gliding/carving with speed: kite falls (a good drifting kite)

[papasmerf]

as I go thru the learning process, i picked up a couple kites that I am very impressed with as far as drifting, needing little input or attention. a 11m chrono v3 UL and a 7m hyperlink V1 UL. the hyperlink needs more attention but that is another story.

they seem to drift great (in my opinion), i think due to their super lightweightness,,,, BUT

When i go into a carving turn, i try to go into it with some decent speed (for me at least, probably like 3 mph is super fast to me) and manytimes I will catch a wind swell wave, and suddenly I am going down the wave with what i consider to be impressive speed,, and I am a bit scared to finish my carve, and these great drifting kites that i mentioned will fall out of the sky, which doesn't make me super happy

sometimes even if i don't get caught on the swell, I will wind up doing a slightly larger radius carve, and it will also happen.

my question is,, do these 2 kites i mentioned drift better than most kites? they sure seem like it to me. has anyone with lots of experience seriously compared them to clouds or even UFO's?

my general practice is when carving to keep a hand lightly on the bar with the bar pulled down to keep line tension so the kite "follows" me, I am not actively turning the kite usually and to be clear, I am not trying to carve a turn and then head off on another tack,, i am trying to link turns from heelside to toeside, sort of going at a little angle off straight downwind.

is it too optimistic to think they should drift better,, i guess they can't drift any faster than the wind and if i am somehow exceeding windspeed, then not sure what to do. foil kites falling out of the sky=bad

I am on a North Sonar 1150 under a slingshot Hypermiler board. i am 200 lbs

[jakemoore]

Depends on the wind. In lighter winds you definitely need to fly the kite downwind to avoid foiling below it. I think most of my jibes the kite is flying straight down to the water in a down loop at the moment I go through the wind. Then carves as you describe can be accomplished while the kite is still flying downwind parallel to the horizon in the new direction. When line tension becomes too weak, it’s time to initiate another down loop and jibe again to keep the kite flying not drifting downwind.

The Hyperlink 7 in medium winds is super fun to back-stall and fly it like a stunt kites. Once it’s straight downwind of you you can ride onto it carelessly.

Setting the bar so you can back stall the kite will help downwind turns with both of these kites.

I miss my Hyperlink 7 but have moved to UFO in this size.

[Herman]

You can experience a similar kite falling out of the sky landboarding and as jakemoore says you can overcome this by active flying. Following the kite is obviously the most likely way to slack the lines. The 2 alternatives are; to send the kite first or carve accross the lines first. In light wind the send is best done as a downloop. The effects are as follows:

Send the kite first - pulls you into the turn with the early power making the carve easy but less power for ride out.

Carve accross the lines first = need to use board speed for carve, more line tension for send and power comes on later for the ride out. (I am told this is way the racers gibe because the ride out is faster,)

Please ignore the above if you don’t find it of interest. As an aside, having experimented with this, if I have a lot of board speed and little wind I would now choose to leave the kite alone carve accross the lines and downloop once a bit of line tension has built up. ( Before experimenting I used to head up to kill speed and build line tension and send the kite first, it works with a powered carve but weaker acceleration out of the turn, )

[jumptheshark]

Agree, depends on the wind. Light, and you have to actively fly the kite. Usually just a sin curve in sync with your heel to toe and back. Once there is enough wind there are lots of kites that can be set deep and left to drift as you head off the wind into a carve fest.

[papasmerf]

Depends on the wind. In lighter winds you definitely need to fly the kite downwind to avoid foiling below it. I think most of my jibes the kite is flying straight down to the water in a down loop at the moment I go through the wind. Then carves as you describe can be accomplished while the kite is still flying downwind parallel to the horizon in the new direction. When line tension becomes too weak, it’s time to initiate another down loop and jibe again to keep the kite flying not drifting downwind.

The Hyperlink 7 in medium winds is super fun to back-stall and fly it like a stunt kites. Once it’s straight downwind of you you can ride onto it carelessly.

Setting the bar so you can back stall the kite will help downwind turns with both of these kites.

I miss my Hyperlink 7 but have moved to UFO in this size.

Which size UFO do you think is closest to the hyperlink 7m? The 9 m?

[jakemoore]

I have never seen the nine.

I would say 7 UFO is between 5 and 7 HL but the UFO has better grunt foiling at lower speed so if in bumpy water the UFO might have a better low end.

[plummet]

Yep + 1 for back stall option. Also pivot loop those bastards.
Lastly foil kites are not as good as leis for deep downwind antic. Get yourself on an lei then you can go deep. Loop like crazy faster and also sometimes purposefully slack line for a period of time and then snap the kite back every time if you have the right technique.

I only use an foil kite for 11m weather. After that is all lei

[jumptheshark]

Peak4 destroys all others for kite deep downwind riding antics*

* freeride carving and surfing.

[joe f]

Another vote for the Peak 4......

I have been using Souls for the past couple of years and they are far from terrible on the drifting front (especially the smaller ones) but I am always shocked at how much I have to think about the kite when I go back on my 9m Soul after using my 5m and 4m Peaks. Downlooping would help keep line tension, but I generally just tighten up the carve.

On the peaks, I honestly forget about the kite entirely. It is a LOT of fun just playing around on the board and not having to worry about the kite dropping. You need to try it to believe it - it really is that good. Remember that you do have the worry about putting the peak in the drink with a very questionable relaunch (doable but by no means guaranteed), so to not worry in the slightest about the kite when carving shows how good the drift is. I am no Usain Bolt, but I can run at full tilt towards the kite on the beach and it just sits there obediently.

They are not perfect kites and I wouldn't use it on anything other than the foil board, but from what you say you want, you should try the peak.

[Peter_Frank]

+1 Peak4