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just arrived a new 9mtr soul joins my family of foil kites, need advice!

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kitexpert
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Re: just arrived a new 9mtr soul joins my family of foil kites, need advice!

Postby kitexpert » Sat Jul 04, 2020 2:33 pm

Carlos_C wrote:
Fri Jul 03, 2020 9:27 am
Colin...its great hearing about your foil journey....I remember the early days on Kiteboarder.co.uk.......

The older foils were fine - Flysurfer got their act together with the Psycho 3's - around 2006 - I had earlier foils like the psycho 1 - which jumped - went upwind and relaunched and was unstable as hell - scared the shit out of lots of people.
This is very correct. About ten years ago I had a chance to test 13m Psycho 1, and it was an interesting experience. Kite actually amazed me with the ease of boosting but I must say it didn't feel that reassuring. Structure or design of kite was quite impressive, lot of cells and very narrow cells in the small wingtips. Canopy curve was pretty flat, details of the bridle or mixer I don't remember but I guess bridle was long. That one had been through hard times, there was some tape repairs and LE seams were damaged but it was still somehow flyable in one piece. Some years earlier I rescued the owner of it, he did a violent coming to the shore heading through the parking lot to nearby road before I grabbed it... And I now remember how original owner before that had some death loops with it in early years, I think it was his first and last kite :)... Really not a beginner kite - unfortunately both of these guys were beginners then.

Couple of weeks ago I tested 13m P3, in exceptionally good shape. Kite had quite long flying lines and turning speed was slow but other than that it worked just fine. Bar was also nice but QR of those days was bad and donkey dick ws typically broken. I did some jumps and it was also ok (wind was pretty low) pull was soft and nice. It did one collapse from the edge but it was light wind and I was helping another kiter to relaunch so it was a user error. Other than that kite was stable and had no wingtip folds, it just flied.

Psycho3 is still a usable kite and you can't compare it to kite like Pansh Genesis, it is so much better kite than that.

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Re: just arrived a new 9mtr soul joins my family of foil kites, need advice!

Postby slide » Sat Jul 04, 2020 4:13 pm

i always liked the 10metre pyscho3 best for its speed and fly abillity, its true with alot of old kite designs the small medium range can still be great to fly ,but the bigger size's proberly not so much
and thats true with flexifoil blades too and proberly most of the old kite designs that were considered ground breaking designs at the time

but for me the speed 1's were the first really good flysurfer , i heard the pyscho 2 was a bit of a handful , but i never flew one so i don't have any personal experiance

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Re: just arrived a new 9mtr soul joins my family of foil kites, need advice!

Postby kitexpert » Sat Jul 04, 2020 9:20 pm

Psycho2 was a tamed kite compared to P1 but for example in 10m size I don't have at all bad memories of it. It was the best foil kite of its time for sure. But when Psycho3 came it was a clear step forward because it was so much faster. P3 was (AFAIK) the first foil kite with a modern two pulley speed system which is a standard now.

I redesigned big Psycho2 bridle completely and I was able to make it fly and turn faster, main goal was to make it boost easier. Bridle length (drag) was cut about 50% and horrible long pulley line (which shrinked and ruined wingtips) was ditched. I called it Psycho2.5 but at that time Speeds were already available, better kites.

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Re: just arrived a new 9mtr soul joins my family of foil kites, need advice!

Postby jakemoore » Sat Jul 04, 2020 10:29 pm

kitexpert wrote:
Sat Jul 04, 2020 9:20 pm
P3 was (AFAIK) the first foil kite with a modern two pulley speed system which is a standard now.
Original Pulse was the first and Psycho 3 followed close behind.


Voodoo (10) and Psycho 2 (17) were the first kites that let me ride up wind consistently. They were a big step up just as the Pulse and Psycho 3 were. Psycho 3 was one of my all time favorites. But I wonder if I were to compare Psycho 3 to the Soul if I would forget about romancing the past and just enjoy the kites we have today more.

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Re: just arrived a new 9mtr soul joins my family of foil kites, need advice!

Postby Carlos_C » Sat Jul 04, 2020 10:41 pm

I still have a quiver of psycho 3's 8 - 10 - 13 in the attic - the 8 is a brilliant kite still - but the progress the newer kites have really shows. My 13 mt Sonic2 is so so so much better than the 13 psycho3..upwind - jumping even turning speed - the sonic is about 2 mt longer as well

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Re: just arrived a new 9mtr soul joins my family of foil kites, need advice!

Postby downunder » Sun Jul 05, 2020 2:29 pm

Jimmi Petrov wrote:
Fri Jul 03, 2020 7:08 pm
Hi, Colin.
We met year and a half ago on Flag Beach ( Bulgarian guy) and I missed you this New Year on the Flag😄
I had almost same path with foil kites like you.
Hyperlink V1- 9 and 12 m. They were terrible for water relaunch( I often kite in irregular winds). 5 min in the water and they were both full of water. Later I tried HL V2 and it was little bit better, but not much.
Then i got Soul 15. Amazing. I had a case when I spent 50 min with kite in the water and with first puff i relaunched it. My friends can’t believe.
I got 6,and 10 and used them for an year. All my Souls are super stable and give you huge confidence even in bad winds, as I know they will always relaunch. Zero swims in an year.
I had 2 problems with Souls - they have a lot of grunt( sit little deep in wind window) and when overpowered the downloop after the jibe was too violent. This limits the usefull range of the kite, as even you can depower and ride comfortable, you know you will explode after jibe foot change and down loop. You can try to minimise this, fully powering the kite just before the jibe and realy crank the kiteloop, but in realy overpowered condissions it doesnt helps.
This winter i got Sonic 3 and it is the best kite I ever flown.
Very sporty, goes upwind like hell, endless depower( you can’t believe what range the 9 has), fully controlable loops, enormous low end, jumps higher and loftier than Soul. It’s build by same material as Soul and relaunching is excelent. In my oppinion this is by far the best freeride foil kite on the market now. If you can, try 9 and/or 11. I sold my 10 and 15 Souls and kept only 6 for higher winds. Now my go on the water kite is Sonic 9. I use 11 only bellow 8 knots.
Cheers😄
Well,

Sorry to burst your bubble, but everyone on the beach yesterday could see 2 Souls, one 10 and one 15, took more water than there is water in the Ocean :)

I was on 10.

It is not that it does not relaunch. It does. Only when it does not. And that is when the line tension is gone, bow tie, drops, folds completely and stays like that for some time.

This happens to any foil tho.

As the result, 4 people needed to bring 15m out, with 500L or more water, dragging over sandy shallows.

Mine felt like 100-200L. 2 people needed to be safe and not rip the panels etc.

So, there u go. Sh.t happens. It happend with Ozone too.

PS
I also think my R1 shoots at least 10-15 degrees more than Soul on TT. It is 11m tho.

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Re: just arrived a new 9mtr soul joins my family of foil kites, need advice!

Postby Foil » Sun Jul 05, 2020 4:04 pm

downunder wrote:
Sun Jul 05, 2020 2:29 pm
Jimmi Petrov wrote:
Fri Jul 03, 2020 7:08 pm
Hi, Colin.
We met year and a half ago on Flag Beach ( Bulgarian guy) and I missed you this New Year on the Flag😄
I had almost same path with foil kites like you.
Hyperlink V1- 9 and 12 m. They were terrible for water relaunch( I often kite in irregular winds). 5 min in the water and they were both full of water. Later I tried HL V2 and it was little bit better, but not much.
Then i got Soul 15. Amazing. I had a case when I spent 50 min with kite in the water and with first puff i relaunched it. My friends can’t believe.
I got 6,and 10 and used them for an year. All my Souls are super stable and give you huge confidence even in bad winds, as I know they will always relaunch. Zero swims in an year.
I had 2 problems with Souls - they have a lot of grunt( sit little deep in wind window) and when overpowered the downloop after the jibe was too violent. This limits the usefull range of the kite, as even you can depower and ride comfortable, you know you will explode after jibe foot change and down loop. You can try to minimise this, fully powering the kite just before the jibe and realy crank the kiteloop, but in realy overpowered condissions it doesnt helps.
This winter i got Sonic 3 and it is the best kite I ever flown.
Very sporty, goes upwind like hell, endless depower( you can’t believe what range the 9 has), fully controlable loops, enormous low end, jumps higher and loftier than Soul. It’s build by same material as Soul and relaunching is excelent. In my oppinion this is by far the best freeride foil kite on the market now. If you can, try 9 and/or 11. I sold my 10 and 15 Souls and kept only 6 for higher winds. Now my go on the water kite is Sonic 9. I use 11 only bellow 8 knots.
Cheers😄
Well,

Sorry to burst your bubble, but everyone on the beach yesterday could see 2 Souls, one 10 and one 15, took more water than there is water in the Ocean :)

I was on 10.

It is not that it does not relaunch. It does. Only when it does not. And that is when the line tension is gone, bow tie, drops, folds completely and stays like that for some time.

This happens to any foil tho.

As the result, 4 people needed to bring 15m out, with 500L or more water, dragging over sandy shallows.

Mine felt like 100-200L. 2 people needed to be safe and not rip the panels etc.

So, there u go. Sh.t happens. It happend with Ozone too.

PS
I also think my R1 shoots at least 10-15 degrees more than Soul on TT. It is 11m tho.

accepted and so true,
its a fact and one of the downsides of any foil kite, for this reason alone I will be so careful and weigh up the safety risks and possible outcomes of my behaviour when out at flag beach,
with luck the safety rescue boat will be on point every day, and my super wife will be on the beach with binoculars, and I always carry a pack of pains wessex mini rocket flares in a phone pouch to alert the rescue and super wife, small phone in pouch is also a main requirement.
if I did not have either the rescue boat or my lookout, then maybe I would stay inshore and avoid the more risky areas, and/or use a lei kite with a more floaty board.
In 3 years of going to flag beach for long holidays I have yet to call for rescue when using my foil kites, near 2 years now,
and have only dropped my foil kite once, inshore, and re launched within 5mins,
foil kiters have come back in on the boat, quite a few actually with race kites, who were pushing the low wind limits,
and a few free ride foilers who needed a lift back to shore, so I have been lucky, and careful. but s**t happens.
at least the soul probably has the largest margin of successful relaunches, and the simple "kite down mistakes" that happen the most are so easy to relaunch from on the soul.
the main thing that keeps my drop rate so low at flag is I can tell if the wind is about to fall light, it's a bit of a trick there, spotting the boats on anchor over near the island turning their bows towards the island signals a wind shadow about to descend over the Flag beach area, you only get around five or ten minutes to get out of the water before all kites fall from the sky, happens so often, Gunnar gave me this invaluable information a few years back.
I often rushed ashore with a few others who knew why I was going for the beach fast and straight,
its then when you look back out to sea and watch the kites drop one by one and you can spot the sad faces of the guys who avoided paying the rescue fees,
they then have to pay big cash for the one off rescue.

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Re: just arrived a new 9mtr soul joins my family of foil kites, need advice!

Postby Foil » Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:09 pm

I had the soul 9mtr out again yesterday, and it's interesting to see and feel just how different this soul is compared to my hyperlink v2 9 mtr, which is the same price point, and off the shelf, unlike the chrono v2 ul which is more expensive and is made to order.

Chalk and cheese, very different, I always believed a soul was a kite that was an easy entry to the foil kite world, after comparing the Chrono ul and v2 hyperlinks I firmly believe its the soul which is more technical to fly at its best, it truly engages the brain, and this might sound weird, but it flies like a foil kite, feels like one and no way can it ever be referred to as like flying an LEI kite, it reminds me very much of my old speed 3 dlux kite and a few others I bought back then,
I find myself checking the kites position at times as the bar feedback is so light some times, not so when hammering upwind as the feel is there, but when using delicate adjustments to the kites position,
the pull at times is firmly felt coming through the front lines pulling hard through the harness, and shouting jump me, which it does so well in a slower rise that lasts a long time and then holds me there, which again reminds me of my old kites, gliding through the air, feels great.
I still need way more time on this kite, there is no way I am going to feel at total ease until I get many more hours in,
plug and play? no way, feels like a Lei? dream on!
mind you I don't remember anyone saying anything different.
I have been believing all 3 kite brands would feel broadly the same, with some differences in jumping ability, stability in marginal winds, relaunch of course, build quality, range of use.
my early feedback is the v2 hyperlink is by far the kite I would call the plug and play kite, easy to jump from a lei kite and quickly get to grips with, feels most like an lei at the bar end, but with massively more range than any lei, does the lot, and very well. and fun to use, instant bar feedback, quick, never that scary. I would consider letting a new foil kite user have a fly of my v2 hyperlink, never would I say that about my Soul or Chrono.

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Re: just arrived a new 9mtr soul joins my family of foil kites, need advice!

Postby BillyGoatGruff » Mon Jul 13, 2020 2:45 pm

feels like a Lei? dream on!
mind you I don't remember anyone saying anything different.
Good write up Colin, I'm interested in the highlighted above as every review I read of the Soul says it flys "just like an LEI".

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Re: just arrived a new 9mtr soul joins my family of foil kites, need advice!

Postby Breze » Mon Jul 13, 2020 8:04 pm

Well, flying like a LEI can mean a lot. Cloud, Edge, Torch are all LEIs, what they have in common is relaunch with one stearing line , 4 line depower and the tips don't come in. As the Soul.
Foil, have you thought about 21m lines instead of your 23m? It is also good to shorten the stearing lines on the Soul, gives a better feedback while downlooping high of the window


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