Flysurfer Soul

[Tsachi1]

Bought a 2nd hand soul 10m .
3 times the kite has fallen in the water , 1 time it got up .
The 2 other times the kite got filled with water inside , so much water that 3 people were struggling to get it out of the water .

Is it normal that the kite drinks so much ?
Is there anything to check on it to see if something needs to be fixed?

Bought from a store , so I can return it if needed.

[rnelias]

Bought a 2nd hand soul 10m .
3 times the kite has fallen in the water , 1 time it got up .
The 2 other times the kite got filled with water inside , so much water that 3 people were struggling to get it out of the water .

Is it normal that the kite drinks so much ?
Is there anything to check on it to see if something needs to be fixed?

Bought from a store , so I can return it if needed.

First step after buying a second hand Soul is to make a mixer test, otherwise, the previous owner could be selling it because the kite was not flying very well and it's just a matter of checking the mixer and bridle.

It's not that hard as you might think and worth to try at least to know a little bit better about the kite.

[Tsachi1]

Bought a 2nd hand soul 10m .
3 times the kite has fallen in the water , 1 time it got up .
The 2 other times the kite got filled with water inside , so much water that 3 people were struggling to get it out of the water .

Is it normal that the kite drinks so much ?
Is there anything to check on it to see if something needs to be fixed?

Bought from a store , so I can return it if needed.

First step after buying a second hand Soul is to make a mixer test, otherwise, the previous owner could be selling it because the kite was not flying very well and it's just a matter of checking the mixer and bridle.

It's not that hard as you might think and worth to try at least to know a little bit better about the kite.

The kite flies ok , previous bowner has upgraded to v2 , we had it flying in the beach together. But will do the mixer test anyway .
What I'm worried about is the stiches , I saw some water going out of there when I emptied out the water from the kite. Is it normal?

[Adventure Logs]

Bought a 2nd hand soul 10m .
3 times the kite has fallen in the water , 1 time it got up .
The 2 other times the kite got filled with water inside , so much water that 3 people were struggling to get it out of the water .

Is it normal that the kite drinks so much ?
Is there anything to check on it to see if something needs to be fixed?

Bought from a store , so I can return it if needed.

First step after buying a second hand Soul is to make a mixer test, otherwise, the previous owner could be selling it because the kite was not flying very well and it's just a matter of checking the mixer and bridle.

It's not that hard as you might think and worth to try at least to know a little bit better about the kite.

The kite flies ok , previous bowner has upgraded to v2 , we had it flying in the beach together. But will do the mixer test anyway .
What I'm worried about is the stiches , I saw some water going out of there when I emptied out the water from the kite. Is it normal?

That's normal, the fabric is very water tight so only way to exit is at the stitching. Not a good habit though because that can loosen the seams which will reduce internal pressure. To properly drain a full kite you should lift from the front of the wing(intakes) and slowly lift it as the water drains out the wing tips. I'll usually do this in sections so not to do too much at one time.

About your kite taking on water, we need some details. How long was it on the water? Which position was it in? Calm/rough water? All foils will take on water, and if you are in the surf that can speed up the process. The Soul's intakes are designed in a position to help reduce water intake but it still can happen. From your post, I'm going to assume you are new to foils. This is expected as you learn the differences. I think as you'll progress you'll see less and less of this problem.

[edt]

A new soul doesn't fill with water you can relaunch it 10 minutes later. Older souls will get wet it depends on how old it is how much water it takes on. New souls there's no water coming out from the stitches it only comes out of the drain holes near the wingtips. So yes it's normal on an older kite to leak like this but it sounds like yours is pretty worn. That's one reason a new soul is so nice they relaunch so easily

Make sure you properly self rescue. If you can't relaunch swim to the kite and roll it up tightly keeping the intakes from drinking water. It helps to pull out the deflate flaps first. When you are done the kite should be tightly rolled up like a cigar and no water will be inside. Place the kite on your board to keep it out of the water and swim in.

This is a good skill to practice. It took me several tries when starting out before I could bring the kite in with no water in it.

It's not good for the kite to be full off water as it stresses the kite to be pulled on the beach when it's full of water.

If the kite is full of water and you relaunch it full of water the water will come out of the drain holes which is fine. When I self rescue normally the water didn't get into the kite by it sitting on the water is because I didn't properly self rescue. You can't drag a kite to shore like a tube kite have to roll out up first. Otherwise it will fill up with water. That's something I think every foil kiter learns the hard way.

[Tsachi1]

Yeah I'm new to kite foils .
Both happened on the waves( 40cm +-)
1st was really at the beach entrance .
The shop owner wanted to demonstrate me how the kite relanches from water , so he asked me to go just far enough to fall the kite on the water ( on shore wind ) , stall the kite and flip it just as it about to touch the water . So it landed with the intakes down . Then he told me not to touch anything at the bar , and see how it goes up by itself.
Obviously that did not happen , and we waited around 3-4 minutes . At this time the kite was full of water already.
I was standing on shallows , resisting the kite with my body while it was upside down.


The 2nd time it filled with water , I was on the way out with my foil on the waves, I did not time the kite movement when a set of waves came , kite didn't have enough power to go up again, and the tip touched the water . Then it fell , and waves got me and the kite back to the beach .

From what I understand from your comments this is pretty normal , right ?
So what do you do if kite falls down near waves ?
Will it always fill with water ?

[airsail]

A big no no with a foil kite is drag on the front lines when the kite is in the water, it pumps water into the kite. Now if you have dropped it in the wave zone there is going to be a lot of water movement and pulling on the front lines, hence filling the kite. Nothing you can do about it, it’s going to fill with water if dropped in the wave zone.
If dropped in relatively still water, no waves, the kite will generally sort itself out and relaunch, but don’t drag on the front lines, just be patient. Something not possible in the wave zone.

[edt]

If your foil kite gets eaten by waves you are swimming back to shore with a soggy kite full of water. It's not a tube kite. Even with a tube kite I usually full release if a wave eats it and swim back to the beach.

Just don't crash it in the waves. It's ok to crash it in the slick.

When you water relaunch a foil kite that is leading edge down you should always reverse launch it. Don't pull one rear line like a tube kite pull both rear lines. The soul relaunches very well but you only have seconds to do it if you are on waves otherwise it gets eaten and that's it.

Have fun I hope you stick with it. The soul is one of my favorite kites.

[Nem0]

The shop owner wanted to demonstrate me how the kite relanches from water , so he asked me to go just far enough to fall the kite on the water ( on shore wind ) , stall the kite and flip it just as it about to touch the water . So it landed with the intakes down . Then he told me not to touch anything at the bar , and see how it goes up by itself.
Obviously that did not happen , and we waited around 3-4 minutes . At this time the kite was full of water already.

That sounds like the show owner has no clue, what he is talking about!

[jbrodin]

Bought a 2nd hand soul 10m .
3 times the kite has fallen in the water , 1 time it got up .
The 2 other times the kite got filled with water inside , so much water that 3 people were struggling to get it out of the water .

Is it normal that the kite drinks so much ?
Is there anything to check on it to see if something needs to be fixed?

Bought from a store , so I can return it if needed.

This and what you have written after, sounds common enough. I have a Soul 10 m and it is my favorite kite by far. Learning to handle it and love it is a process. As long as there is at least 10 knots of wind I can always relaunch, but it sometimes winds around itself in a manner that requires intervention. The water comes inn mainly if the intakes are facing into the surf or are getting dragged if you pull the kite by the front lines while it is facing the wrong way. If the kite has taken in a bit of water it is usually on one side you can drain it by keeping it upright in the wind while keeping tension on the front lines, just so much that it does not take off (if it takes off with water it will just swirl down on the side the water is at - this kan take quite a while, but it is much faster than resetting totally.

In the end the main strength of the Soul is not the relaunch, but rather its ability to stay in the air, but that off course puts a cap on how much you can push yourself as far as learning new stuff - at least that's when I sometimes crash the kite.