On this instalment of behind the design, we catch up with designer Ralf Grösel to talk through the design and development behind the new Duotone EVO.
On this instalment of behind the design, we catch up with designer Ralf Grösel to talk through the design and development behind the new Duotone EVO.
The SLS material on the Evo SLS is definitely a game-changer and something extremely important for my career as this is a combination and variable of new materials leading to new products. It was great to have a bit of distance from the Evo, being involved in the Evo SLS and Dice SLS design and then coming back to the Evo, it enabled me to reconsider a couple of flight characteristics and to approach it differently. I think I have produced the most commercial kite I have ever made in my life, this is something extremely complicated to achieve and I’m really proud of how it turned out.
"When you jump from the previous Evo to this new model it's quite a big difference, the kite still looks similar, but the feedback of the bar and the way it delivers performance to you, it’s just in a different league"
When you jump from the previous Evo to this new model it's quite a big difference, the kite still looks similar, but the feedback of the bar and the way it delivers performance to you, it’s just in a different league, it's so much easier and so great in terms of all the aspects necessary for you to progress as fast as possible. First of all, you should always have fun on the water and fun means there shouldn’t be any boundaries to access the performance the kite can deliver. I would say it is super easy and intuitive to ride throughout the entire range of sizes. They really feel very well aligned and similar and I think this is one of the cleanest setups I’ve ever done.
That's interesting, so it's an evolution and you are learning from products outside the Original range. For those not familiar with this kite can you explain its place in the range and who it would be best suited to?
The Evo is our all-around kite, we have two versions, the Evo and Evo SLS. The Evo is the kite for the weekend warrior, it’s super accessible, super intuitive, stable, easy to fly and re-launch. It has the right amount of steering and sheeting forces to progress fast and always feel connected to the kite. In some regards it's a little less aggressive than the Evo SLS, especially in extremely challenging conditions, for example, 25- 30 knots, choppy water and gusty wind, in these conditions the kite is super dampened, like having an air ride suspension. We designed it to be able to ride smoothly through the gusts and bumps and feel easy and safe. I think this is an important aspect of kiteboarding, you should always feel happy on the water and not too extreme, especially when you aren’t able to ride every day. It’s the ideal holiday kite, something that will always deliver regardless if you haven’t had the chance to access the water for let's say six months and then you are flying to Egypt for two weeks of holidays, this is the perfect kite for you. It does everything you need and still, the performance of these kites are amazing, you can still jump really high and do everything you want. In a nutshell, it's super intuitive to fly.
You mentioned the bridle adjustments, are there any other significant changes you think we should talk about?
Yes, one of the biggest impacts is the material as well, we have been using the 140gsm material that has been used for a few years in the Juice classic. This saves weight in general and brings it a bit closer to the Evo SLS. Penta TX on the SLS is a bit lighter but this is not the most important, it’s that the Penta is stiffer and the kite flies and sits in the window differently. It was extremely good to see the positive aspects of the Juice that could be implemented into the Evo, due to the material change. On the one side, we have the technical changes, the bridal has been changed, the arc has been reduced a little bit but the projected area on the kite has been increased which has allowed me to gain in the low end as there is now is more surface area that can catch the wind and create more power and then, of course, I have to adjust a lot of variables, I have to then change the profile, the position in the wind window is different and the entire tension settings to give the right feedback and the tip geometry also, but this is to fix it to make it round, but the most important impact are the bridal geometry, the arc and everything based on the material.
If you have more than 100kgs you can always stick to the medium factory setting but I would recommend trying the hard setting also, especially in terms of jumping, the kite will feel more crisp and direct and have less tendency of deforming which is a huge part to consider, these kites are an inflatable structure and always deforming, it’s not a solid metal sheet flying through the air so you should consider to the hard setting to allow the kite to stiffen up. My personal recommendation is to pump the kite up to 7 psi, have a ride and once you have really understood how the kite is working then change to the hard setting to really experience the changes and differences it makes for you and use the setting you prefer the most.