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Tube vs Softkite - an epic battle?

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OzBungy
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Re: Tube vs Softkite - an epic battle?

Postby OzBungy » Thu Jul 12, 2018 5:32 am

windmaker wrote:
Thu Jul 12, 2018 5:27 am
I wonder why don't paragliders use inflatable wings?
It was tried some years ago. As you climb to high altitude you have to vent excess pressure from the bladder. When you come down again the bladder is soft and floppy and provides no rigidity. They tried running an air tube up the lines with a pump. That's just beyond stupid.

The other thing is that the progressive collapse of the paraglider provides a huge safety margin. It's better to have parts of the wing collapse than to have the whole thing collapse catastrophically.

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Re: Tube vs Softkite - an epic battle?

Postby foilonfoil » Thu Jul 12, 2018 7:35 am

Total garbage. Nothing like the power and response of a foil kite combined with super light bar pressure foiling high upwind. From five years ago to today, we now have about 20% of the local kiters hydrofoiling. From five years ago to today we went from 1-2 foil kites to close to 15% or more across all bord types.

Seriously Toby, not sure of your motive for posting this.

Kiteboarding is a different sport for each of us... Many of us don’t jump, surf, or perform bar off tricks.

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Re: Tube vs Softkite - an epic battle?

Postby TomW » Thu Jul 12, 2018 8:44 am

grigorib wrote:
Thu Jul 12, 2018 12:36 am
TomW, airsail - you do see that both of you mentioned flapping in “single strut kite” context, right?
If you take a 3-5 struts kite or take a smaller size so you ride it properly powered you won’t feel the kite behaving like a trash bag in the wind.
But if a foil kite solved it for both of you and your launch spots allow you to rig/launch/land kite keeping it dry and clean then hey, why not I guess...
Yes , agree if it's" properly powered" as you say. on Mono, that wind range when properly powered is extremely narrow. Like 1 session of 20 I have perfect power in kite to not flap. ( There are other advantages to the mono , it is not all bad).
With 5 strut in not going to go out in 10-12 knots. Kite is too heavy or too big.

Have not tried 3 strut in 10-12 knots.that was option before trying hyperlink. But I didn't go that route.

But my Hyperlink is going to still be way smoother and every session, wider wind range for actually riding too.

I have good launches. Sand or grass. Few people.

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Re: Tube vs Softkite - an epic battle?

Postby joriws » Thu Jul 12, 2018 8:47 am

Is this Ralph Grösel the guy behind NKB famous shitty softkites Husky and some other model. Same cast as Ken Winner and his blog post just before NKB totally lost racing scene. Perhaps those two just create bubble between themselves and cannot see the real reality.

NKB still ain't capable of producing even mediocre foil kite.. And their sub-par hydrofoils.. ;)

Like Trump says.. Sad..

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downunder
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Re: Tube vs Softkite - an epic battle?

Postby downunder » Thu Jul 12, 2018 8:49 am

Many of us live in sharks infested waters as well ;)

Where every second counts with a relaunch.

LEI's are absolute winners here. And TT boards. HFoiling looks lame, I know, I'm doing it. But it looks lame, not ashamed to say that. It might be 110% more efficient but the bystander will never get it.

It's not attractive to watch and hence, it has low 'selling' point. And we need to 'sell' coz if not, who is going to buy?

Also, let's not forget, even if foils are 5% of the market, the environmental impact is much more, realistically 15-20%. We all love plastic, don't we...

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Re: Tube vs Softkite - an epic battle?

Postby pmaggie » Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:08 am

downunder wrote:
Thu Jul 12, 2018 8:49 am
Many of us live in sharks infested waters as well ;)
Downunder you really made my day! This is an argument that we italian lakers, where the biggest fish is 30 cm., could never imagine! But you're perfectly right, in shark infested waters relaunch time IS an issue!!
Back to the topic, I think the article is very technical but too shifted towards LEI kites. In light wind areas like our lake, foils are a real plus, since maybe the air is heavy but when it's blowing 6 knots with my FS 21 I'm out and riding while LEIs are on the beach waiting. Also, if the air weight argument is rigth, can you please Ralph explain why my 11 mts Core XR doesn't stand in the air in 4 knots while a FS Speed same size flies with no problems? I'm not saying you can kite in 4 knots with a foil 12, but a LEI simply falls down while a foil flies. Also, the hangtime in light to medium winds of a foil kite has no comparison with a LEI. Maybe you're not jumping higher but you're going to stay in the air much more time.
I'm not a fundamentalist of foil kites, I own both a foil and some pumps, but I think that it's not correct to sum up that LEIs are better in any department.

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Re: Tube vs Softkite - an epic battle?

Postby foilholio » Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:27 am

Higher environmental impact of foils?? They last 4x as long and use less material from the start. How is that a bigger impact?

Foils relaunch faster than LEI in many situations. Y'all just been watching too many amateurs do it. 10000+ hours on foils then see what can be done :-) Now wheres my TP.

The arguments in that article are rubbish, a step inside a mind you probably shouldn't have. I gave up reading it after a brief skim and seeing about 15 things that are complete BS.

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downunder
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Re: Tube vs Softkite - an epic battle?

Postby downunder » Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:36 am

foilholio wrote:
Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:27 am
Higher environmental impact of foils?? They last 4x as long and use less material from the start. How is that a bigger impact?

Foils relaunch faster than LEI in many situations. Y'all just been watching too many amateurs do it. 10000+ hours on foils then see what can be done :-) Now wheres my TP.

The arguments in that article are rubbish, a step inside a mind you probably shouldn't have. I gave up reading it after a brief skim and seeing about 15 things that are complete BS.

FH, you really need to take yourself out of the picture, it's not about you and your skills :)

It's about other people, place yourself in other people shoes. Take it as friendly suggestion, if you like. Or don't. As you know, I react on "me, myself, and I, watch me, me, and only me" more than on anything else. There are plenty of likes on this forum, you know who they are. So, don't be one.


Pls read this in bold, again ad again :) I do own foils, and not blind :) They last that long only coz not taken on our harsh environment in 25-35-45knots. No one does that here. Not a single person.

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Re: Tube vs Softkite - an epic battle?

Postby foilonfoil » Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:49 am

downunder wrote:
Thu Jul 12, 2018 8:49 am
Many of us live in sharks infested waters as well ;)
Plenty of wildlife in the ocean throughout the world. Shark sightings are common in SoCal.

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downunder
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Re: Tube vs Softkite - an epic battle?

Postby downunder » Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:54 am

^
Sightings?

11 victims of WA shark attacks from 2010 to 2017 all surfers (not sure, tho). I think 2 this year already...


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