Airush Ultra: one strut kite that meets expectations of a ram air lover

[vman]

https://youtu.be/dArYh0U2dEY

[abel]

https://youtu.be/dArYh0U2dEY

Sorry but this vid doesn't seem reliable.
The stalling foil shot on the beach is under lighter wind than the rider with the Airush!
In the rider's shots, there are scattered white horses, while the water in the foil shot doesn't show any.
That one, maybe two, additional knots is a huge difference.
A more reliable review here:
http://kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=19 ... 40#p987040

[MikeBirt]

Here's another vid...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzwAvxtq1BQ

this was last week in Brand Bay - Ireland.
We didn't have the 12 with us (sold out in the UK again) but did have the 9 and 7 - this vid was shot on the 9.

Rider is Mark Shinn.
He's not officially tied to Blade anymore, and for all foilboard work (though I think he still has an 18m foil kites for stupid light days on the lake where he lives) now rides a quiver of Ultra. He really likes them - offering feedback on their future development to Airush as one of the development team.

They are very good kites for foil use. I had to use a number of other kites for a 12m when the wind was light and I really miss the Ultra 12... Just so easy, fast and neutral.

[RadDrDuke]

I've been riding the old Airush Varial X 12m in 10-13knots on foil and having a blast, it doesn't fly well under 10knots though, maybe will upgrade to the Ultra and then get a travel foilboard as well....

[airsurfer]

so what's your result with the Ultra 15 did it relaunch? will you pull out the cloud 13.4 or the Ultra on light wind day?

[pikovsg]

Finally tried the 15 Ultra, but this time on a twin tip – too shallow to foil when I was visiting at Outer Banks.

For a twintip it's super friendly and gets it going around 12 mile wind on a small 137/40 board. Low bar pressure, turns relatively fast. Feels a bit like OR Flite, but w/o boosting chops. I need to try it on the foil because from what I've seen so far and it's only going to be exciting on that. For a twintip it's pretty bland. But we knew that anyway. (The Cloud 13.4 would be even more bland for a twintip though.)

Will post when I test it on foil. It's a solid kite, definitely well done. But looks like def more oriented for foil and surf boards.

[abel]

Finally tried the 15 Ultra, but this time on a twin tip – too shallow to foil when I was visiting at Outer Banks.

For a twintip it's super friendly and gets it going around 12 mile wind on a small 137/40 board. Low bar pressure, turns relatively fast. Feels a bit like OR Flite, but w/o boosting chops. I need to try it on the foil because from what I've seen so far and it's only going to be exciting on that. For a twintip it's pretty bland. But we knew that anyway. (The Cloud 13.4 would be even more bland for a twintip though.)

Will post when I test it on foil.

Hey Piko, I'm glad you're shearing your experience with us about the Airush Ultra.
A friend of mine told me the he was flying on a HF with an Ultra 12 , while the regular kitefoilers couldn't keep foils sized >18 in the air.
I know the guy and trust that he is not BSing, but honestly its hard for me to believe.
Can you corroborate his claims by comparing the Ultra with foil kites?
They Ultras finally arrived to the distributor here, and I'm waiting for the ~10 knots conditions to compare the Ultra 12 with my Solo 12 side by side.
The main parameter that I will focus on is the 'lull survivability' © while standing on h beach and riding under 10 knots.

[Bletti]

The Cloud 13.4m is 2.3kg, half a kg less than the ultra 12m and about the same weight as the ultra 9m, which is why I went with the Cloud for surviving lulls. It would be good to get a chance to ride both back to back and also test relaunch.

[Mitaka]

The Cloud 13.4m is 2.3kg, half a kg less than the ultra 12m and about the same weight as the ultra 9m, which is why I went with the Cloud for surviving lulls. It would be good to get a chance to ride both back to back and also test relaunch.

Making assumptions which kite will survive better in lulls based only on the weight without taking into account the overall shape and profile of the kite could be completely wrong. It is very plausible a single strut kite to create more lift due to a better profile at low angle of attack compared to a same sized strutles kite. In such a case the one strut kite will survive better in lulls although being heavier.

[pikovsg]

@Mitaka - quite a bit of truth to what you are saying, but in winds that light, weight is almost everything. Design of kite/ratio can help a tiny, but weight triumphs everything. The Cloud 13.4D will fly better in less wind than the 15m Ultra. That's a fact - I tried it. However, based on a beach test and the TT session, I think Ultra has more power. Which could man if you fly it well, it gets you down lower. Will have to test it.

The Cloud is about 0.5lbs lighter. Curious about the 12m Ultra - that one may stay in less air than the Cloud due to weight and the added strut design.