Most stable kite

[Beachboy]

THere is no question... the Guerilla Arc is way more stable than any kite out there. I also have a Rhino II, so I am not biased against inflatables. Ignore anybody who disagrees with this. You have no idea what stability is untill you have tried the Guerilla. As for the performance, it is great as long as you fly it in it's windrange. It will give you a fast ride and will march right upwind. Jumping does take good timing, but once you get it you will have super floaty hang time.

[doofus]

get an 18 then, i'm about 125kg, so go from 11 knots to 22 on a 150x50 tt

for a regular size kitesurfer about 8 knots to 18

i'm gonna get a 13 to go with it

[Peter_Frank]

The G arc is the most stable kite, I been flying inflano for two years and I still do I love both type cause they have their own great fun .

What would you say is the differences between the G arc, and performance inflatos ?

The G is way more stable than any kite, especially luff stable.
Autozenith (like earlier arcs, I assume).
No pumping.
And ?

But what are the other differences as you see it, and what do you find is the "fun" things/aspects about the inflatos ?

Curious, now we might have a few here on the thread, who like both types, and fly them often - and can give us a little more unbiased description of the good things from both types

[doofus]

they only autozenith a little bit, they tend to just stay where you left them

they're smooth flying too, like if the wind is lumpy (many small gusts) you hardly notice.

[Arcsrule]

Inflatos are really pretty. they've got great colors and that profile looks so nice when it's being carried upwind. And arc looks like an air mattress. For double the money, you can buy a G arc over a standard that has different colored tips. Two arc's flying stacked looks real sweet too! When the 20m inflatos are on the ground and the big stack is up, it really looks sweet if you're flying the stack! enough of that drivel The standard arc's are THE most stable kite bar none. the draw back is power. Though there may be plenty of power for staying up wind, it may not jump as high as it's competition. But once up, it stays and floats awhile. The standards are really good kites if they have all the mods. The mods make the kite way more powerful and responsive. If money is an issue, buy the standards. A 840/1120/1510 combo will cost less than one Guerilla. But if you want performance and have the money, go the Guerilla. My 18 is in the mail. i currently have the 12 (which is a preproduction made in New Zealand vs the production kites from china). The 12 G covers the range of my souped up 1120 and 840. And in addition, it gets going sooner than my 1120 and it flys farther forward in the window. I wasn't getting jumps, but I was flyng my 12G in the same wind that my buds were flying 16m projected inflatos and I outweighed them all by at least 20lbs. I was flying the kite all over the sky to do it though. It seems relaunching will always be an issue with ARC's. The best way I've found the relaunch the G is to swim to it and separate the taco into a flat mattress and then swim back to the bar. No problems and it comes right up. In flyable winds, I think the taco would have opened into a C and took off ok. BUT... it took 6 sessions to get the kite wet! ARc's just don't go down much. That was in extremely light winds when all the inflatos had given up and were laying on the beach. And my g12 will go out almost as low as my 1510. So maybe I'll be able to say more after my g18 come in. But it seems my 200lb will do fine on a g12 and g18 from 10mph to 30--unless i stack in which case i can get out in 8.5 mph.

[doofus]

yeah the nz built 12's were very powerful, the china ones have more range I think though

i've got some shots of a friend on his nz 12 in very very light winds

spent 10 days in thailand 2 weeks ago, not very windy

I flew a g18 and s840 stack, which worked quite well together, my friend flew his g15 and g13 stacked which looked awesome together.

the main reason for the stacking was that the air was very hot and fluffy with no real power

we got lots of questions asked by the inflato flying locals

Doof

[kiteboarder@pacbell.net]

"Peter_Frank" wrote:
What would you say is the differences between the G arc, and performance inflatos ?

The G is way more stable than any kite, especially luff stable.
Autozenith (like earlier arcs, I assume).
No pumping.
And ?

And:
Lighter to carry, and even smaller to transport & store (compared to an inflatable with full ribs)

"No pumping" means:
- Self-inflating (while you unwind the lines)
- No pump to wear or lose.
- No bladders to leak or burst.
- No valves to fail.

Easy to safely launch & land solo (at the side, or even straight downwind if you like) on water OR land (like a 4-line foil, but with NO bridles to tangle).

"Autozenith" means leaving your eyes & BOTH hands available for any other task, such as untwisting side line pairs while flying (no real need to untwist prior to launch, when it’s more difficult).

“Auto-Pilot” keeps it going in the direction it was last headed (no classic ARC “auto-climb” or inflatable “auto-dive”), so you can just “park” it & go, even when you’re at your limit of control (bad jump landing, bad jibe, or very high speed).

Light bar load:
- NO harness lines needed (not even bungees!).
- Bar can be thin, light, & cheap.

Virtually NO load once released to the leash, in ANY wind speed, on water OR land.


By the way, they're not only much more "luff stable" (vertically stable) than inflatables. The "auto-zenith" & "auto-pilot" characteristics make them laterally stable as well (no inflatable-style "auto-dive").

[Mountebank]

I have to agree with Arcsrule, and I fly Rhinos.The standard ARC is the most stable kite I have ever seen by a mile (seen it tied to a post at the beach..flying by itself..) If I even thought about trying that with my Rhino..the thing would be earthbound in seconds (and this thing was up for a good ten minutes before the rider had finished his lunch).The guy now has a GARC and he loves it even more than his standard ARC (bigger range,more depower,faster turning),but fractionally less stable.
Go Peter Lynn..cant wait to see the successor to the GARC...might be tempted to change.

[Peter_Frank]

Hmmm - I still did not get any info about the differences on the G-arc and performance LEI's

There are pro's and con's for both of these - but the last replys seems to be biased and not explaining how the differences feels...

[Mr Float]

Hmmm - I still did not get any info about the differences on the G-arc and performance LEI's

There are pro's and con's for both of these - but the last replys seems to be biased and not explaining how the differences feels...

The original question is about what is the most stable kite and there are quite a few answers form people who ride both Lei and sled foils .(perhpas you should start a thread re "performance difference G-Arc vs LEI")
I ride both also and the sled foils by Peter Lynn are still by far the most stable(see my offshore gusty bliss post last week)Though there has been considerable improvement in LEI stability.I would say that this has been a huge factor in the decision for people buying sled foils .Managing other tasks such as board placement,management ,dragging back to lost boards etc is very simple .One guy today was swimming upwind freestyle with no hands to get his board .the LEI guy I was talking to at the time was amazed.
My suggestion to anyone who wishes to make comparisons is give whatever it is, be it kites ,cars ,lovers a test run before you make your final judgement.

All the Best

Lach