Learning Foil kites

[norcom]

Am I being ambitious setting up the kite and flying by myself the first couple of times?
And....if I do crash the kite in the water, do you roll it up with the lines and swim home? or is there a safe technique.

As someone who just went through the exact same thing, if you can launch/land a tube kite without assistance you can do the same with a foil. I launch by myself 99.9% of the time. I prefer that unless there's no room or it's blowing 25+. I trust my technique more than people I don't know.

Having lots of room without debris and other junk on the beach would be ideal. Wind under 12mph would be a good start. Watch the Ozone video, then watch it again and again and .... and watch it RIGHT BEFORE YOU GO OUT. That last one will be what you remember for that session. Don't go far from shore if you decide to get on the water. Have plenty of time available for situations and don't be in a hurry or get frustrated.

The video has the technique on how to self rescue. My biggest self rescue issue was that the kite filled up with water and I was able to only get it to the shore line. I couldn't drag it past that until I could empty the water out of it. Imagine trying to drag a construction size garbage bag full of water WITHOUT tearing it. That wasn't fun and took me a while because one side was completely tangled up and wrapped around the kite.

[Mossy 757]

I think he will progress much faster on a non race kite. I see hydrofoilers still mix up with freeride kites to learn.

For someone who wants to get into racing and lives in the bay area, I don't think it's good advice. I know lots of people who fly foil kites and literally none of them started on a Pansh. I get that you like them for whatever quirky reasons you have, but they're not the 99% solution for everyone. I recognize that learning curves are steeper on a more high performance kite, but not so much that a guy with about 4 years experience couldn't launch one and have a session same-day.

A new Pansh is also about the same if not more expensive than a used race kite except that a race kite will maintain some resale versus a Pansh which is worthless the moment you buy it. Selling a 2 season Sonic or Elf is going to be a lot easier than a 2 season Pansh, if you need to sell it.

[foilholio]

Wow mossy why all the hate for Pansh? How is it quirky to like something because it is good value and generally a good product? Point me to where I can get near new racing kites for 350-400 and I will be most surprised. I have watched plenty struggle with race foils for far too long. There is a lot of basics that will take a lot longer on a race kite. Selling a pansh shouldn't be too hard. How can you say you can pickup a used race kite for say less than 400 then say the resale value won't be diminished? You will have lost many times the value of the pansh just in resale on the race foil. So technically you don't even "need" to resell the pansh and you are ahead. Unless you are talking about buying a used race foil then selling that, good luck there Anyway I wasn't suggesting the guy go buy a whole fleet of pansh kites, just one so he could try out a foil kite and see if he liked it. Anyway I find the whole resale upgrade culture a bit irritating. Kites really ain't changing that much. But there is kites that are better than one over another at different things. Most of my kites are 2008 and out perform many of the latest and greatest in many ways.

[Jamie-NYC]

The hardest thing for me to learn on my own was the packing. A few things that worked for me. With the kite on the sand, fold the wing tip before placing sand on it to weigh down. When you wrap the lines on the bar, stop when you reach the mixers, place the bar right next to the kite, and carefully lay the bridles on the kite. This is key. All of the bridles on the kite. When you fold the kite in half - go a little beyond half, fold the wing tip, sand. Then unzip the deflate (which, having gone past half way with fold, is right there on top of kite), go back to the tips, slide the sand of both top and bottom, fold bottom tip over top, then start to roll. When rolled all the way, fold in thirds by folding each end toward the middle (makes it easier to squeeze the air out of the deflate opening). Using these steps I can very quickly put the kite away in a very small package and can then launch unbelievably quickly. Other more experienced flyers might have comments about this process and how to improve it - eager to hear them.

I bought a Pansh A15 to experiment with a foil kite - just putting that out there - surprised it is controversial, but whatever, just wanted to be sure you understood where I was coming from. The kite is relatively easy to fly (once I discovered that it came with lines reversed, ugh). It does not collapse, stays aloft in very little wind, has tremendous pull, etc.. In other words, all the benefits of a foil kite. I am happy to be learning on an inexpensive kite - had I spent 3-5x as much on my first foil, I would have been panicking the first few times I botched the packing job, panicking the time my bridles became tied in knots, panicking when I dropped the kite in shore break (the only time it has gone down), etc..

[foilholio]

I dont know Jamie I think you just raised the level of controversy . You'll get them wondering who is who .

anyway back to serious.

Yes packing! simple things like that are a must for getting to enjoy these kites. There is many ways to do it. I just open the deflate and then fold it in half, in either order . Sand tips together. Then wrap bar and lines up past the mixer till the kite bridle , hitch both ends on the bar leaving 0.5 to 1m from the kite. Then lift the topside open and throw the bridles in, making the bridles from the bar to the kite nice and neat in straight line. Then I roll it up. You can lift it a bit back from the tip where the sand is, so sand doesn't fall into the kite! Because you sorted your lines and bridles out while the kite was deflating, the kite is usually deflated when you come to roll, unless it is really light like 5knots or less. Quick easy and the bonus, it is now setup for a quick launch! To unravel the kite hold the base of the kite at the rear with one hand and the bar and bridles with the other Wind unravels the whole thing! Grab the tip sand one, sand the other in a U shape, you'll need to unhitch the bar for that. Unravel the bar, untwist and check for crossing, Then launch there is an art to this but learn it and you will have a foil up before you could pull a pump out of your car. Couple of notes, when rolling the kite you can stuff any excess bridles in, if you get them reasonably tight when wrapping the bar they are easy to manage on the kite. You can tell if they are too tight if the rear of the kite starts to pull in when pulling on them. Also I usually always do this to the TE of the kite but you can do it to the LE. Spacing the sanded tips for launch is an art. Higher the wind closer together, lighter further apart. More sand more wind, less sand less wind. Be careful when you launch though. Allowing the kite to proceed too quick can cause damage to the fabric, as the sand is pulled against too hard, just keep the rear lines tight so it slowly opens up and lets the sand off. Letting it just freely jump up and go like a rocket is not good for it.

[blu]

I got my first Pansh A15 18m and spend few days in light wind with it, still learning all about foil kites. Very happy with it, only few minor quality problems . Kite fly really good with regular 4 line Switch bar . Definitely worth the money at cost of one week rental. I'm thinking of getting one more 15m for stronger winds with my hydrofoil.

[foilonfoil]

We have had few of the cheaper foil kites show up at our local beach but the local foil kiting scene is dominated by Sonic FR's, Diablos, R1 V1's and V2's, one to two Chrono V2's, and the more laid back Speed 3/4/5's and a Psycho/Peter Lynn now and then.

None of the cheaper foil kites are being used seriously in any way as daily kites. Feedback from others is that some of the sizes did not scale and are next to useless.

[coleman]

Simple answer, if you want to try foil kites with your foil board for the purposes of eventually getting into some races then buy a chrono v2

My first foil kite is the sp4 lotus. It's super easy, fast and, great apparent wind and boost.

But it's not going to compete in races against race kites.

But I'm not going to compete against seasoned racers either so I don't give a crap.

Anywho, chrono v2 sounds like the best balance of high aspect performance and low maintenance bridles and ease of use.

[socommk23]

A nice cheap way into depower foil kites is pansh aurora2 or a15. Both fly well and allow you to practice all you need with foil kites at very low expense. From set up, tuning, flying to packing.
Then for racing get a race kite.
You could always get a race kite straight away, make a noob error and trash it.
Personally I'd not recommend it as it's not easy on the wallet.
I've flown the chrono, inferno, aeros compi, have 2 fone diablos and a aurora2 15m.
Diablos are my race kites, aurora2 is an every day kite along side the airush varialx and jn premadona. Nothing wrong with starting at the bottom, and you don't always HAVE to resell gear. (Mentality I've never understood)