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Sounds about right. That's why I don't use foils in winter here, our winds like that too.

I'm guessing you left it at the zenith? Get it over to the side, and get moving on the water!

Nah, I got un-expectedly lifted with it at ~10 oclock (still a bit high, but if I put it lower it was folding lower tip in the lulls and losing controlability, pulling me sideways in gusts and dropping out in lulls). When I kept it low it was pulling enough to stop me getting the board on, you might think I should depower it but in the lulls it just did it's own thing with slack back lines. The lack of bar feedback makes it hard to judge correct bar pressure so I'm guessing I need a bit more practice and when it was in a sweet spot for a 30 second stretch it felt great, then a gust came and it over-flew me before I could react.

Genuinely walked off the beach wanting to sell it. Took a few hours to calm down.

Is this a new kite and bar? Did you launch it fully depowered? I always launch my FS's trimmed for full power, this allows it to fill much quicker and is easier to handle. Once it's inflated I then depower.

Sounds to me you just need a little more practice. Did you do a bridle check? Usually they are good right out of the bag but I've had a couple that needed some tweaking.

These foils aren't the best in gusts but they have gone a long way. Sounds to me like either a bridal/line adjustment is needed or you need to trim better for the launch.

It's used, but barely. I launched fully powered after reading advice on here (counter to my normal methods) but even so I felt like I didn't have enough back line tension somehow.

I did a bridle twist check (but not a full on length check of each one) but I'm not sure it was perfect - I couldn't see any problems on the beach (in gusty wind with them blowing about and getting hooked up on dry seaweed) and it didn't look distorted in the air (no obvious twists, looked symmetric etc) but when I returned home I took about 20 minutes to turn the pulleys through loops and eventually be able to fully separate ABC and Z sections so there's a chance it could have been at least partially inter-twined. I'm guessing that might have been it. I've attached the bar and lines and left them attached now I know it's all correct.

I'll do a mixer test just to see if anything is amiss there and give it another swing. It filled quicker than I expected for sure, was happy with that. I'll try to find a less gusty day too.

Do a bridle check and also check your bar lines. These new S5s take gusts pretty damn well so there has to be a problem somewhere.

=Jason-

coffeeking wrote: ↑

Mon May 15, 2017 4:01 pm

Nah, I got un-expectedly lifted with it at ~10 oclock (still a bit high, but if I put it lower it was folding lower tip in the lulls and losing controlability, pulling me sideways in gusts and dropping out in lulls). When I kept it low it was pulling enough to stop me getting the board on, you might think I should depower it but in the lulls it just did it's own thing with slack back lines. The lack of bar feedback makes it hard to judge correct bar pressure so I'm guessing I need a bit more practice and when it was in a sweet spot for a 30 second stretch it felt great, then a gust came and it over-flew me before I could react.

Genuinely walked off the beach wanting to sell it. Took a few hours to calm down.

I bet you're on an inland lake...? The gusts are a lot more brutal than they are at the ocean here. IMO 12's are pretty twitchy anyway, so everything you describe is par for the course in crap weather. Smaller foils are so easy to over-power too, I don't like my 12 for that reason.

Overflying isn't an issue unless it's front-stalling, and it shouldn't be doing that...except for the usual caveats. It'll surge a lot further forward than LEIs will but should still be stable.

There's plenty of feedback you just have to learn the language

If it's going to overshoot, just sheet the whole way in, then sheet out to keep it flying. Foils are a whole other level of finesse, as you're discovering

Nah, but it felt like it! https://goo.gl/maps/HijmYyS6FF52 on a SSE, wind coming over the castle so likely a bit more shifty than normal.

When it overflew it drifted down and back which resulted in a sudden line tensioning when it finally drifted back enough, and another rush to the edge of the window and a quick teabagging No amount of steering input would get it to go further sideways lol.

I'll give it a go in a cleaner wind. On the plus side, it felt super safe when I leashed it into the drink!

Coming right up the coast line? No wonder it's gnarly, on shore. Here's our spot: https://goo.gl/maps/nrF4z8qdmFH2 if the wind is NW at all, the hills make it messy. Tend to only use the foil kites in N or NE wind cos I'm just too lazy to be bothered with dealing with the hassles.

Sheet in and out sooner

Normally wouldn't have even considered it "be wary" weather with something like the waroo, I'd just rig and go!

coffeeking wrote: ↑

Wed May 17, 2017 3:33 pm

Normally wouldn't have even considered it "be wary" weather with something like the waroo, I'd just rig and go!

Flatter kite, higher AR... Just different.