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Concept'air 12m Pulsion kite

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Re: Concept'air 12m Pulsion kite

Postby irwe » Wed Dec 06, 2017 7:01 pm

I was kiting in Santa Lucia, Cuba a couple of weeks ago. We ended up having unusually light wind. The first day we went to the beach in the late afternoon and there was about 2 - 6 kts of wind. A kiter was out on a large foil kite and KBH. When he came in to shore I helped him land his kite. It turned out to be Benoit (85 kg) of ConceptAir. He was riding an 18 m Pulsion. At times the flag on the beach was down and dead yet he was able to maintain his forward momentum and the kite never touched the water. In the picture below both Benoit and I are riding the Pulsion 12 in 6 - 8 kts. There are ~ 50 kiters on the beach yet most of them could not get out with their light wind gear. One of my KBH buddies (73 kg) with us on the trip ended up getting a Pulsion 12 and loves it for KBH.
Benoit was also foiling with a 6 m Pulsion in 6 - 12 kts. Truly amazing.
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windrider1
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Re: Concept'air 12m Pulsion kite

Postby windrider1 » Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:29 pm

Haha I think we should stop with these silly wind exaggerations. It doesn’t help people who are looking to spend money on a kite only to find out it doesn’t perform in these conditions. 5 knots would probably be a decent minimum standard to start on a hydrofoil no matter wht brand foil kite. 2 knots will be a kite falling out of the sky. I’ve tested these things myself over many years and there is a point where physics takes over . An LEI Needs about 7 to 8 knots to be usable on the water no matter what u use it for and a foil kite needs about 5 knots . The weight of the materials of each just won’t allow them to perform in under these conditions may be a single skin kite we can take 1 Knt or 2 off the low end but unfortunately 2knt kiting will never happen.

irwe wrote:
Wed Dec 06, 2017 7:01 pm
I was kiting in Santa Lucia, Cuba a couple of weeks ago. We ended up having unusually light wind. The first day we went to the beach in the late afternoon and there was about 2 - 6 kts of wind. A kiter was out on a large foil kite and KBH. When he came in to shore I helped him land his kite. It turned out to be Benoit (85 kg) of ConceptAir. He was riding an 18 m Pulsion. At times the flag on the beach was down and dead yet he was able to maintain his forward momentum and the kite never touched the water. In the picture below both Benoit and I are riding the Pulsion 12 in 6 - 8 kts. There are ~ 50 kiters on the beach yet most of them could not get out with their light wind gear. One of my KBH buddies (73 kg) with us on the trip ended up getting a Pulsion 12 and loves it for KBH.
Benoit was also foiling with a 6 m Pulsion in 6 - 12 kts. Truly amazing.

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Re: Concept'air 12m Pulsion kite

Postby irwe » Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:47 pm

I wouldn't have believed it either if I wasn't watching. The flag was on a pole about 5 m high and it was totally lifeless. The kiter was about 200 m away from the flag.
I have launched my 12 m Pulsion (light) in 4 kts from shore often but I wouldn't kite on the water with 4 kts.

windrider1
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Re: Concept'air 12m Pulsion kite

Postby windrider1 » Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:49 pm

Did u have a wind meter? I’m guessing no.
irwe wrote:
Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:47 pm
I wouldn't have believed it either if I wasn't watching. The flag was on a pole about 5 m high and it was totally lifeless. The kiter was about 200 m away from the flag.
I have launched my 12 m Pulsion (light) in 4 kts from shore often but I wouldn't kite on the water with 4 kts.

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Re: Concept'air 12m Pulsion kite

Postby meteo » Wed Dec 06, 2017 11:05 pm

Windrider is absolutely right... I own a Pulsion12m... yesterday I went out for a ride and the local guy at the board location shop on the beach could not believe I was going out and that I was only using a 12m... absolutely no white caps to be seen, and wind sensation at 1,5m from the water seemed at about 3 to 4 kts... the water was full of "glacy" spots...I went out any way.. had a great 2 hours of riding... now this guy believes that I can ride in 4kts... Bullshit... there was at least 9kt at 20meters of height... the second the kite was up in the air I knew I had at least 9kts... I know because I did not event needed to downloop the kite to start... I am know to be one of first rider and often only rider to be out on a light day... often feels like less than 6kts... but every time I can verify the winds at more than 10 meters of height... I notice that when I ride there is always more than 6kts... But this is a LOST CAUSE... people will ALWAYS exaggerate, it's human nature and its how legends are made... But I must add, that before riding a Pulsion12m I had racing foils and never would any kind of racing foil of 18m or more would be able to fly in as low winds as a Pulsion12m(unless the rider is Nico Parlier or similar)

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Re: Concept'air 12m Pulsion kite

Postby PullStrings » Thu Dec 07, 2017 12:03 am

windrider1 wrote:
Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:29 pm
Haha I think we should stop with these silly wind exaggerations. It doesn’t help people who are looking to spend money on a kite only to find out it doesn’t perform in these conditions. 5 knots would probably be a decent minimum standard to start on a hydrofoil no matter wht brand foil kite. 2 knots will be a kite falling out of the sky. I’ve tested these things myself over many years and there is a point where physics takes over . An LEI Needs about 7 to 8 knots to be usable on the water no matter what u use it for and a foil kite needs about 5 knots . The weight of the materials of each just won’t allow them to perform in under these conditions may be a single skin kite we can take 1 Knt or 2 off the low end but unfortunately 2knt kiting will never happen.

irwe wrote:
Wed Dec 06, 2017 7:01 pm
I was kiting in Santa Lucia, Cuba a couple of weeks ago. We ended up having unusually light wind. The first day we went to the beach in the late afternoon and there was about 2 - 6 kts of wind. A kiter was out on a large foil kite and KBH. When he came in to shore I helped him land his kite. It turned out to be Benoit (85 kg) of ConceptAir. He was riding an 18 m Pulsion. At times the flag on the beach was down and dead yet he was able to maintain his forward momentum and the kite never touched the water. In the picture below both Benoit and I are riding the Pulsion 12 in 6 - 8 kts. There are ~ 50 kiters on the beach yet most of them could not get out with their light wind gear. One of my KBH buddies (73 kg) with us on the trip ended up getting a Pulsion 12 and loves it for KBH.
Benoit was also foiling with a 6 m Pulsion in 6 - 12 kts. Truly amazing.
Agree with you about that.
The real low end of a ram air...18...15...12 sqm can only be accurately measured with onshore wind (a lot less chance of gradient) riding on hard packed sand using a buggy or large wheel landboard
A foilboard will always need 2 more knots more wind speed to lift a person up in the air and get you going at steady speed

4-5knots on buggy equals 6-7 knots on foilboard........and that's not much wind power at all....you barely get any "pull on your strings"...until apparent wind finally...finally... kick in

If it was the case that you go ride in such low wind speeds with ram air kites then they would not cancel a race with winds at 5-6 knots

Everyone would be ripping around the race course powered up with a big smile on their faces having the time of their lives...........i think not

Regis-de-giens
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Re: Concept'air 12m Pulsion kite

Postby Regis-de-giens » Thu Dec 07, 2017 9:56 am

Meteo , You have well summarized the situation ; very hard to put figures on these extreme low ends and indeed people could be disappointed that they cannot ride in similar wind as reported on their spot; I now have a lot of light wind experience with the Pulsion or others, and having personally no fun at all at exagerating, I try to put the maximum objectiveness in all my reports, so here is what I would detail about low end of the Pulsion:

- as repeated often by Pulsion owners, and the most important in my eyes, is that you can ride in lower winds than any other kite (I mean including raising the kite, swiming out and waterstarting) ; already with the 32 gr cloth (my current 12m) ,but even lower with the 27gr cloth (my ex-15m and 18m) , that is really obvious when you try it (including singles struts, race foils, strutless)

- the 32gr cloth flies similarly in the zenith than single skins like peak (i owned both and also confirmed by afoil-kite teacher who also tested back to back with 32gr cloth); 27gr flies earlier than peak, believe me ; reason is certainly that overall weight is similar, while gliding, stability, and recovery loop is better; knowing that for ultimate light wind ride, a minimum of L/D ratio is also important to stay upwind, and Pulsion is far far better than Single skin on this feature.

- relaunch is also far better that other kite in low end, provided that the 27gr cloth does not remain more than 5 minutes in the water and without manipulation error (32 gr is more forgiving)

So , definitelly hard to put wind values on that because people rarely precise the elevatrion of their wind estimation or measure ; on op of that the measurement is not accurate in such low winds : for example my limit riding speed measurement is 0-1 knot on one wind meter while my second windmeter indicates 2-3 knot. This is at 2m elevation; I have the chance to have a wind-up station at about 12 meter elevation on this spot for comparision, it generally indicates approx 3-5 knots but located on top of a rock wall (hence probably a little local compression effect that acceclerate the wind locally); I would say that I can ride when other foilkite have to be looped on the beach to stay in the air; my light single strut LEI of course cannot stay in the air even with loops on the beach; that is my personal limit and IMO the best advise for people to feel this low end correctly;

I put here again one video that I made this automn (with my former 15m, now replaced by a fresh-new 18m), just to illustrate the type of wind I can target (I must precise that I am a light weight rider + large wing foil + long thin lines);

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwO5Lho2Xro

I would never have done this with another foilkite, including S4 Lotus, I am sure; I understand experienced people doubts, but I can only advise them to test one one when possible in low end (high end is not its best feature); we must also precise that as soon as you can ride with a race foilkite ( say 1-2 more knots to my estimation), you will ride with more speed and upwind angle with the race kite (which can be considered as a better low end from this race point of view);

Regis-de-giens
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Re: Concept'air 12m Pulsion kite

Postby Regis-de-giens » Thu Dec 07, 2017 9:58 am

Meteo , You have well summarized the situation ; very hard to put figures on these extreme low ends and indeed people could be disappointed that they cannot ride in similar wind measured on their spot ; I now have a lot of light wind experience with the Pulsion or others, and have personally no fun at all at exagerating, so I try to put the maximum objectiveness in all my reports, and here is what I would detail about low end of the Pulsion:

- as repeated often by Pulsion owners, and the most important in my eyes, is that you can ride in lower winds than any other kite (I mean including launching the kite, swiming-out and waterstarting) ; it is tghe case with the 32 gr cloth (my current 12m) ,but even lower with the 27gr cloth (my ex-15m and 18m) . That is really obvious when you try it (including singles struts, race foils, strutless)

- the 32gr cloth flies similarly in the zenith than single skins like peak (i owned both and also confirmed by afoil-kite teacher who also tested back to back with 32gr cloth); 27gr flies earlier than peak, on watert on on snow, believe me ; reason is certainly that overall weight is similar, while gliding, stability, and recovery loop is better in the Pulsion; and knowing that for ultimate light wind ride, a minimum of L/D ratio is also important to stay upwind, and Pulsion is far far better than Single skin on this feature.

- relaunch is also far better that other kite in low end, provided that the 27gr cloth does not remain more than 5 minutes in the water and without manipulation errors (32 gr is more forgiving)

So , definitelly hard to put wind values on that because people rarely precise the elevatrion of their wind estimation or measure ; on top of that the measurement is not accurate in such low winds : for example my limit riding speed measurement is 0-1 knot on one wind meter while my second windmeter indicates 2-3 knot. This is at 2m elevation; I have the chance to have a wind-up station at about 12 meter elevation on this spot for comparision, it generally indicates approx 3-5 knots but located on top of a rock wall (hence probably a little local compression effect that acceclerate the wind locally); I would say that I can ride when other foilkite does not launch without running backward and have to be looped on the beach to stay in the air once pressurized; my light single strut LEI of course cannot stay in the air even with loops on the beach; that is my personal limit and IMO the best advise for people to feel this low end correctly;

I put here again one video that I made this automn (with my former 15m, now replaced by a fresh-new 18m), just to illustrate the type of wind I can target (I must precise that I am a light weight rider + large wing foil + long thin lines); It was not the lowest wind I ever made, but the best with a camera

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwO5Lho2Xro

I would never have done this with another foilkite, including S4 Lotus, I am sure; I understand experienced people doubts, but I can only advise them to test one one when possible in low end (high end is not its best feature); we must also precise that as soon as you can ride with a race foilkite ( say 1-2 more knots to my estimation), you will ride with more speed and upwind angle with the race kite (which can be considered as a better low end from this race point of view);

Regis-de-giens
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Re: Concept'air 12m Pulsion kite

Postby Regis-de-giens » Mon Jul 23, 2018 2:33 am

I changed my 12m 32gr to a new full 27gr and received it 4 days ago at my vacation spot (corsica ! ) where I made 4 rides this week with tt and foil. Detailed impressions :

- 20 + gusts : today, side-offshore winds with 20 m trees. I wanted to try. Underestimated the wind that was finally blowing above 20 knots and i unfortunatelly kept the "power setting". I decided to go back after the first run, then a lull, then my new custom bar under proof test today released accidentally , and kite in the water, 300 m swimming ...

- 12 to 20 knots with TT and 7-12 knots on foil : similar as 32gr, so surprise on this point

- 7-12 knot on a foil :no major differences

- below 7 : working the kite is better and more efficient, zenith stability is impressive. You can let the bar go and forget the kite. Relaunch is improved : after a 2 minute lull in deep water leading to two successive folding in two (intrados on intrados), i relaunched it. I do not think 32gr would have relaunched.

- during one sessions in say 5-8 knot (according to a friend local hydrofoil/kitefoil rider) I was alone on the water during 3.5 hours (we are mid-july in corsica guys ! ). The friend felt it was too poor wind for its chrono v2 13m so did not try.

- Then the same day the wind droped again, say one knot less. Now I had difficulties to waterstart and keep upwind. Need to work the kite , 90 degree upwind, and pump with the foil during the ride. I was on medium-camber setting so for an interesting back-to-back experience, I decided to test increasing the camber further before switching to pulsion 15m. 5 minutes later... Ouaouhh ... plenty of power, no need to loop, riding fast... amazing impact and stability still ok ) . I never launched the 15m in the end . Locals (including foilers and windsurf teachers and a kite-trip organizer), where so surprised on the beach (and the fact that the Pulsion seems smaller that 12m2 in the air also contributed to their astonishment). Seems hard to believe but it is my honest report.

- static flight in really low end : the difference is really significant here. First launch and working the kite is improved, I was hoping this and it works. Wind was a bit turbulent . But It stays as a block in the punctual no-wind-to-slack lines phase. And drift even better (when all lines are slack, kite is still recoverable during about 10 large seconds ... when wind comes back. Pu 32 gr was already very good at this but it is about twice better with 27gr. It is even more close to a kind of auto-zenith (In deep water lowend I was able to let the bar alone during 10-20 seconds before it starts droping on one side.

I'll have to check the resistance to agressive grounds as I can see through the cloth in transparency... so not recommended to beginners i think. But I love this full 27gr cloth and it a step further to marginal winds. Less swimming risk and more comfort. Compared to 15 and 18, it is so agile that you feel you ride a cloud stuck in the sky ...

Regis-de-giens
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Re: Concept'air 12m Pulsion kite

Postby Regis-de-giens » Mon Nov 19, 2018 1:51 am

New test today in waves (1.5m to 2m) and light wind (7-8 knots) ; some local foilers on the spot but none believed they could go so their kite stayed in their car .

So i rode alone while I have a "medium-poor level in waves" (*) : waves are quite rare on my home spot vs light wind). Large foil wing for waves (1200cm2) .

Behaviour in wave is very adapted. Perfect combo. Stability in lulls and drift is so good. It stays in the air even if you ride downwind at same speed as the wind ; you can let the bar go and surf handfree.

Upwing angles at this low speed is very high so you can face the waves (side-on wind) for fun and go upwind rapidly ( "Teleski " mode) to comeback in shorebreak with few power from kite.

When the kite is collapsing in the air (due to carving mistake or wind turbulence), this very light version of pulsion goes so low toward water surface that you have plenty of time for its drift and then recovery in the air (even folded in 2 ! ). It happened 3 times without crash in the water.

(*) some watchers congratulated when back to shore (rare in my selfish region), that is why I dared to add "medium" to "poor level in waves" :allbegood:

Now I love my Conceptair with even more blindness 8)


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