This is a running archive of repair notes originally published on our old kite repair blog, starting in January 2009. It's a mix of finished repairs, shop philosophy, material notes, and the occasional missive — kept here in order, oldest to newest, as a tiny sample of what's come through the shop over the years.
To be clear, our repair business started in 2003, but this blog picks up in 2009. Soon we will add some more posts to it. Enjoy the content below.
An Ozone Access foil kite comes in ripped clean in half, ready for a full rebuild.
Tracking down nearly impossible-to-find sealed zippers for a Peter Lynn Venom repair.
Why deconstructing a foil cell properly, instead of bridging over the rip, is the only way to get the shape right.
A short, satisfied note on a particularly epic Ozone foil repair.
Repairing a Best Waroo strut failure right at the stiff fabric near the leading edge.
A cautionary look at a poorly executed prior repair job on a Cabrinha, and why sail shops aren't kite shops.
Retired kite sails get a second life as a custom-patterned car cover.
Factory stitching versus WindFire's triple-step zigzag on a repaired Cabrinha leading edge.
Opening and closing a leading edge seam on a brand-new 2009 Cabrinha Crossbow.
Turning extensive damage on a 14m Cabrinha Revolver into a deliberate design feature.
Careful graphics preservation on a repaired Best Waroo canopy.
Why gummy ripstop repair tape collects sand and ages badly compared to a proper sewn patch.
A skeptical look at urethane-adhesive Kitefix repairs versus sewn patches.
How unsewn adhesive-only patches slowly creep and fail under air pressure over time.
Rebuilding a Naish with two struts fully separated from the canopy and a ripped trailing edge.
Careful cell and drib alignment while repairing a Mac Para Eden 3 paraglider.
A quick, satisfying repair on a Best HP Waroo.
A 12-foot leading edge rebuild on an F-One after a rock strike.
Hauling repaired kites by tricycle during a busy kiteboarding season, to keep shipping without burning extra fuel.
Redoing a repair gone comically wrong at the sewing machine.
Diagnosing a classic over-inflation failure in the cuben-fiber-reinforced leading edge of a Best Waroo Pro HP.
A clean repair with graphics lined up nicely on the front side.
Rebuilding a motor/prop-damaged cell on a Dudek 27m paramotor wing, entirely from the inside.
Multiple simultaneous damage points on an Ocean Rodeo kite, repaired nearly invisibly.
Rebuilding both edges of a blown-out Wainman Rabbit leading edge seam and shape-testing the result.
Finally putting a rare strange-yellow Cabrinha cloth to use on a precisely aligned repair.
An epic multi-rip repair after a kite was pushed against a rock wall in heavy surf.
One of the largest leading edge rebuilds WindFire does, on a Best Waroo.
A heavily damaged Pro Designs paraglider wing repaired internally, preserving factory alignment.
Rebuilding a North Rebel with a destroyed wing tip and a fully separated strut.
Both wing tips torn away on a hard-loaded North Rebel, with full before-and-after documentation.
Macro photography of fiber-for-fiber alignment while repairing a propeller-damaged Dudek Nemo paraglider.