Ultralight vs standard foil kite degradation

[Regis-de-giens]

Ultralight fabric has clear performance benefits over standard fabric, but I expect the benefits are less noticeable in stronger winds.

It would be interesting to hear opinions on what size foil kites they would choose ultralight fabric over standard fabric considering the faster wear expected for ultralight fabric (of course if money is no object then ultralight is always the clear choice).

Ideally I would like to hear from someone who has flown the same model of foil kite back-to-back in both ultralight and standard fabric in medium or strong wind strength to get their opinion on whether the fabric makes a significant performance difference even when the wind picks up.

In my case, 60kg and hydrofoiling and snowkite, i tested same kite (CA pulsion 12m) in different cloth (much more pleasure with UL cloth under 9 knots )and i can conclude with my personal taste:

- 18 or 15m (pulsion) , say 4-6 knots: i will never buy a kite of 15m in std cloth . 32gr is good but 27 gr better , noticeable (also see with a FS speed 2 Silver Arrow : Speed3 dlx was worse in 6-7 knots).

- 12 m (pulsion and plusion S, kitech FRS), say 7-9 knots : i highly prefer UL but intermediate cloth could do the job (with less pleasure: decontraction and agility)

- 9m (pansh a9 and kitech frs) , say 8-12 knots: std cloth is acceptable. Still more fun with light cloth like 32 gr, but "balanced" arguments for snowkite for example.

Above 13 knots : std is enough (except in waves with HF in on-shore wind).

Ps: these figures need to be adapted for a heavier rider : 12m instead of my 9m, ect ...

[dave1986]

Above 13 knots : std is enough (except in waves with HF in on-shore wind).

Thanks for this advice. This makes me think that if I bought a 9m Chrono V3 (to go with my 13m) then I would choose the standard fabric. Although the extra price for UL is minimal for this size kite.

[Adventure Logs]

The biggest problem the UL fabric tended to have back in the day was that it would lose it's air tightness faster which mean performance and relaunch would degrade at a faster rate. Unsure how this new technology in fabric ages though. There use to be a video of a comparison of Flysurfers DLX and STD fabric with the kites competing back to back and it showed as the kite got smaller, the difference was let noticeable. If I remember correctly it showed that anything under something like a 15m wasn't worth the extra money. Now this was like 6/7 years ago plus and with hydofoiling now I would still get it on say a 11/12m, but anything smaller than that I wouldn't bother.

=Jason-

[geokite]

Is there a difference in how different fabrics stick to water? A fabric that is more hydrophobic should be easier to relaunch, and shake off wet sand easier.

[Foil]

oops wrong thread, deleted

[foilholio]

Water or sand sticking is about the coating. If it completely repeals water it does make relaunch especially in light wind much easier.

[Adventure Logs]

The old Lotus fabric from Flysurfer was extremely airtight but had a problem at the beach I was at of sand sticking to it dry or wet. Something about the silicon content in the sand.

[sms-kite]

Hello,

My 2 cents.
A light fabric is thinner and the coating is really small. So it is clear that it will be destroyed sooner. The main second problem is that the coating protect the fabric from the ultraviolet. So at the end when you have lost the coating you will lost the mechanical capacity.
The second point is that in my mind what ever the size of the kite... The problème is the wind you go. To me the 9-10 kts is when you change. For exemple if you ride a 19sm in TT you will go in 10 12kts with a lot of charge on the kite... The kite will fly no problems. But if you take a 19sm for foiling in 5 kts. It will à better choice in light.
So to me if you charge the kite got a 30D or 40gr\sm
If you don't charge the kite (light foil) or if you have strange wind or if you are not really familiar with foil kite in foiling take the light 20D or around 30gr\sm.

Have fun

Nono

[Breze]

Slightly OT, i found this from April 2010
While writing a paper for his master’s thesis, Reinhart Paelinck did some scientific research to determine how a kite’s weight affects it handling in the air.
https://www.thekiteboarder.com/2010/04/ ... important/

[Sfollis]

My experience is that there are big flying characteristics between UL and standard. I had a 7m Chrono standard cloth kite and was never 100 happy compared to my other UL kites (all bigger). The kite never sat quite right in the wind window and didn’t fall or turn the same when down-looping even in strong winds. In the end I swapped it for a UL Chrono and now is one of my favourite kites.

Conclusion, if you are using the kite for Foiling, pay the extra and buy a UL version.