I've been kiting for 3 years now and am very comfortable on my twintip. I recently decided to jump to foiling so I bought a Taaroa Sword 1 and Mike's Lab board. I know they're not the easiest to learn on but I was guided more by price and was able to get a really good deal.
I used a 2011 9m LEI that I got for cheap to start learning. On my 2nd session it got badly tangled in the water forcing it to be fully powered in the water and stuck in the power zone. This caused to blow up.
I decided to try a foil kite as a replacement. I got an F-One Diablo v1 10m since it was so cheap on the used market, fully knowing that it wasn't going to be the friendliest freeride foiling kite out there. I practiced on shore for a while but I could immediately tell the kite was completely different than a LEI. Pulling in the bar wouldn't give instant power like a LEI but rather just make it weakly fall into the power zone and stay there. While it was in the power zone, the angle of attack was such that I didn't feel much power. The second I sheeted out though, I would feel immense power and the kite would fly back to 12 o'clock immediately. I found this weird but I didn't question it too much. I assumed that for the kite to act more like a LEI it would need apparent wind. It would generally tug upwards on my waist harness and I was too cheap to switch to a seat harness, hence I just lived with it. So I took to the water after my beach test and started learning on my foil. In 12-14 knots wind the kite was nice to fly. Once apparent wind kicked in I would feel the power and get on the foil for 5-10 seconds at a time. Although power control didn't seem as easy as a LEI; sheeting almost felt reversed. It could be that I didn't ever ride for longer than 30 seconds at a time so didn't have the time to adapt. In 16+ knots I would feel too overpowered though no matter what I did with my depower line; getting on the foil in such winds would immediately make me gain too much speed and panic. I would have to go back to the beach and call it a day. In wind under 12 knots I would struggle to get enough apparent wind once I get on the board. On a side note, the kite was a breeze to keep in the air and water relaunching was way easier than some LEI kites I've used in the past; especially in wind less than 12 knots. Also, not needing to carry a pump made things so much easier since I didn't have to go back and forth from the beach to my car; I carry everything to the beach in one trip.
I launched my kite in my last session (7th hydrofoil learning session) when the wind was 16 knots. While I was at the beach before heading into the water it jumped to ~24 knots (I looked at the wind report afterwards). I immediately looked to land the kite. I committed to the break likes and got it softly on the ground. I called upon a fellow kitesurfer to hold the edge while I walked towards them. Instead of walking towards them, I released the break lines by mistake which caused the kite to fly up. The kitesurfer was at the same time holding the kite from the inside fabric a couple of inches from the edge instead of all the way at the edge. This caused the inside fabric to rip. The rip is a foot long and reaches as well as goes along the leading edge.
Sorry for the novel above but I feel like I need it before I ask my question.
Looking at the used market I'm able to find the below at a medium/decent price:
* Airush Ultra v2 10m
* Ozone Hyperlink v1 9m
* Flysurfer Sonic v2 9m
* Flysurfer Soul 9m (more expensive!)
I have two questions.
Is my experience with the handling and wind range of the F-One Diablo representative of how an F-One Diablo or foil kites in general should behave?
My aim is to freeride on my foil in 10-22 knots of wind. Given my situation, should I repair my F-One Diablo or get one of the above kites? If it's the latter, which one do I get?
Thanks in advance