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Hello

I am stating to hydrofoil and I am looking for a foil kite, I am 180lb/80kg and I would like to ride in 5-9 knts

I own a 17m Ozone Zephir, I read that the foil kite would perform better, and the FS Soul seems a good fit What size should I go 12/15/18 ? Or should just stay with the Zephir?

Thanks

12.

For normal weight you doesnt go any earlier on bigger size with reasonable light wind capable HF /. You will just go faster on bigger sizes.
Soul 12 is as powerfull as 17m LEI - hangs better in LW and its relaunchable in LW.

tomtom wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 15, 2018 12:33 am

12.

For normal weight you doesnt go any earlier on bigger size with reasonable light wind capable HF /. You will just go faster on bigger sizes.
Soul 12 is as powerfull as 17m LEI - hangs better in LW and its relaunchable in LW.

Hi Tomtom, thanks for your answer.

But in the case of the 12 would it not be equivalent to my 17m Zephir and a FS 15m would give me an option to go faster so it could be a better addition to my quiver?

[]s

If you are just learning, wait to buy and instead get comfortable with what you have.

bonadio wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 14, 2018 11:10 pm

Hello

I am stating to hydrofoil and I am looking for a foil kite, I am 180lb/80kg and I would like to ride in 5-9 knts

I own a 17m Ozone Zephir, I read that the foil kite would perform better, and the FS Soul seems a good fit What size should I go 12/15/18 ? Or should just stay with the Zephir?

Thanks

It’ll suck trying to make a large kite work for HF. Even riding a 14m LEI suddenly feels terrible and 17m will plain outfront suck. I’d assume the foil kite will be a similar experience and unless you’re a racer aiming at need to race in 3m/s wind you might want to explore and try smaller, faster turning kites.
I can foil under 5m Rally on 633 wing in 16 knots. I can foil under 9m Rally in under 10 knots. Once going you don’t need much kite size to keep going.
Get a smaller wing.

tomtom wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 15, 2018 12:33 am

...
Soul 12 is as powerfull as 17m LEI - hangs better in LW and its relaunchable in LW.

I’d call you out on that - you need to compare to a better LEI.
I could squeeze out more power and more agility from 2012 Rally 10m than from 2012 Speed4 10m Standard.
I could squeeze more LW lowend riding from 17m Core XR than from my 19m Speed3 Deluxe, and since I owned and rode about a dozen of foil kites I think I know how to ride them.

Don’t get me wrong, the 19m S3DLX stayed in zenith in 3.5 knots, the 9m Peak2 flew in 2.5 knots, in my hands, and I haven’t seen any LEI capable of that, but speaking of magic “weighs like 5m, pulls like 19” is a mere fairytale and I’d like to take a try and get persuaded otherwise.

P.S. strutless airush and cloud fly in less wind being light but they don’t have power of a structured wing, they don’t have upwind nor looping power of a structured wing and for stunt flying they do I’d rather take my Rev out

Check from the hydrofoil forum,there are many threads about this. These are the most recent
viewtopic.php?f=196&t=2399787
viewtopic.php?f=196&t=2400024
viewtopic.php?f=196&t=2399814

Right answer can be 12-18m. It depends of the conditions you kite and the kiting style you want to pursue.

Kiting style:
Strapless freestyle => go with 12 or 15m
freeride with straps => go with 15m
Big air => go with 18m
Racing => go with race kite in size 18

Conditions:
How bad lulls you have? If the wind completely dies and tube kite drops when laying still on the water. Then you want 18m. It reacts slower, also to lulls. It has more energy you can use when the lull comes by pulling the bar.

More constant wind => 15m most likely sufficient.

What you mean with 5-9 knots. If you see people kiting with doors in these conditions, then 12m is sufficient. If you want to kite when everyone else is watching, then 15-18m is needed.

Why not 18m. 18m has much worse high end and gust handling ability. You can fight this with short lines.

In my local lake we have 2 frequent hydrofoil kiters. Both of us would use 18m sonic 2 / sonic race in those conditions. But it is just our kiting style (big air /racing)

haare wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 15, 2018 7:08 am

What you mean with 5-9 knots. If you see people kiting with doors in these conditions, then 12m is sufficient. If you want to kite when everyone else is watching, then 15-18m is needed.

I fully agree with that summary. Even with my 60kg I need 15m2 of a powerfull foilkite to reach the lowest end. I can then HF up to 10-11 knots. So with 80kg it is 15 or 18 ! Be careul with wind values below the wind required for a door, too dependant on site, rider, ect. Better compare to TT riding like haare did.

Thanks for all comments

I think the 12 would be the sweetest option but would not run in the minimal condition

15-18 would be more aligned with the wind condition that I have "low wind with lulls"

18 would not be very comfortable but I would be able to squeeze that last drop.

Why not 18m. 18m has much worse high end and gust handling ability. You can fight this with short lines

.

To be honest I like the idea of having a real low end machine and be able to use smaller lines to make it a little better

[]s

I've just bought 18m Soul to replace 17m Core Free. It has more power & flies far more happily in less wind. Prior to the Free, I had a Zephyr which needed much more wind than Free for 3 reasons, it's got 5 struts compared with 3 and it's not a true 17m, more like 15.5. I compared it both with my 14m Enduro and then 17m Free when it arrived, finally the Zephyr is higher aspect so harder to trim in light wind.
The Core Free weighs 5.4kg and the 18m Soul 3kg. The Soul is new & I've never kited in such low wind, one session on foil, one on surfboard. It does have masses of power & loops well for kite of its size. I'm flying it on my Core bar and 24m lines. FS recommend 60cm bar and mine is 54cm so ideally I'd need something longer, but seems fine for now. Probably not so if using much shorter lines.