Tell Me About it: F-ONE TRIGGER

So, fill us in on this exciting new addition to your range!

Designed for top Big Air performances, the TRIGGER is the ultimate Big Air weapon to throw huge airs as well as being a freeride machine. This high-aspect, five-strut kite can handle tons of power while still offering precise handling, allowing you to boost higher than before, experience pure hangtime, send big loops and enjoy super smooth landings. Its awesome freeride abilities will also send you back upwind effortlessly and will inspire confidence throughout your session.  It is incredibly precise and reactive and will perform in both the high and low end. As we developed this kite, we sought to capitalize on our extensive expertise to design the finest Big Air kite while staying true to ourselves. We aimed to create a kite that would perform extremely well throughout the entire wind range. It is available in sizes from 6m to 12m.

How have you designed the handling characteristics to suit Big Air riding?

The TRIGGER offers an excellent steering response with light bar pressure and great bar feedback. Simply pull the bar to enjoy its mind-blowing vertical boost. The resulting hangtime offers the perfect amount of float and bar feedback to confidently and gently land after a big jump. The vertical climb is progressive, and the hold on the way down is so good you will confidently try all your tricks. It is responsive and reactive, achieving a great turning radius with decent speed that feels smooth across the window to send kite loops. Thanks to that precise bar feedback, you know where the kite is in the air at all times and can easily harness its lifting surface for big acceleration and vertical boosts while fully staying in control. Riding is natural and comfortable with a lateral pull turned into positive traction, and the impressive depower lets you handle any gusts even in the high end.

Talk to us about the aerodynamic design decisions you’ve made for the TRIGGER? 

The additional projected area of the TRIGGER allows for great float during each jump and soft landings. It gives more traction as well, and coupled with the high aspect, it insures a nice glide and performance in light winds. The five struts bring impressive stability and full control particularly in the high end, as well as easy and sharp changes in direction, and also allow the smooth transfer of lateral pull into powerful vertical launch. The R&D team worked intensively on making the entire profile amazingly sleek and implemented original staggered seams on the trailing edge. The seam’s tension line is thus broken, which means the entire profile of the canopy is leveled when the kite is fully powered, and we kept the fabric’s orientation towards tension as well. This all leads to a better-controlled and even deformation of the profile, and thus more efficiency and sharper performances. Overall, this perfectly uniform canopy profile brings an even greater sense of stability without feeling disturbances or the bar moving. 

Are there any other features unique to the TRIGGER you feel require highlighting?

The struts’ reinforcements are sleek thanks to the Kevlar strip on the top. This improves the kite’s steering and maneuverability in the window, reduces the aerodynamic disturbances, and decreases the overall weight of the kite once wet. Our five-points connections bridle and two pulleys help keep the arc stable even in overpowered conditions. This kite has been designed to work with a low front V on the bar, better suited for the flattened arc and to improve the bar feel. The new anodized aluminum low friction ring pulleys on the bridles are super lightweight and increase the kite’s reactivity. They also increase the bridle’s resistance to abrasion and its overall durability. 

What do your team riders think of the new kite?

We’re super proud of our team rider Charles Brodel [pictured above] who recently demonstrated the boosting and hangtime potential of the TRIGGER, taking first place in the Hydrofoil division of the Qatar Airways GKA Big Air World Championships, so he is certainly enjoying the kite’s properties. Our rider Jules Chollet, part of our R&D and testing team, sums the kite up best: “The Trigger is an accessible and powerful kite. It allows you to go high and stay in the air for a long time. I love the smaller sizes because they hold up really well in strong winds and push me to jump and do loops effortlessly.” ■

Check out the price of the TRIGGER here.