve this by completely twisting their wings. No bird has rigid wings like an airplane. Every airplane designer would dream of being able to realize a stable and easy wing twist instead of being limited to flaps at the wing tip. A kite with a front tube that is too stiff is almost like a rigid wing. Such a kite cannot really be influenced in its flight and turning performance by the kiter as the steering commands are usually only applied to the wingtip. The Maverick on the other hand can twist or twist as a whole because it has a very thin front tube. It therefore turns much tighter and, more importantly, the air flow is permanently present on the kite due to the wing twist. You notice this immediately because the pull on the bar remains constant even in really tight turns. For me this is an indispensable feature both in the waves and on the foil. Thanks to the new UPE material on the front tube and the struts, I can now control the twist characteristics of the kite even more precisely depending on the pressure with which I inflate the kite. The more air pressure in the kite the stiffer the wing.
SUP-Valve
After many tests I decided on a SUP valve for the Maverick III. This makes it possible to read the exact pressure on the pump pressure gauge even if you are not performing a stroke on the pump. The air flow in and out is greater which makes the pumping process and deflating easier and quicker.
Construction
The requirement to build a lightweight kite for use on the foil which is also stable enough for use with a surfboard in big waves demanded a new rethink in the design. Thanks to new developments in the materials sector I was able to make the Maverick III even more robust than ever before without losing its lightness. This has given the kite another noticeable performance boost. But even with the Maverick III I have only used reinforcements where they are really necessary. The UPE material is a little transparent so you can easily see the construction inside the kite. All seams on the LE and struts are doubled and reinforced with special tapes.
I have further intensified the successful cooperation with the repair workshops in the design of the entire construction, because only from there comes a reliable experience which construction details really make a kite more robust in real practice and what only brings a nice look.
Kite-Bag
A light kite needs a light kite bag. With only 135 gr this bag is really light and fits well for traveling. It is simple, functional and nevertheless solid. No needless details and just the focus on the essentials. A bag how I have always wanted to have. The two side lines close the opening at the top of the bag and also serve as a shoulder strap. Because the Maverick and the bag are so light no padding is needed here.
DNA
"The new UPE material is a significant improvement. However this material is also much more expensive and more complex to process which results in a price increase. In relation to the DNA of Kauper-XT our kites are still fairly priced and for me the decision to use UPE was definitely the right one as it clearly brings more performance to the kite."
MOMENTS
Why buy a Maverick III kite?
News at the Maverick III at a glance
All prices include VAT plus shipping costs.
In accordance with the distance selling regulation for cross-border deliveries of goods to private individuals that will apply in the EU from July 1st, 2021the VAT rate of the destination country is calculated.