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Frustrated with an NV in lightish wind and foiling, am I just bad?

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Re: Frustrated with an NV in lightish wind and foiling, am I just bad?

Postby Flyboy » Sat Sep 28, 2019 4:50 pm

Michaelr123 wrote:
Sat Sep 28, 2019 4:35 pm
Really good points from both of you guys. I'm not planning on getting rid of my nv, the 17 turbine might end up out of my quiver, we'll see. I think a 15 is probably more reasonable for me, but it still enjoy cruising on my door board and surfboard. I'm really looking at adding 2 kites to the quiver at this point, as I don't have anything for high winds, or what most would call good winds, but that kite should be different from this lightwind foiling kite that I'm looking at. I'm trying to avoid getting a 12 and a 10/9 m lightwind kite at this point because I'm going to run out of storage space for all these kites :D
I think it really depends a lot on where you are kiting/foiling. On the small lakes around Madison I would think that foiling would be the best option in light winds & a light strutless, or one strut kite would make the most sense for foiling there. I can't see the appeal of riding a SB or big TT in winds that would require a 17m kite - or a 15m kite - when you could be foiling with a light 12m kite ... but that's your choice to make.

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Re: Frustrated with an NV in lightish wind and foiling, am I just bad?

Postby PurdyKiter » Sat Sep 28, 2019 4:57 pm

In Light winds, foiling is the only way to go. I carry around a surf directional, and a twintip but rarely use either. With a modern strutless or light single strut kite of maybe 8-10 meters in time you should be comfortable launching and foiling in sub-whitecap conditions. Even early in the game it became a rule that if the kite will fly and stay in the air without input or power steering... you will foil.
Personally I would dump the 17m.
I love my Clouds!! They fly in near zero winds.
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Re: Frustrated with an NV in lightish wind and foiling, am I just bad?

Postby grigorib » Sat Sep 28, 2019 5:48 pm

Michaelr123 wrote:
Sat Sep 28, 2019 2:30 pm
grigorib wrote:
Sat Sep 28, 2019 3:29 am
Michaelr123 wrote:
Sat Sep 28, 2019 1:40 am


That seems to line up with what I'm feeling, so I've been looking at gong more and more :D i think a 10m strutless could work great, and the reviews have been really positive as well. It should be a good kite even after I progress on the foil as well. thoughts?
Don’t do strutless. They’re messed up in a different way.

Are you talking about strutless in general? Or gong kites? They also make a one strut which people like alot as well.
Strutless in general. Onestrut is a better, safer choice.

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Re: Frustrated with an NV in lightish wind and foiling, am I just bad?

Postby edt » Sat Sep 28, 2019 5:59 pm

#1 tune your bar. Sounds your line lengths might be bad, and the kite is flying crooked. You want to check your control bar about once a month to make sure it's in tune. #2 if the lines are equal then it's you. The NV is not particularly bad at falling out of the sky. If it's light and wind is up and down you need to actively fly the kite. 12m NV should be fine for foiling down to 10 knots. below 10 knots I would use a foil kite.

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Re: Frustrated with an NV in lightish wind and foiling, am I just bad?

Postby jumptheshark » Sat Sep 28, 2019 7:58 pm

If you want to use the kite with a tt go with at least one strut! Strutless are really pretty foil specific with at best some wave crossover.

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Re: Frustrated with an NV in lightish wind and foiling, am I just bad?

Postby TomW » Sat Sep 28, 2019 11:02 pm

I'm using Hyperlinks 7-9-13m but other hydrofoilers around me are using slingshot sst, Ozone Reo, Storm kites with good results in light winds down to 10 knots. Everyone is using foil kites like Soul or Hyperlink under 10 knots

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Re: Frustrated with an NV in lightish wind and foiling, am I just bad?

Postby Michaelr123 » Sun Sep 29, 2019 9:22 pm

went out for a session yesterday where we spent a lot of time on the beach waiting for the wind. When it finally came up, it was light, the other guys with me were on their 14m apollo's and really fast foils. I knew my NV wasn't going to cut it in the winds we had, so I decided to run back to the car and grab the turbine. Low and behold, a 17m turbine will work for foiling with an fsurf, albeit, almost completely de-powered even in 10mph or so wind. had a lot fun working with the foil and started getting some really nice runs! Unfortunately (for me) the wind kept getting stronger and worse than that it was really gusty. I quickly found out what its like to be way overpowered on a foil lol... in retrospect, I should have gone back in and traded kites, but oh well, I had fun and got a great workout getting beat up by the big girl :) I was also wishing I found a 15m instead of the 17! lol

So a few things I learned/figured out, the apollo's are for going really fast, these guys cruise all over the lake at close to 30mph with these things. The Turbine was perfect while the wind was lower and closer to shore for water starting over and over again to get the feel down. Eventually as I started getting better at popping out of the water and staying up on the foil is when I figured out that a giant kite is way too much power very quickly, and didn't want to pull me along at 10 mph without a lot of work going downwind or upwind.

So I did some more reading and I'm thinking of sticking with a one strut kite, maybe i'll try a strutless at some point, but I'm leaning towards a mono right now. To go off that, I've read alot about the ultra, as well as the unik's. I've heard good things about boxers as well. obviously the unik is the budget pick here, but maybe I could find a used boxer or ultra v2 at a similarish price. so now I just need to figure out size, so assuming i keep my current quiver, i see the 10m as the better long term option that rounds out my quiver better. a lightweight 12m seems like what i'd rather have for ultra low wind, but could be a bit much for more normal days but would also be a better pick for learning right away with the bit of extra power for water starting and just being inefficient in general. does it seem like i'm heading in the right direction?

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Re: Frustrated with an NV in lightish wind and foiling, am I just bad?

Postby Flyboy » Mon Sep 30, 2019 3:54 am

Michaelr123 wrote:
Sun Sep 29, 2019 9:22 pm
went out for a session yesterday where we spent a lot of time on the beach waiting for the wind. When it finally came up, it was light, the other guys with me were on their 14m apollo's and really fast foils. I knew my NV wasn't going to cut it in the winds we had, so I decided to run back to the car and grab the turbine. Low and behold, a 17m turbine will work for foiling with an fsurf, albeit, almost completely de-powered even in 10mph or so wind. had a lot fun working with the foil and started getting some really nice runs! Unfortunately (for me) the wind kept getting stronger and worse than that it was really gusty. I quickly found out what its like to be way overpowered on a foil lol... in retrospect, I should have gone back in and traded kites, but oh well, I had fun and got a great workout getting beat up by the big girl :) I was also wishing I found a 15m instead of the 17! lol

So a few things I learned/figured out, the apollo's are for going really fast, these guys cruise all over the lake at close to 30mph with these things. The Turbine was perfect while the wind was lower and closer to shore for water starting over and over again to get the feel down. Eventually as I started getting better at popping out of the water and staying up on the foil is when I figured out that a giant kite is way too much power very quickly, and didn't want to pull me along at 10 mph without a lot of work going downwind or upwind.

So I did some more reading and I'm thinking of sticking with a one strut kite, maybe i'll try a strutless at some point, but I'm leaning towards a mono right now. To go off that, I've read alot about the ultra, as well as the unik's. I've heard good things about boxers as well. obviously the unik is the budget pick here, but maybe I could find a used boxer or ultra v2 at a similarish price. so now I just need to figure out size, so assuming i keep my current quiver, i see the 10m as the better long term option that rounds out my quiver better. a lightweight 12m seems like what i'd rather have for ultra low wind, but could be a bit much for more normal days but would also be a better pick for learning right away with the bit of extra power for water starting and just being inefficient in general. does it seem like i'm heading in the right direction?
Everything you're writing makes sense. Having plenty of power does make water starting easier as you don't have to finesse the kite at all ... but you end up getting over powered quickly once you're up & foiling. Apollos are high aspect kites, so closer to a foil kite in some ways & will allow the foiler to maximize speed.

It's annoying to get rid of kites you've paid a lot for that don't suit your purposes anymore ... but I really can't imagine continuing to use a 17m (or 15m) kite with a TT or SB when you have the option to foil. So ... might make mores sense to sell the 17m (& the 12m NV) & get a light weight 12m no strut or single strut. A 12m one strut will double as a lighter wind TT or SB kite better than a no strut. 10m or 12m is a difficult decision for the reasons you mention, since for anything other than the most marginal wind, a 10m would probably be better. However a 12m together with a 9m wave kite would be a good option IMO.
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Re: Frustrated with an NV in lightish wind and foiling, am I just bad?

Postby Peter_Frank » Mon Sep 30, 2019 7:26 am

Agree, a lightish 12 m2 and a wave 9 m2 is a good combo, and you can foil down to 7-8 knots when learned, and from 10 knots use your 9 m2, which also will be perfect as a lightwind kite for a surfboard.

And both can be used with a TT.

OR, keep your current NV V8 12 m2 and learn to fly it in light wind (longer lines), and then get a 9 m2 wavekite and get rid of the bigger ones.


Flyboy is spot on, a 15 or 17 m2 makes absolutely no sense anymore, when you got a foil, boring as h... with other boards, and almost useless with a hydrofoil.

You could also go for a 10 m2 kite instead of a 12, and omit the lightwind days below 8-9 knots, and then get a 7 or 8 m2 as a higher wind kite, which will also be a kite which is perfect for surfboards (where a 9 m2 is close to boringly big).

Depends on your local winds and likings.

8) PF
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Re: Frustrated with an NV in lightish wind and foiling, am I just bad?

Postby Michaelr123 » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:13 pm

Peter_Frank wrote:
Mon Sep 30, 2019 7:26 am
OR, keep your current NV V8 12 m2 and learn to fly it in light wind (longer lines), and then get a 9 m2 wavekite and get rid of the bigger one
Lol there's a new idea! just toss the two kites I have and start over... Then I could do something like a 12m ultra and a 9m boxer or something like that. A 9 and 12m would probably make more sense for snowkiting on the lakes as well (we get both sports here in wisconsin :) ) as I know a 17m would pretty much be way too much except for winds that can barely get the thing to fly. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around not needing a 13-15m big kite, but i guess that's what you get with foiling!


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