Kamikuza wrote:Didn't say anything about "training for years"; but I don't agree with "a day" to become acquainted with the quirks and adapt to things like, not having a rigid-framed kite in the sky - especially when the conditions aren't perfect.
For example, how the kite behaves with loss of line tension usually requires more input that just sitting in the water waiting for the kite to float downwind and pick up the slack... you can just let the kite do what it wants but that can get messy. Then recovering that can require a knack too - more than just pulling a rear line and waiting.
I believe I said, "
aside from launching and landing"... A foil kite will behave better than most LEI kites to a sudden loss of line tension. As has been discussed before, LEIs are front heavy, making them prone to hindenburg as opposed to drift. A foil kite is for the most part neutral. Aside from getting a little bit mushy as they are not being ram fed air, a foil kite will drift downwind straight in whatever position it was heading at the loss of tension, and won't continue to seek the nose down position. Launching them from water is a process of flying them in the direction that is facing up. If the kite noses in, fly it backwards and up by pulling the rear lines. If it hits trailing edge down, pull the front lines. If it goes flat and gets hit by a wave, hit the QR and write the kite off, swim to shore, and maybe eventually it will wash up full of seaweed.
Again, convince me why a foil kite needs special skills that are not obvious to anyone who actually understands basic, elementary aerodynamics.
And please, foil riders, stop this
snobbery. Got I swear, its like talking to a middle aged high end Mercedes owner about what you do in the quarter mile on your supercharged Mustang. They look down their nose at you because they think you are little more than a trained ape on a tricycle, even if you can blow them away at a stoplight.
You
caahnt simply pick up a finely tuned exahhmple of
aerodynamic ahhtistry such aahs a foil kite, ahhd expect to simply
fly it! Preposterous! Come now, lets get you some tea and crumpets..."
It's a kite, not a F-16, and a foil = an LEI. Neither one is superior. There are
minor differences in how you fly them. Give me a day on a foil and I'll pick up what I need to know.