OR Flite for hydrofoiling thread

[pikovsg]

i prefer to not use the line extentions when in the lowest end for 2 reasons, the extra weight of the line and the slight delay for turning. shorter lines make it much easier to feel the kite and have a quicker reaction for when you need to downloop it through the powerzone to get the kite back to zenith when the wind hits 6kts. the only problem with the flite in the ultra low end is that it doesn't have much power though the turn so trying to downloop for power is pointless. Its best to do a large sweeping horzintal stroke through the power zone to the other side, bring it back, and then i start to draw a backwards capital P, then i stroke it up and down (sometimes having to double pump it in the same stroke.) since it doesn't pull alot through the turn but is still very reactive and tighter in the pivot when depowered, I depower it right as i start to turn the kite so its ready for speed the second i stop turning it. The only thing that hurts me in the ultra low end is that pause between power that can reset your progress if not fast enough. Im starting to believe that i can get the same range out of the 14.5 as i do with the 17 on the foil and will let you know if thats true in a week when i get mine. The only time i use line extentions is if i have half a wind window due to land from offshore type conditions or if the wind is stronger higher up. amazing kite for jumping in light wind

After today's session I may agree with you that 14.5 might be better on low end than the 17. Let us know what you think once you get out with 14.5.

[OceanAdventures]

Nice! I just took off extensions as well. By new generation do you mean two 2015 and up, or the latest one - 2016?

I have a 12 and 10 gen 3 and gen4 14.5.

[dksurfer]

I love my OR Flite 12 with my HF. I can have a lot of fun in 8knts. Below 7knts the kite still flies but will not get me out of the water. Here is the wind chart for 2 days ago, 3 hours or great HF fun on the OR Flite 12.

[pikovsg]

I love my OR Flite 12 with my HF. I can have a lot of fun in 8knts. Below 7knts the kite still flies but will not get me out of the water. Here is the wind chart for 2 days ago, 3 hours or great HF fun on the OR Flite 12.

2016-07-19_23-03-21.png

Nice! What's your line length? Did you add extension lines?

[dksurfer]

I am using the OR Flite 12 2016 with 3m extension on a North Quad bar. Total line length is 27m. I keep the extensions attached to the kite and use the bar with my other kites without the extensions. All in all a great setup. The Flite is my goto kite when the wind is less than 10 knots, it stays in the air in as little as 5 knots, but I find that I need min 8 knots to get my butt out of the water and start foiling, once on the foil I can go in less wind.

[flyingcamel]

i prefer to not use the line extentions when in the lowest end for 2 reasons, the extra weight of the line and the slight delay for turning. shorter lines make it much easier to feel the kite and have a quicker reaction for when you need to downloop it through the powerzone to get the kite back to zenith when the wind hits 6kts. the only problem with the flite in the ultra low end is that it doesn't have much power though the turn so trying to downloop for power is pointless. Its best to do a large sweeping horzintal stroke through the power zone to the other side, bring it back, and then i start to draw a backwards capital P, then i stroke it up and down (sometimes having to double pump it in the same stroke.) since it doesn't pull alot through the turn but is still very reactive and tighter in the pivot when depowered, I depower it right as i start to turn the kite so its ready for speed the second i stop turning it. The only thing that hurts me in the ultra low end is that pause between power that can reset your progress if not fast enough. Im starting to believe that i can get the same range out of the 14.5 as i do with the 17 on the foil and will let you know if thats true in a week when i get mine. The only time i use line extentions is if i have half a wind window due to land from offshore type conditions or if the wind is stronger higher up. amazing kite for jumping in light wind

After today's session I may agree with you that 14.5 might be better on low end than the 17. Let us know what you think once you get out with 14.5.

finally got to try it in conditions to test my lower end with the 14.5. id say it has the same low end as the 17m for me which is 7kts in the summer winds but was much easier to handle with a much shorter pause between strokes and transitioning was much easier and more playful. the wind was average 8kts with luls to 7 and 6kts. could not get enough speed to foil from scratch in 6 kts but was able to foil through them if the board did not touch water but if it did it was over till a gust came. yesterday i rode in in 11 with gusts of 14kts and it was great and felt like i could get maybe 2-3 more kts before i would hit my top end but then again the bar i was using had silly amounts of depower so with a bar with a normal throw would probably hit that sooner. basically ive made my 17m and 12m almost irrelevant for me when it comes to foiling in the summer, it might change in the winter when it starts to hit 40F or if i gain or lose 10 lbs. im around 195lbs now. very happy with the pickup. on a door i lost 1.5 to 2 kts on the low end compared to the 17. was hard to tell cause i only had half the wind window in offshore conditions

[Peter_Frank]

It is good to see that others have found that at some point you DONT lower the low end with bigger kites, like we know was the case for "old" boards maybe - there is a certain point (depending on kite and rider weight of course, if using the same and right wing) where you can get up foiling just as easy with a tad smaller kite - and enjoy all the advantages, namely agility, acceleration power, depower and much bigger range, recovery-ease, jumping

I have almost felt being hassled for saying this before so good to see I am not alone

PF