sadorno wrote:Another question to FS (foil) owners. I worry sometimes when there is a lull that the wind may be calm for a while and it will be hard to get the kite back up. I can easily get my 07 Sonic 17m up in 5 knots in the ocean with some chop. Under that it is a little difficult.
How difficult is it to get the FS up? I have no experience on one and have never even seen a foil at any of the 30+ places that I have ridden. Also, intuition tells me that it would be very hard to relaunch, but I have never tried.
How is the relaunch capability compared to a 5th Line C, and a bow kite.
One of the biggest advantages of foils in light wind is that they
STAY UP! I can launch the S2 19m in 4mph and keep it in the air by working it a little - I don't know of any LEI that can do that. And if your spot gets lots of big lulls, the SA2 (lightweight fabric) stays up even better.
Relaunch depends on lots of things, and in light wind NO kite relaunches easily - which is why staying up is such a big plus. How difficult depends mainly on how the kite landed - if the kite lands nose-down it will be quite a bit harder to get up than if it is sitting on the trailing edge (and that applies to foils
and LEIs). LEI's have the disadvantage of their extra weight (especially the big C's), while foils can fold over in a bad landing or take on a few pounds of water (less than a liter) if they sit for a long time (5-10min or more - which isn't exactly a "lull", IMO) - in any of those cases, you'll need more wind to get the kite back up, but it is doable.
My S2 tends to get wet only when I'm trying to "make something happen" in less wind than I need to ride, or when I feel the wind shutting off and don't head in soon enough - although if I'm still planing, I can loop the kite and usually make it back to shore with a dry kite.
As the wind gets stronger, the bows are a little easier to relaunch than the Speed2 (not a lot), and 5th-line C's are noticably easier - when you have plenty of wind.