I made a static test of the 15m; poor wind of 2-4 knots on the beach , to low and irregular to take the risk to go on water since I had only 1 hour in front of me; All went well and overall it follows my expectations, I am editing a video that will come to illustrate but I am short in time currently :
- arrived on site, the wind was too weak to identify clearly its direction (less 0-1-2 knots I would say), flags were absolutely dead.
- I was about to leave the site, but wanted to connect my bar on it anyway, so I unpacked ;
- the moderate ratio lead to a limited foot print on the ground which is good for my confined spots.
- the wind grow a bit, flags showed a regular direction most of the time (always below 45 degre angle to fix ideas)
- launching with no inflation (impossible, no wind on the ground) ; I had to walk energetically about 8-10 meters to put it at zenith
- inflation time is as fast as the 12m (good!).
- stability and rigidity is very good, I made a 2 meter line slack test, ok. wWind was too poor to test more with surrouding peoples and trees.
- I feel that it stays in the air with a bit less wind than the 12m light (to be confirmed , impossible to measure the wind at this level)
- still possible to loop in extreme window and low wind, just need to start the loop a bit higher above 45 degree . So there should be some lulls situations with the kite quite low where the 12m may be easier to recover (it is natural due to additional 3m2 )
- clearly more power during the loop: the +3m2 are actually present ! now with the Pulsion experience, I think I would have been able to get up on the foil with some of this loops, as I was pulled and was gliding on the ground downwind 2-3 meters; to be confirmed in deep water.
Next time i will try to put it on the shorter knot of the A bridle setting to increase camber, since I had comfortable margin on the stability and I think I would have then reached even better zenith ability.
Overall very good impression, I sensed to drive a cloud ... promising !
-It is the first time I feel the big difference between weight (of the cloth= 1.9 kg) and inertia ( weight of the air + cloth = approx 7 kg). That is to be the main explanation why it does not fall like a stone ( LEI) when a no-wind lull arrives. Anyway, a good new topic to open---