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Greenturtle wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 28, 2020 4:16 pm

I think if you want to see what the difference might be like then add weights equal to the difference aluula makes to the LE of your current kite for half a session then take them off and try it again. If you like it better with the weights removed then aluula might be for you...

Certainly everyone has flown with a wet kite at one time or another. While not exactly the same as canopy is often wet too, it is similar. And usually the le takes more time to dry out.

That brings up another point, aluula appears to be highly water repellent in some pictures with water beaded up on it vs absorbed somewhat like dacron can do. Can anyone confirm that this is the case? Seems like another potential benefit, although I think someone mentioned the possibility of water not being able to dry out through the material as well if water gets inside the le.

cor wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 28, 2020 5:12 pm

Si_B wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:05 am

But I thought a lot of kites this year were being designed to allow them to twist to help responsiveness and yet this material is claiming to make the frame stiffer? Something just doesn’t add up.

My understanding is that it is impossible to improve both at the very same time without changing the profile (which again comes with a sacrifice of other characteristics)

Si_B wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:05 am

I’m not convinced you will get a 12m kite as responsive as a current 9m just through use of materials.
Simon

I am convinced that this is possible. But I am not convinced that a 12m Aluula will turn just as tight as the same 9m kite with traditional materials. Could be quite the opposite actually as the frame will not allow that much twist anymore.

In theory the leading edge could twist and also be stiff in the longitudinal direction. I suppose it might be possible by controlling the direction of the weave. Best kiteboarding had these Kevlar patches they claimed were stiff in bending but would twist. They did seem to work.

I saw duotone advertised their neo had improved handling last year from

Special Flex Segments have been built into the leading edge, allowing the kite to twist even more when turning.

I haven’t flown an aluula kite but I’d did pick up a prototype and that thing was stiff in twisting and bending.

I can’t see how it will turn as tight, pivot, as even the same size conventional roam.

Here is a white paper from Peter Stiewe, then at best now at elevate.

http://media.bestkiteboarding.com/media ... _paper.pdf

But I would love to try one or even just see some decent video of it turning in some wind. Preferably overlaid with the regular roam turning.

https://aluula.com/2020/01/27/ispo-text ... Hwi4zFm5BE

Aluula Composites is delighted to announce that it has won the Best Product category at the 2020 ISPO trade show in Munich, Germany.

Selected from over 500 entries, Aluula Gold won in the Soft Equipment category of the ISPO Textrends 2021/ 2022 awards. As Aluula’s first ever trade show, the team are thrilled that the benefits of this ground-breaking new material are already being formally recognised and celebrated for their current and future potential.

For those attending the show, please visit booth C1 407 to see first-hand the world’s lightest and strongest composite materials.

ISPO announcement: https://www.ispo.com/en/trends/ispo-tex ... nter-21/22

Greenturtle wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 28, 2020 5:50 pm

That brings up another point, aluula appears to be highly water repellent in some pictures with water beaded up on it vs absorbed somewhat like dacron can do. Can anyone confirm that this is the case? Seems like another potential benefit, although I think someone mentioned the possibility of water not being able to dry out through the material as well if water gets inside the le.

Aluula does not absorb water, correct.

Finally got a chance to get the new Ocean Rodeo Aluula Roam 10m in the air!
* I'm the owner of https://kitesource.ca, and have been selling Ocean Rodeo gear (among others) since 2005.

Impressions:
Kiting in the mountains on soft snow (maybe 2" deep), wind was 10 to 15 knots (best guess) dropping to 6 / 8 knots maybe. This is my honest estimate of wind speed.
I was immediately aware of the exceptional handling... and I mean this. This kite loops like it's on rails.. really, really nice and responsive handling. The single biggest thing I noticed.
Second thing I noticed was that when the wind got light, this kite stayed in the air effortlessly AND generated sufficient power to get me moving on my snowboard. I can imagine this will be an incredible freeride foil kite.
Sorry for the short review, the wind died and I wasn't able to do a back to back ride / comparison to another kite.. .or get other riders on the kite.
Overall, a very fun kite to fly and I'm looking forward to getting it in the water!

Any questions or requests of up close photos, let me know.

Cheers,
Jeff

I have never understood why people need fast looping kites. Is it because they like the kite flying aspect? Didn't have enough stunt kite flying as a kid? I personally like to just park the kite, and enjoy riding waves, preferably with NO line tension.

@foilholio I can't speak for everyone, but when I was younger, I really enjoyed throwing powered kiteloops, F16s etc. The rush was exhilerating. Nowadays, I really enjoy looping when I'm doing big downwinders (on or off waves), need a little extra power ie getting up on a foil in light wind, or even the odd F16 still! I'd compare it to flat water vs waves.. park it or loop it

foilholio wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 28, 2020 11:17 pm

I have never understood why people need (want) fast looping kites....

Jeff gave a great over-view of why many enjoy fast-moving kites, I'd like to provide a more technical response. When you have a fast-moving kite, you can generate more apparent wind over the kite and lot more power than by sheeting in, as kite lift is proportional to the square of wind-speed over the wing whereas the lift is only linearly proportional to the angle-of-attack ( sheeting in ). Put another way, double the windspeed moving over your kite and you get 4 times the power, while sheeting in and doubling the angle of the kite to the wind over it will only double the power.

Of course, when you are not used to a fast kite, it can feel nervous, and in gusty-shifty wind can be a handful, but once used to a fast-moving kite, it's usually hard to go back to a kite that isn't agile.

Jeff - how big is the leading edge on your Aluula Roam compared to conventional ? From the pictures posted in this thread, the struts on the Aluula Roam are tiny ( = help make it a fast kite ! ) .

@GregK
Though I'm not sure I understand your more technical response LOL, thanks for adding to why looping speed is a (fun and) important consideration for kites.
I haven't measured the diameter of the LE or struts, but I think it's safe to say they're approx 70% that of a standard / equivalent dacron LE / Struts.

The stitching looks impeccable on these kites.
More pics, including closeups of stitching etc available on the product page:
https://kitesource.ca/products/ocean-rodeo-roam-gold
* I took the liberty of referring to these Aluula kites as the "GOLD" edition instead of the "BLACK" edition (for obvious reasons).