Storm voyager 4

[Brian H]

Peter Frank did you try your storm voyager 12m single strut kite yet ?

[Peter_Frank]

Peter Frank did you try your storm voyager 12m single strut kite yet ?

No, I dont have that one, sorry cant help...

PF

[Peter_Frank]

Got the Storm Voyager 4 some days ago, and has patiently been waiting for a day without more than 8 knots of wind, so no chance to use it...

Till today - out with a 9 m2 Furia in 10 knots (10 m height average wind), and it dropped to 7-9 knots so took the 12 m2 Voyager Limited Edition (or "4" as some might call it, or 2018 as Storm call these) on a small board and a lightwind wavewing and normal lines - worked fine and it had amazingly good power when looped tight.
A bit of flapping as expected when looped, but not that much.

Then the wind dropped to 6-7 knots, and I took a lightwind hydrofoil, and longer lines - and could ride and even make foiling carves and jibes and 360s (not foiling most of them - but me not being an expert)

The kite only weighs 2.6-2.7 kg and can hang really well, but of course in 6 knots @10 m you can not have it low to the side, but no risk of dropping it when out today.

Turns fast and direct, no pulleys anymore.
Easy to back it up from the beach in 6 knots (less down at the beach), a piece of cake as soon as you got the wind under the canopy

No idea about its upper end - and I dont care, as I will never use it when approaching 10 knots where other more normal kites works just fine

At first with normal lines and maybe 7-8 knots on a "non lightwind hydrofoil" I made the mistake to loop wide when waterstarting, which did not lift me up well in marginal winds (when the kite is low over the water), and found to my surprise it had good power when looped tight - THAT I did not expect and worked great now.
When the wind dropped further, down the 6 knots - I could ride with a low wind hydrofoil and longer lines now - GREAT

I might probably be able to get more lowend out of this kite when I get to know it - this was my very first time so had to learn the tricks and trades and precise sheeting points and effects - riding in low wind is an art that is NOT just something you just do IMO, but have to learn over time, both you but even more the specific kite you use you got to know inside out and "feel" - takes time.

Till now really happy that I eventually could ride in 6 knots only, the last half hour.
Storm also makes the high AR high windrange high performance onestrut kite (LIght-Speed), and the general 3 strut kite (Freeride) - but the Limited Edition is the one that gives me the lowest end and still max agility no doubt - it is on purpose I did not get the 15 m2 as too much area for my 77 kg (when testing 12 and 15 m2 V2 neck and neck) so no gain compared to the downsides IMO, eventhough you might get a tad more lowend maybe.

Took a picture before going out:



Peter

[Pedro Marcos]

That one looks much better then the Light-Speed i had, which the guy i sold already sold it again...

[tomi3000]

That one looks much better then the Light-Speed i had, which the guy i sold already sold it again...

Hi Pedro, It is me who you sold the kite to. And indeed, only after a short period of time, I sold it as it was not good for me for what I needed. I was looking for a kite to use below my 9m Gong strutless that works for me from 10-12 knots depending on the wind direction. 12m Storm Light-Speed did not offer much lower bottom end usage, maybe 1-2 knots overall but I found it much harder to keep flying or water starting in the very low wind compared to Gong. Storm Light-Speed with it relatively high aspect ratio for a LEI might be more suited for someone looking for a kite to go fast but then there are better alternatives on the market with all those super light and efficient foil kites so I am not sure who is this kite targeted at.

The Limited Edition looks fine and the weight is low for a 12m but I am not sure if I would like the kite with a high Y setup on the from lines.

[Pedro Marcos]

That one looks much better then the Light-Speed i had, which the guy i sold already sold it again...

Hi Pedro, It is me who you sold the kite to. And indeed, only after a short period of time, I sold it as it was not good for me for what I needed. I was looking for a kite to use below my 9m Gong strutless that works for me from 10-12 knots depending on the wind direction. 12m Storm Light-Speed did not offer much lower bottom end usage, maybe 1-2 knots overall but I found it much harder to keep flying or water starting in the very low wind compared to Gong. Storm Light-Speed with it relatively high aspect ratio for a LEI might be more suited for someone looking for a kite to go fast but then there are better alternatives on the market with all those super light and efficient foil kites so I am not sure who is this kite targeted at.

The Limited Edition looks fine and the weight is low for a 12m but I am not sure if I would like the kite with a high Y setup on the from lines.

The question is if that Y setup is really needed, maybe Peter Frank can try it with a normal line setup

[nothing2seehere]

That one looks much better then the Light-Speed i had, which the guy i sold already sold it again...

Hi Pedro, It is me who you sold the kite to. And indeed, only after a short period of time, I sold it as it was not good for me for what I needed. I was looking for a kite to use below my 9m Gong strutless that works for me from 10-12 knots depending on the wind direction. 12m Storm Light-Speed did not offer much lower bottom end usage, maybe 1-2 knots overall but I found it much harder to keep flying or water starting in the very low wind compared to Gong. Storm Light-Speed with it relatively high aspect ratio for a LEI might be more suited for someone looking for a kite to go fast but then there are better alternatives on the market with all those super light and efficient foil kites so I am not sure who is this kite targeted at.

The Limited Edition looks fine and the weight is low for a 12m but I am not sure if I would like the kite with a high Y setup on the from lines.

The question is if that Y setup is really needed, maybe Peter Frank can try it with a normal line setup

May or may not help, but the 8m limited edition seems to fly fine with a low V (Airush) bar. I can't tell from the photos on the storm website, but unless you are adding line extensions to the lower line ends, you would be altering the split point just by riding with line extensions - something many people do when foiling - so I would be suprised if it made a large difference.

[Peter_Frank]

Nope, these are my normal bars for "everything" just with longer lines, so always use a higher Y as they are born this way.

For me this IS a normal bar setup - been using it almost always ha haa, but I know what you mean Pedro

I think the split point is 9 m up on my bars, where it is 1 m on bars without.

This 8 m difference is equalled out when I use 27-31 m lines instead of the 21-23 m bars/kites are born with.

Apart from that, I dont believe there is much difference, if any, but this is something we can never really agree on so will let is rest...

If I wanted to go fast and high/deep, I would like the Light-Speed, goes way better upwind and hangtime, and a big windrange.
Some of my friends are looking for this, using raceboards (without racing though) and dont want a kite that has limited use when the wind picks up.

And they dont want a foilkite - neither do I actually, if I can prevent using one, but in 5-6 knots it is the only option unfortunately, as the only ones with sufficient peak powerspike, eventhough they are a PITA to keep from drowning in this wind

Oh, just saw nothing2seehere answered the split point too

PF

[tomi3000]

The hight of Y is relevant in regards to overall front lines length. From a simple trigonometry point of view angle of attack of the kite that flies on the high Y setting will be different than on low V setting assuming the front lines are of equal length and the bar is positioned the same. This can be compensated with a bar position to be higher or lower depending on personal preference, line extensions, knots on pigtails or trim on the bar of course. For me, low V is better as it helps with self-landing and if there is a need to untangle bar on water it is much easier and safer to do with lines split close to bar.

[jaros]

Nice review Peter!
Can you do a "diagonale opposite line relaunch technic" with a high Y split lines? I find this the best technic to rise a kite from water in really light wind.
Greetings!