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Flysurfer Soul

For all foil kite riders
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edt
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Re: Flysurfer Soul

Postby edt » Tue Jun 29, 2021 7:48 pm

my feeling is control bar width is all personal preference. As long as I can loop the kite when I pin the bar to 90 degrees then it's wide enough.

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Re: Flysurfer Soul

Postby kitexpert » Tue Jun 29, 2021 10:28 pm

I was today on 15m Soul with normal size bar (52 or 55cm) and it felt quite slow. I looped it once and I was close to crash it which would have been embarrassing. But I guess I didn't crank it hard enough because my hand is so used to LEI kites nowadays.

17m LEI turns much faster than 15m Soul and very probably it is faster than 13m Soul.

I'd use it with 60cm bar definitely

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Re: Flysurfer Soul

Postby nothing2seehere » Wed Jun 30, 2021 8:28 am

airsail wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 7:23 pm
nothing2seehere wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 1:48 pm
Its been mentioned before in this thread but you can go too big with a bar. If you go too wide, you end up stalling one side of the kite too much and lose all drive out of the kite in the turn which kind of defeats the object of having a kite like the soul that has drive through the turns.
But this is also the advantage of using a long bar, you can chose to stall one side of the kite, flipping it 180° with no pull. This is very handy in a crash, you can turn the kite hard back up without being dragged through the water.
I use a 60cm bar on my 10mtr Soul, works great.
I think this is where it becomes a foil kite user vs tube kite user preference. The soul is targeted at LEI kite riders (like me) who want to dip their toes into the world of foil kites and the designers would have removed a lot of the stall turn that you traditionally see in foil kites to make the platform accessible to both parties.

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Re: Flysurfer Soul

Postby andylc » Wed Jun 30, 2021 10:20 am

Agree - earlier comment about longer bar causing stall and reducing power through the turn seems a bit of a moot point as the amount of power in the turn can be too much anyway with the Soul, compared to an LEI it loops slowly and with a lot of power, this certainly caught me out on the downloop a couple of times.

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Re: Flysurfer Soul

Postby kitexpert » Wed Jun 30, 2021 9:41 pm

Longer bar may stall inner wingtip but outer wingtip which really does the turn flies more freely (if bar is angled in usual way). But because you don't have to turn longer bar too much it just offers an option to turn kite more effectively compared to short bar which would need uncomfortable fish pole action for same result.

But these are matters of taste and flying habits. It also affects how much you have sheeted in during the turn or if not at all.

An issue with Soul is loop is slow and power comes late, and finally there is a lot of it. I was downlooping while turning and it almost pulled me off the board. But ok I'm sure you can get used to it.

PL arc offers much more LEI like feel than Soul but those kites are quite rare nowadays.

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Re: Flysurfer Soul

Postby jbrodin » Sun Jul 04, 2021 12:09 pm

10m Soul for TT boosting in 14-20 knots. What line lenghts would you use? So far I only tried the standard 21m on my infinity-bar, and longer in light wind. What woukd be the advantages/drawbacks in taking off the 4m extensions and going wirh 17 m?

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Re: Flysurfer Soul

Postby SolarSet » Sun Jul 04, 2021 12:59 pm

jbrodin wrote:
Sun Jul 04, 2021 12:09 pm
10m Soul for TT boosting in 14-20 knots. What line lenghts would you use? So far I only tried the standard 21m on my infinity-bar, and longer in light wind. What woukd be the advantages/drawbacks in taking off the 4m extensions and going wirh 17 m?
I used to ride my soul 15m often on 17m lines it’s looses quite a bit of lower range, I don’t feel it be significant quicker comparing to 21m. Nowadays I would only ride short line on foil because if I need to ride it on 17m then I can easy ride on my XR6 11m which is more fun.
Soul 10m is on my mind since I started to learn foiling.
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Re: Flysurfer Soul

Postby SolarSet » Tue Jul 20, 2021 12:21 pm

Hey I'm looking for some advice on getting my next foiling kite. Currently I have XR6 8/11m which kinda sucks for foiling and Soul 15m which is way better.
Could someone put bullet points for pro/cons of getting Souls vs Airush Ultra or single strut Contra? I'm considering Soul 9 or 10m to be added or Airush ultra in size 9m?
Currently I have Zeeko Blaster which is 750cm^2 front wing and I'm starting to learn gybes, next year probably would go with Onda
I'm familiar with flying close cell kite mainly on TT and I ridden it only 5 times on foil but I understand its headaches, never ridden single or strutless kite,
I was keen on Soul but on my home spot most people ride Onda or other foils with DT Evo/Neo and it makes me think if everyone else rides LEI hydrofoiling instead of closecell foil kite maybe it's not worth the hassle to get Soul in smaller size?

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Re: Flysurfer Soul

Postby FLandOBX » Tue Jul 20, 2021 1:00 pm

SolarSet wrote:
Tue Jul 20, 2021 12:21 pm
Hey I'm looking for some advice on getting my next foiling kite. Currently I have XR6 8/11m which kinda sucks for foiling and Soul 15m which is way better.
Could someone put bullet points for pro/cons of getting Souls vs Airush Ultra or single strut Contra? I'm considering Soul 9 or 10m to be added or Airush ultra in size 9m?
Currently I have Zeeko Blaster which is 750cm^2 front wing and I'm starting to learn gybes, next year probably would go with Onda
I'm familiar with flying close cell kite mainly on TT and I ridden it only 5 times on foil but I understand its headaches, never ridden single or strutless kite,
I was keen on Soul but on my home spot most people ride Onda or other foils with DT Evo/Neo and it makes me think if everyone else rides LEI hydrofoiling instead of closecell foil kite maybe it's not worth the hassle to get Soul in smaller size?
Here are a few thoughts.
1. You'll improve your hydrofoiling more quickly by changing your front wing to something in the 1000-1250 cm2 range. Go ahead and get the Onda. Then think about kites.
2. If you do #1, you'll retire your 15m Soul from hydrofoiling. It's too big.
3. A 10m Soul will give you much more lift than any LEI, making certain maneuvers easier to learn (e.g., tacks, 360s, foot switches).
4. A 10m Soul will be your go-to kite for light wind, if you have a large front wing like the Onda. A 10m Soul will get you out on foil while the LEIs are watching from the beach.
5. All LEIs will turn and loop faster than a 10m Soul. That's not to say that you can't loop the Soul. You can, but your timing will be different.
6. You'll learn to manage the Soul so it's not really a hassle to use, especially in light wind. The only time I worry about using the Soul for hydrofoil is when the wind picks up dramatically and there's no one around to help me land it. Self-landing an over-powered closed cell foil sometimes can be a challenge.

I use a Soul 10m for light wind hydrofoil, and I use LEIs to hydrofoil in stronger wind. :thumb:
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Re: Flysurfer Soul

Postby Nelis » Tue Jul 20, 2021 2:18 pm

Couldn't agree more with FLandOBX on all points.


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