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Looking for some advice. Low wind kite foiling. 5-12knots

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Trigen
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Looking for some advice. Low wind kite foiling. 5-12knots

Postby Trigen » Sat Jul 03, 2021 7:54 pm

Hi there chaps!

Looking to fill in the low wind gaps and start kite foiling. There's a ton of boards and foils out there and i'd like to keep the budget as low as possible and hopefully only buy once but maybe add another front wing. Ive been looking at the Gong X over kite foil kit for a bit and i can get 20% off on Core SLC and Nobile but i find the first a bit on the expensive side and the latter a bit to far away from what i want. Second hand is also of interest

Id prefer something with good lift and not to fuzzed about the speed while i learn and an extra wing for more speed later on. the LW is the most important though. If the wind picks up im on my TT with kiteloops and oldschool tricks but id love to be able to just cruise on glass and very light chop.

Trigen

dave1986
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Re: Looking for some advice. Low wind kite foiling. 5-12knots

Postby dave1986 » Sat Jul 03, 2021 8:57 pm

For low winds choose a larger hydrofoil wing. Around 900cm² to 1300cm² is normally good. There are many good freeride hydrofoils on the market like the Moses(SAB) 633 wing... or other foils of similar size. Gong make good value hydrofoils too. But there are also some less than perfect gear on the market (like some of the older foils from 3+years ago, or like race foils).

But if you want to get going in the very lightest wind then you'll need a light weight kite. In my opinion the kite is more important than the specific hydrofoil for riding in under 10knots. A standard 3 or 5 strut kite will only be good down to around 10-12knots.

Examples of some of the best kites for hydrofoiling in under 10 knots are as follows: ( In order from highest-performance & best low-end power to the lower-performance & less low-end power).

1) High aspect ultralight race foil kites (E.g. Flysurfer VMG/ Ozone R1 V3/V4)

2) High aspect ultralight freeride foil kites (E.g Flysurfer Sonic 3/ Ozone Chrono V3/V4)

3) Medium aspect ultralight freeride foil kites (E.g. Flysurfer Soul, Ozone Hyperlink )

4) Single strut/ no strut tube/LEI kite (E.g. Ozone Alpha , Airush Ultra, Naish Boxer, F-One Breeze).

5) Single skin foil kites (E.g. Flysurfer Peak 4/ Ozone Explore). Note these fly in very low winds but their relaunch is difficult.

For most people 2) , 3) and 4) are the most suitable option for a balance of usability and performance.
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Re: Looking for some advice. Low wind kite foiling. 5-12knots

Postby ieism » Sat Jul 03, 2021 9:20 pm

I'm a total beginner, so might not be the best reference.. But I have the X-over set. I can foil in 5 to 6 knots with an 11m peak 4. I know this because there was a dude on the beach with a meter that showed exacy 5 to 6 knots when I was out on my second session.
But there are lots of second hand foil sets that could do that I think, so it depends a bit on your local market and how expensive shipping and import from Gong is for your region.
I'm happy with my set, its heavy but extremely bombproof and well thought out. It also feels balanced and easy to learn on to me. But I've never used another foil, so who knows. It was 400euro, if it lasts me a season before I upgrade, I can live with that at that price. I might get half back if I sell it, that's good value to me. Its basically a whole season for the price of a single kite foil lesson..

I also saw they have the original allvator in stock and for only 300. I think that mast is a lot lighter than the new one and it would also be a good option if you don't want to wait. I think the new V2 mast is so heavy and stiff because people who pump the foil like surfers need more stiffness. For beginner kitefoiling, I dunno maybe I would have actually preferred a lighter mast.
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Re: Looking for some advice. Low wind kite foiling. 5-12knots

Postby Peter_Frank » Sat Jul 03, 2021 9:51 pm

You are asking for too much IMO.

Aim for 7 to 12 knots instead, when on a limited budget.

As Dave has almost pointed out, you need #1 or 2 maybe 3 to go down to 5 knots (assuming you are average weight)

If you take group 4 or 5 you will need more wind, and they can not hang in 5 knots, they will drop.
Only the Peak4 can hang in this low wind, but it has absolutely no peak power in marginal winds so not an option.

Group 1-2-3 are really expensive !

You could go for second hand yes, but can be difficult as you dont know if they work or are worn or out of trim?

Also, VERY difficult to handle, if you are not experienced with these.

So I would aim for 7 to 12 knots instead, as here you can ride with a really light strutless or 1 strut tubekite, or a lower cost foilkite, or second hand.

7 knots of wind is exactly twice as much wind force (kite lift) as 5 knots, and from 7 knots it is possible with reasonably medium cost gear.
NOT so around 5 knots, which is really tricky and costly....

8) Peter
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Re: Looking for some advice. Low wind kite foiling. 5-12knots

Postby rnelias » Sat Jul 03, 2021 10:05 pm

I'm 72kg and can hydrofoil in 7-10k range with a 1250cm^2 wing and Ozone Alpha 8m with no issue. The kite weights 2kg, less than the Soul 12m (2.3kg) and makes my life easy on water while practicing...

I also have a Soul 12m, however, as I'm still in the early stages on hydrofoil, I usually prefer to ride LEI kites to focus just on the board and forget about the kite...

Moreover, I usually find myself overpowered with this Soul combined with a 1250cm^2 and is hard to keep a confortable ride when wind goes beyond 12kt...
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Re: Looking for some advice. Low wind kite foiling. 5-12knots

Postby 1234567Simon » Sat Jul 03, 2021 10:07 pm

Pansh A15 12m UL ….
😜😜😜😜😜😜
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Re: Looking for some advice. Low wind kite foiling. 5-12knots

Postby bkkite » Sun Jul 04, 2021 12:19 am

I'm 95kg, and I found that the Slingshot Infinity 76 wing (Ride Engine Manta 76) was the perfect wing for me. I think i would have cut my learning time in half, had I just started with that. I have a Nobile Infinity foil splitboard (will post a review in a few days), and I didn't love the Nobile foil / wings. I learned after I bought the board that its compatible with the 2019 and later Slingshots.

I can ride in 7-10 knots, and honestly the best part about it is riding on those glassy sunny hot summer days with no wind. I just posted this in another thread, but here's the timeline and the gear I used:

Kites - Core XR4 9m , 12m, 15m and XR5 7m

- July 2019 - First Lesson - 2hours of bucking bronco on a liquid force foil
- Aug 2019 - Wake foil - 30 min of porpoising behind a boat
- Aug 2019 - Jetski Foil - 1hr of getting water boarded by a jetski
- Oct 2019 - Foil session on my own - 1 hour, riding well to the left and ok to the right
- Jan 2020 - 4 foil lessons - 12 hours Got riding in both directions and started working on carving turns - was using some strange unstable small foils
- Feb 2020 - 2 foil session on my own- 2.5 hours Slingshot Hover glide foil with Spake Skate wing - riding confidently in both directions.
- July 2020 - Nov 2020 - did 8 more sessions on my own - 8 hours - still couldn't carve.
- Bought a much bigger wing, got the Infinity 76 / Manta 76
- April 2020 - 4 hours - started carving
- June 2020 - Bought a 12m Xlite and 9m Nexus 2 (these are both way more fun for foiling than the 5 struts)
- June 2020 - Bought the Slingshot Apollo 60 wing (similar to Moses 633 but slightly smaller) - great wing to start riding faster with sharper carving


I'm putting together a video on learning to foil, but here's a video of all the humbling moments...
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Trigen
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Re: Looking for some advice. Low wind kite foiling. 5-12knots

Postby Trigen » Sun Jul 04, 2021 7:26 am

thanks everyone appreciate the input! Lots of good info here so 7-12 knots seems to be the place to be.

The main reason i wish to save as much as possible on the foil itself is so i can grab another kite or two. Given that the ram air kites tend to be pretty darn expensive i'd probably just get a 12 for the very low days and use as No strut or single strut for a bit more. Gong has these actually. Should have included that info. I also have a 7 9 12 17 Core GTS. Ive also looked at the Gin single skin kites but it says version 2 coming soon and i cant find any v1 around.

I can also get 20% on Peter lynn nova kites but i know nothing about them so for the most part i will probably hunt for some second hand stuff. Great list of options there from Dave. Cheers! Ive flown foils 2-3 times btw so i have some experience with them

So on the cheap for the kites at least Gong single or no strut + a used foil
Or a 9m Core Xlite + a 12m foil.

Pretty much all suitable foils are sold out these days so im looking at October to get started.

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Re: Looking for some advice. Low wind kite foiling. 5-12knots

Postby Flyboy » Sun Jul 04, 2021 8:37 am

Trigen wrote:
Sun Jul 04, 2021 7:26 am
thanks everyone appreciate the input! Lots of good info here so 7-12 knots seems to be the place to be.

The main reason i wish to save as much as possible on the foil itself is so i can grab another kite or two. Given that the ram air kites tend to be pretty darn expensive i'd probably just get a 12 for the very low days and use as No strut or single strut for a bit more. Gong has these actually. Should have included that info. I also have a 7 9 12 17 Core GTS. Ive also looked at the Gin single skin kites but it says version 2 coming soon and i cant find any v1 around.

I can also get 20% on Peter lynn nova kites but i know nothing about them so for the most part i will probably hunt for some second hand stuff. Great list of options there from Dave. Cheers! Ive flown foils 2-3 times btw so i have some experience with them

So on the cheap for the kites at least Gong single or no strut + a used foil
Or a 9m Core Xlite + a 12m foil.

Pretty much all suitable foils are sold out these days so im looking at October to get started.
Realistically, you're not going to learn to foil in 5 - 12 knots ... or even 7 - 12 knots. As has been pointed out many times, when you're starting to foil you should be aiming for winds in the 12 - 16 knots range. You're going to be falling a lot at first & keeping a kite in the air in under 12 knots when you're falling awkwardly is not easy. Dropping the kite in light wind will be an exercise in frustration as you will spend all your time drifting downwind while you try to relaunch the kite & waterstart the foil. So better to get the foil & start in minimum 12 knots using your existing 3 strut kites. Once you've mastered the basics: water starting, cruising up & downwind & starting to get your flying gybing, then you can start looking for what kind of kite to get to use in lighter winds.
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Re: Looking for some advice. Low wind kite foiling. 5-12knots

Postby Peter_Frank » Sun Jul 04, 2021 9:36 am

True Flyboy, but it doesn't matter, as he can learn with this gear in more wind, and then slowly learn to ride in less and less wind.

It is not like he always has this low wind, but ride TT when more.

Now he has to learn foiling when more wind, instead :rollgrin:

8) Peter


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