HQ Hydra Trainer Kite
Hi, I’m Chris with HQ Power Kites, and Craig’s going to do a little demonstration of what is possible with a HQ Hydra relaunchable trainer kite. And he’s going to demonstrate how you can use a HQ Hydra Trainer Kite as a training device leading into kite boarding.
So, you’re asking yourself, “How does this kite really work?” Well, it’s a ram air foil. There’s no bladders. So you don’t need to spend any time pumping anything up. It’s got a one way valve; we’ll call it automatic intake. It’s a one way valve. It looks very similar to this. It’s like an internal wind sock. The pressure of the wind forces the valve open allowing the wind to inflate the wing, and if you hit the surface water or land, the pressure forces that valve closed, and that keeps the water from rushing into the wing.
So when we’re done, there’s a zipper in the back and we can just unzip and let the air out. So in the off chance that you get some debris, some sand, or some water in the wing, you got dirt outs. There’s a little bit of a channel that’s left open through the ribs and everything will pour right out one side. Once again, it is sewn dyneema bridles that attaches the bridle. Super stable, can be flown on water or land. This is the HQ Hydra Trainer Kite 350.
HQ Hydra Trainer Kite
One of the important parts of kiteboarding is learning how to body drag, and a HQ Hydra Trainer Kite is really good for a little traction device that’s not too powerful, but in the right winds it’s good enough to teach you the mechanics of dragging. So Craig is going to do some upwind and downwind dragging. The downwind dragging is easy. You just basically throw the kite to the power zone and get pulled around. To go upwind, you need the assistance of a board or something to help you cut through the water, like a fin. Craig’s wearing a harness and he has the addition of a harness loop on there, so he can reduce a lot of the pull that he’ll feel otherwise.
So Craig is looped into his harness loop, and he has a traditional kite boarding leash that he’s hooking into his wrist leash. That just frees up his wrist a little bit. He’s flying a 350 HQ Hydra Trainer Kite, three line control. So with a HQ Hydra Trainer Kite you can take the training aspect of flying into the water without the fear of being overpowered. So Craig is now throwing the kite through the power zone, and then doing a little bit of a body drag.
This is body dragging with a HQ Hydra Trainer Kite 350 in about 18 miles an hour. Here’s a water relaunch. When the winds are light, Craig really has to move the kite through the power zone to generate a lot of power. The kite isn’t big enough to really lift him too much when it’s just at the top of the window, so in order to really develop that pull, that thrust, he’s got to really maneuver the kite, actually kind of fly it through the window. It’s stable enough to fly with no hands. And here we are with a nice downwind drag. Notice he’s doing a few loops here and there just to keep the power up. The great thing is, he’s experiencing what it’s like to just get pulled through the water.
HQ Kites is proud to distribute this board in the states. The cool thing about it is the quick strap, super easy to adjust on the fly. Craig’s going to demonstrate a little downwind dragging with the board as a tool. Little bit easier to hold an edge body dragging if you’ve got a device like a board of some sort. Craig’s going to practice manipulating the kite and the board at the same time. Practice makes perfect. The good thing is, is it really gives the student one more thing to think about when they’re out in the water. So Craig’s pulling on that center line to get the kite to fly in reverse. Really he just pulls on it enough to flip the kite over. Now instead of turning the kite to unwrap the lines, he can just do a little spin move to unwrap his line.
So here’s Craig, one hand on the board, the other on the bar, and he’s using the HQ Hydra Trainer Kite to do a little body dragging with. This is a skill that all kite boarders need to master. Here comes Craig on an upwind drag kicking with his feet just a little bit. The board helps act like a rudder, steering him in the direction he wants to go. It’s possible to let the HQ Hydra Trainer Kite sit on the water on its back. If the kite is leading edge down, it’s more likely to take on a little bit of water because of the two major intake vents. Water can force the valve open. But if it’s sitting on its trailing edge, there’s really not a lot of possibility that water’s going to rush into the wing. So Craig can get himself together and then let go of that center line and the kite goes back up.
So here’s Craig landing the HQ Hydra Trainer Kite. You can see it retains air even when it’s sort of in an awkward position. That third line runs to the back along the trailing edge, and you can see he’s pulling it a little bit and what it does is it cups that trailing edge, and the kite comes right down. It flies in reverse. That’s key to reverse launching. And here’s Craig demonstrating the reverse launch using that third line. He’ll pull slightly and turn the bar at the same time, and when he does that, not only does the kite fly in reverse, it actually flips around. And when the leading edge is pointed to the sky, he releases that third line and the kite flies straight up again. Here he is applying a little bit of tension to that trailing edge line, and you see how it cups. He releases it, it goes back up.
So Craig’s going to do what they said can’t be done. He’s going to take a 350 HQ Hydra Trainer Kite and do a little run. He’s going to have to ride it straight downwind to generate enough power because it’s really not intended to be used as a power kite. In fact, here we go. Craig can’t quite generate the umph that’s needed. Oh, look at it, there he goes! There he goes! And that’s why you need a bigger kite. Sweet. Here’s Craig doing a – oh wow, a water start with a 350 HQ Hydra Trainer Kite. Granted, he’s going straight downwind, but look at him. He’s rolling it. You saw it here first, folks, don’t try this at home. You probably don’t have enough wind.
So just remember, if you get overpowered or you’re going to crash, just before the kite hits the ground, just let go of the bar. That will activate the third line and the kite will come down with very little impact.
So the HQ Hydra Trainer Kite is instrumental in learning how to kiteboard. Any neophyte can take this simple three line trainer kite to the water and get the sensation of getting pulled through the water, of the bar control. It’s easy to do by yourself. You’ve got reverse launching capability, a lot of fun, have a great time. Somewhere between heaven and earth, HQ Power Kites delivers the traction power for kiting that you need to get moving on land, water, snow, on wheels. We make everything. Water relaunchable trainer kites to the Neo, to Beamers, trainer kites, recreational kites, everything you need to have fun in the sun with a little bit of wind.
HQ Hydra Trainer Kite 300 350
