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Generating power

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neilhapgood
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Generating power

Postby neilhapgood » Tue Sep 25, 2018 7:18 pm

Had my first session on a foil kite today, hydrofoiling on a 12m soul in 8 - 10mph.

It was all good, super impressed coming from lei's.

One question though when flying the kite up and down to generate power I was sheeting right in to turn the kite, once it's turned and is coming down through the window will you get more power if you sheet out at this point or best to keep sheeted in?

Also I was amazed with how far overhead the kite would fly, it did overfly quite easily, each time it drifted back and could be recovered but wondering if you want to avoid overflying is it best to keep sheeted in or out when it's above you?

That's all for now!

Thanks folks

plummet
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Re: Generating power

Postby plummet » Tue Sep 25, 2018 7:27 pm

Just like an lei you need to find the sweet spot on a foil kite. That sweet spot is usually bar out a little further than an lei. If you sheet in the foil too much you will choke it down and get poor performance.

kitexpert
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Re: Generating power

Postby kitexpert » Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:49 pm

Sheeted in to avoid overflying. Key to foil kite power is to get it flying fast, only after that you sheet in as much as it allows/you need power. Like plummet wrote you must learn to feel it - but this is true for any kites.

LEI kites are single skin kites, they sit deeper in the WW (although many fly quite far), and they tolerate higher AoA's than foils before backstall.

Soft single skins are much lighter in weight than other kites. They have lower L/D and practically never overfly.

In general Soul is a pinnacle of foil kite development at the moment.

foilholio
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Re: Generating power

Postby foilholio » Wed Sep 26, 2018 3:05 am

neilhapgood wrote: One question though when flying the kite up and down to generate power I was sheeting right in to turn the kite, once it's turned and is coming down through the window will you get more power if you sheet out at this point or best to keep sheeted in?
When sineing the kite up and down you can sheet in more on the down stroke and sheet out more on the up stroke. The kite has gravity on it's side coming down then against it going up. This is more apparent in lighter winds. The kite is easier to stall going up and you can get a little more power with it going down.

In general you just want to get a feel for the power coming through your harness. Maximize the pull at the harness by flying the kite as fast as possible with just a little bit of bar pressure or sheet in. Gentle turns and don't pull on the bar too much. Longer lines can really help make this easier.
neilhapgood wrote: Also I was amazed with how far overhead the kite would fly, it did overfly quite easily, each time it drifted back and could be recovered but wondering if you want to avoid overflying is it best to keep sheeted in or out when it's above you?
Sheeting in will prevent or reduce overfly. You can even backstall the kite to position it as deep in the window as you like. Most experience foil flyers will have backstall on their bar for this. Oversheeting can also give some extra little power boost and tighter turns.

Also note foils drift best directly overhead. If you position them there they usually have no issue. You can even end up way downwind and they will come back with little issue. I have done stuff like end up 10m downwind, even managed to drive a kite on short lines upwind back onto the water.

TomW
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Re: Generating power

Postby TomW » Wed Sep 26, 2018 9:20 pm

One of things I learned this year on foil kites is like foilholio says. If I tried to keep kite at 10 or 2 in light wind, sometimes the kite will drift and lower tip fold up and roll up, causing kite to taco.
I dropped it twice in really light wind doing this. Lei likes thus position in light wind.
If I keep kite almost overhead it drifts and luffs fine in super light wind. never folding in that position, where a lei would hindenburg.


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