Aluula Kites - for those of you who already have some hands-on experience

[Peter_Frank]

Amazing PR

Of course you can not foil in 4 knots with a 12 m2 Aluula kite, no matter how light it is.

You can fly it on land yes, but you can also do this with any other heavy LEI kite in 4 knots.

If you are average weight, my take would be you can ride okay from 7 knots with the 12 m2 Aluula on long lines, it is a great kite no matter which of them

The good thing is, you can keep it in the air below 7 knots a lot easier, and if it drops, you have a much better chance for relaunching in puffs

Peter

[leeuwen]

If you keep the foil kites I am not sure why you would take such a big Aluula kite.
I would probably get the 10m or maybe even 9m.
Sweet spot for the 10m for me (75kg) is 10-16 knots. However, it does depend from person to person how much power they like. eg If you want to jump you rather be in 12+ knots and topping out over 20 knots.

I can go a little lower then 10 knots but I would rather be on my foil kite (usually it is flat with so little wind so rather have something high aspect to go quicker and have lift rather then something that is more wave riding oriented)

As Peter said anything under 7-8 knots is mostly PR talk. Maybe with 60kg starting is a little bit better but everything becomes a struggle. Some currents or any small mistake and you are swimming to shore. Just getting out under 7 knots is pretty much impossible unless you have a very easy water entry with perfect wind direction.

[GregK]

Could you please advice ...

What's under your feet ( hyrdofoil & board ) will also have a big effect on how much pull you need/want from your kite.

I'm 73 kg & riding Lift medium & high-aspect foils ( Surf V2 150 & 200, HA 170 - foil areas are in square inches ; 150 in2 = 970 cm2, 200 in2 = 1,290 cm2 ) on a pocket board. I'm content with a 10m Aluula Roam as my biggest foiling kite. I've tried a 12m A-Flite in super-light wind and while it made getting out of the water and up on foil a snap, up on foil it was too much kite for what I like - strapless carving, swell riding.

Maybe if you ride like a speed demon on a fast/small foil or strapped & jumping, a 12m would be the ticket.

Before Aluula, like you, a Dacron 10m Flite was my lightest-wind foiling kite, and I wish OR made a 10m Aluula Flite. I think that would be an awesome light-wind foiling kite for a lot of riders.

[Regis-de-giens]

okay, I understand your remark ; but my objective is however quite clear , with below statement:
- I like marginal wind and for this the 18m Pulsion with 29m line is unbeatable IMO (for my weight) , so I keep it ; lets say 5-6 knots , very frequent on my home spot
- as soon as another higher aspect ratio foil kite (and on shorter lines) , has enough wind to limit the risk to put it in the water (despite my eternal trial and errors tricks), I swap to Gin Spirit; it is around 7 knots in my personal wind scale ; Gin Spirit 15m is the one I prefer to day for this need, say 7-10 knots today.
- I like LEI's as soon as I keep a chance to relaunch it ; today in my quiver, it corresponds to the 3 struts Flite 10m, V4 ( around 2019 , not aluula). I would say from 10-11 knots for fun and relaunch hopes

So I wonder if and how I could benefit from a even lighter LEI Aluula and swap to LEI earlier than 10 knots; Aluula is not necessary for my 10m LEI since my current flite does the job (below 10-11 I would anyway prefer to have more kite pull hence surface)

So, to me, my potential Aluula should be 12m or 14m, and depending on your answers I could make a decision (to spend so much money...) , and if by chance I can reach same pleasure (and jump height in 7 knots) as Gin Spirit, I may not keep the gin (at first sight I think that Aluula it will not fit at such low wind).

[Regis-de-giens]

What's under your feet ( hyrdofoil & board ) will also have a big effect on how much pull you need/want from your kite.

Thanks for nice advice ; my hydrofoiling configuration for LEI set-up will be :
- foil kotos Freeride 2, about 800 cm2
- pocket 107 with straps
- I do not care about VMG and upwind angle
- I like "decent speed"' , not looking for records and not looking for upwind angle when I want to ride fast
- I like to jumps (hence my taste for the Gin in 7 knots) and associate some "intermediate tricks" like backloops , front loops , and soon double backlogs
- I like looping the kite during jumps or transitions in both turning directions (hence liking the agility of LEI vs foil kites when wind is enough for their relaunch)

I will also use it with a thin-small Twintype 118cm but it is not my priority parameter.

[Regis-de-giens]

could any foil kite owner (experienced) advise if it hangs in the air with as low wind as another foilkite , and which model in particular ? for example, is it comparable to a sonic3 or a Soul or a Halo or a Spirit ? or another model you have compared to (following your personal test; i.e. same pilot , same wind)

[kitemancan]

I can ride in constant 8-9 knots on my 14.5m flite. It's just mowing the lawn and struggling to stay up wind but I can do it on a tt and am around 82kg. 6 knots and a foil there may be potential but I'm not into either of those.

[joriws]

could any foil kite owner (experienced) advise if it hangs in the air with as low wind as another foilkite , and which model in particular ? for example, is it comparable to a sonic3 or a Soul or a Halo or a Spirit ? or another model you have compared to (following your personal test; i.e. same pilot , same wind)

I tried Duotone DLAB 15m aluula kite back to back Sonic3 11m, for an hour or two. Winds with hand held meter head high + 1m 'wall' at beach was 2.5-3m/s.

Dlab was drifting back nicely in the lulls and not that badly front heavy as traditional LEI kites. So DLAB did not hindenburg out of sky which is great improvement. Still some flight balance issue LEI vs foil, on DLAB there was some front heaviness so making side-window to zenith was not easy. It was doable via downloop but not just by steering up. On those winds Sonic3 still (barely) climbs by steering up. I did not fly my Peaks that time because my largest one is 5m.

I was able to relaunch feet at bottom from water the DLAB on those conditions which was nice. On lulls the kite went peacefully down. I think this was the most important finding that DLAB behaves a lot like foil kite on low winds.

On power impulse-wise, getting to hydrofoil (Moses W790 1550cm2 if I remember correctly) was possible and flying too. Jibes were hard sending kite via zenith because of prolonged drift required. Downlooping jibes doable. So power levels at that wind & wind gradient both kites were equal.

Here is a winter race video with the same DLAB I tested. Conditions were horrible with 15-19m foil kites having troubles flying too. DLAB was flown by experienced (different) kiters on both races. On second race Sonic3 15m blasted past DLAB by the rider using the DLAB on first race. On first race helped grounded LEI kite and DLAB relaunched well.

DLAB aluula is a good kite IMO but is it worth the money (3000e)? Sonic3 11m is like 60% the price..

[McLovin]

A different take on the OR Aluula kites:

I will refrain from the LIGHT WIND OLYMPICS convo - my .02 if it's blowing less than 15 knots you might want to consider mountain biking

I have a couple years on my 14.5m A Flite - and this season added a 11m / 9m RISE A's to the fleet. Take any numbers with a BIG grain of SALT as i'm about 280lbs so typically ride a size or 2/3 bigger than all the little people. The Flite's pretty well know by now and the Aluula version of it is super DOPE - many top tier days riding the 14.5m in 17-24mph winds with a BIG CARVED 151cm TT also use 27m lines on the BIG kite with a 23" Slingy bar.

The RISE is MORE kite is many ways than the Flite - the 5 strut high aspect shape make it SUPER STABLE but also very quick and responsive to rider input - I ride my RISE kites on 22m lines and a North bar (originally used the OR Pilot, but had a massive failure with main line snapping on day #7) in proper winds the RISE flies forward which makes upwind a breeze, it tends to feel like it's always at the end of the lines ready to go like an anxious dog on a leash. The Aluula kites tend to create power on both the UP and DOWN stroke which is a plus.

IMHO a bunch of the kite's uniqueness comes from the STABLE AIR FRAME and rigidity - basically once you pump up an Aluula kite to 9-10psi it does NOT deform. The implications of this reality are that the kite eats up gusts and KEEPS ITS SHAPE basically all the time. As winds speeds go up the kite just keeps giving it more power while still in control.

Jumping people just gotta know - YES it yanks well and has great boosting ability - IMHO it's a bit more expert meaning you have to have good timing and all that vs. my old Rebel's and XR's which basically have a self jumping mode, the RISE seems to have a little less float but then again I'm not a MEGA LOOPER so I'm likely missing out on that part of the puzzle. For normal human downloops on water it's butter smooth - heli-loops will have to report in after I master those - seems like it'll be good at those too.

All around riders will like the kite's CONTROL and RESPONSIVENESS. Is it worth it? TBD for you to say - I'm selling all my old dacron kites if that answers your question...

Hope that helps!

Best,

Mc

[Regis-de-giens]

Very nice answers, thank you to both of you for your feeling details.