Contact   Imprint   Advertising   Guidelines

Race Kite Stability

For all foil kite riders
Kitemanmuc
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 568
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2015 11:10 pm
Kiting since: 2015
Style: Big Air, Kiteloops, Hydrofoil, Wave
Gear: Eleveight
Has thanked: 12 times
Been thanked: 14 times

Race Kite Stability

Postby Kitemanmuc » Mon Apr 16, 2018 3:48 pm

Out of all the race kites on the market, which would you say has the most low end stability?

Mossy 757
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1860
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2015 5:10 pm
Local Beach: First Landing State Park, Virginia Beach Oceanfront
Style: Kitefoil
Gear: Delta Hydrofoil and board. Cabrinha Velocity 9m, Flysurfer Sonic2 11m, Ozone R1V2 15m
Has thanked: 41 times
Been thanked: 71 times

Re: Race Kite Stability

Postby Mossy 757 » Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:55 pm

All of the modern generation are really good, race equipment is increasingly being optimized for ease of use as going fast requires consistency and stability.

Having not flown all of them, just working from peoples' reports, I'd say the R1V2 is the most stable large foil kite to buy brand new. The Sonic2 might be in close second or tied with the Diablo v3. I think the Elf is probably the most difficult race kite to fly in the ultra light stuff, no idea on Enata or the Sonic Race.

If you're only talking about the highest marque of race kites, it probably comes down a lot to your line setup and rider skill.

Regis-de-giens
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 2000
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2014 2:58 pm
Weight: 62 kg
Local Beach: France: St Laurent du Var, Cannes, Almanarre
Style: 62 kg , light wind, waves
Gear: Conceptair pulsion 18&15&12S, OR Flite 10m , Airush One 9&6, peak 5M , Rally 6, Elf 11 &7, 19m2 single skin proto.
foil Ketos, RCS Supreme, TBK Mana, snowskis, kite-boat
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 263 times
Been thanked: 351 times

Re: Race Kite Stability

Postby Regis-de-giens » Mon Apr 16, 2018 10:30 pm

Also deduced from readings : I would also vote for r1v2 equal to Peterlynn Aero among race kite.
Now if you include freeride foilkite in your list you can find even better.

foilholio
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Aug 23, 2015 3:20 am
Local Beach: Ventura Beach
Favorite Beaches: Tarifa
Style: Airstyle
Gear: Foils
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 227 times
Been thanked: 148 times

Re: Race Kite Stability

Postby foilholio » Tue Apr 17, 2018 1:36 am

Low end stability? So we are talking about low wind. Lower weight is the predominate factor that keeps them flying, of more specifically a ratio of weight to m2 or lift which would account for AR and get more complicated. The other factor is the rigidity and mass/size of the kite which keeps it from deforming. For both qualities bigger is better but for the latter lower AR is better, which is not something race kites have.

joriws
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1299
Joined: Wed Nov 24, 2010 11:03 am
Gear: Flysurfer, HQ, Moses, Nobile, North, Ozone
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 76 times
Been thanked: 163 times

Re: Race Kite Stability

Postby joriws » Tue Apr 17, 2018 7:49 am

Foilholio, low end stability is IMO drifting and how well kite keeps its airfoil shape on internal pressure loss etc. Not about weight. In a wind hole normal at low winds, will kite drift nicely deeper or even down to ground/snow/water tail first for easy relaunch or does it hinderburg.

Sonic2 (15m) is nicely drifting kite - drifts IMO like Speed3DLX & Speed4Lotus did and is possible to recover kite still in the air as kite drifts so that you get line tension back. Sonic1 (15m) was more keen to hindenburg as central LE starts collapsing inwards too easily and floating downwards without kite line tension coming back. Chrono v1 was easily balling up (different type of collapse where kite tips came together) in the sky and causing problems via that.

--

But the OPs question is so broad gear wise and impossible to gain comprehensive experience on all available race kites incl past models, only few (like team riders switching teams seeking new kite) could have required hands on experience with actual kites he has ridden on low wind to say which is better on his subjective opinion. This means that no-one has experience to compare all Flysurfer, Ozone, Elf, Enata, Paraavis, Peter Lynn, F-One, xxx, yyy kites on low wind stability.

Observer on race event seeing flying kite to collapse.. It might be the tuning to kite by rider or it can be manufacturing fault or it might be just local wind hole affecting area of single kite, not affecting kite 40m away or collapsing kite was not actively flow but the other was flown and deeper in wind window. You really cannot tell the reason and compare if collapsed kite is worse than kite left flying next to it. Because the OP's question is about kite design faults.

User avatar
Nem0
Frequent Poster
Posts: 408
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2016 1:51 pm
Local Beach: rectalcity
Favorite Beaches: Hörnum on the island Sylt (West- and Eastcoast)
Gear: 18m Sonic3 + 12m Soul2 + 8m Sonic4 + 133x42 ZERO-G + Spleene CarbonPro Monsterdoor
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 22 times

Re: Race Kite Stability

Postby Nem0 » Tue Apr 17, 2018 8:37 pm

Kitemanmuc wrote:
Mon Apr 16, 2018 3:48 pm
Out of all the race kites on the market, which would you say has the most low end stability?
Try a 18m DiabloV1! :thumb:
I have one for sale which is just 15h used!

Kitemanmuc
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 568
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2015 11:10 pm
Kiting since: 2015
Style: Big Air, Kiteloops, Hydrofoil, Wave
Gear: Eleveight
Has thanked: 12 times
Been thanked: 14 times

Re: Race Kite Stability

Postby Kitemanmuc » Wed Apr 18, 2018 7:57 pm

Thank everyone!

Has anyone tried to Peter Lynn vs R1 vs Sonic Race? Do you think race kites are getting very comparable as far as performance goes?


Return to “Foil Kites”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: funalex, jannik and 60 guests