Designer Talk with Damien | SuperModel HTF

When you steer your kite to make it turn, you are essentially creating torsion in the kite. The torsion starts at the wing tip and propagates to the entire kite and Leading Edge. HTF is the result of analyzing how kites turn and using a Hybrid LE construction to create a Torsion Zone down in the Wing Tip area, made from our new FlexLite material. This allows for a much quicker response to steering input by quickly creating more torsion into the entire LE and subsequently the entire kite. The second part of HTF is the use of our FlexLite to build SuperModel’s struts, creating what we call “Flex struts” that will allow the entire canopy to twist easier.

FlexLite is made of a 150 Denier polyester yarn that is then more tightly weaved than regular Dacron material that is made out of a 300 Denier weaved polyester yarn. The thinner yarn means that when it’s weaved the fiber is flatter at the microscopic level, making the material more responsive because the fibers are quicker to respond to pull and compression that happens in the material when a kite is steered.