so my current foil that i love, it totally sinks right away, alum mast and solid carbon wings and alum fuse,, which is fine but wow, when it get's pointed downwind and the waves get behind it, it takes off. so if my kite went down and turned into a mess, i think my board would be long gone,, alternatively, my buddies foil that he let's me use (cause he foils like once a year), the foil floats on it's side and while i swear that thing will actually go upwind on it's own, it is pretty easy to body drag up to, or intersect with as it slowly goes down wind,, it seems to have about a 10 minute or so floating period.
i like to think i am beyond any drama's as foiling wise i am very competent now but, this summer, a very skilled, long time foiler came to our spot with his clouds and went out in the middle, wind ebbed and his kite went down and he couldn't relaunch it,,8m cloud (D or E) very lucky 2 of us went out there,, one guy stayed with his board but couldn't get it cause he was foiling himself plus his kite was on the light wind
i use foil kites 60% of the time,, hyperlink and chrono. and i am always pushing the limit of their low end, so they have gone down a couple time and been a bitch to relaunch in lulls.
who likes a floating foil vs a foil that stay down