Soul 9m PMA Adjustment

[keegster17]

Hi guys,

I know how to adjust the PMA"s on my 9m Soul, however I want to get more stability, higher boost with it, and less collapsing wings in gust. so what side of the kite I adjust to achieve this. A lot of people quickly mention top side or bottom side of kite, but I find this not detailed enough. I would say topside of the kite in the air looking at the sky (topside), or kite in the air bottom side looking down at the ground (bottom side), does help.

I find the kite is fast, but at my weight 175lbs (80kgs) I found when jumping I was not boosting enough and coming down fast, I also found as mentioned in gusty conditions, the 9m wings where collapsing.

Any advise.

[evan]

Bottom = faster and less stable profile
Top/back = more stable and grunt

[jakemoore]

I would check line lengths first, mixer second and long mixer third.

You might find empirically shortening the C line at the mixer a little bit gives you the desired change. Change 1 cm at a time.

You could imagine the PMA has the greatest effect on the kites flight when the lines are slack for example if a wind direction change puts the kite outside the wind window a lot. Also a bigger effect if you are riding downwind into the kite slacking the lines.

I like my Soul on a less stable faster turning position for free-ride foiling but it does make it untenable to fly in strong gusty winds where it would be a great booster.

To adjust the PMA toward stability, shorten the knots on the extrados (top skin) one knot on one PMA (per side) at a time.

extrados = [ http://tpevolavion.e-monsite.com/pages/ ... iples.html ]

[Janus]

+1 for checking, lines and mixer first. Al equal and then indeed shorten C.
My 10m was unstabel. I think it is now on A, B-1,5cm, C-3cm. Love it.

[keegster17]

Thanks guys for your posts. I did do the long mixer test, I set everything as equal, maybe I will adjust the "C" to be shorter and try that, before changing PMA again.

[keegster17]

Janus, I guess I can make that adjustment you recommend via a short mixer test, to make it easier, than doing long mixer test in this situation?

[jakemoore]

Yes at the short mixer. If you have already done the long mixer the short mixer may not be even. Just shorten the C 1 cm at a time from wherever it is.

[Janus]

Yes at the short mixer. If you have already done the long mixer the short mixer may not be even. Just shorten the C 1 cm at a time from wherever it is.

Yup, if you have done the long mixer and all is equall under tension then that is your base, and probably both sides are the same; compare the mixer C pulley line left and right, same length?
Go fly the kite, unstable: put it down; shorten C-pulley line left 1cm shorter compared to the right C-pulley line.. and then make the right C-pulley line the same (new) length as the left... you don't have to check the complete mixer.. just shorten the C-pulley line.
Fly again, still unstable?; repeat the above till it is stable enough.
If you have a real unstable kite then shorten the C the first time with 2cm.. could spare an adjustment / landing.

Also make sure there isn't a small knot somewhere in your briddle.. been there..

[keegster17]

ok, yes did long mixer test last year. Last night I adjusted the "C" lines -2cm compared to A&Z, and "B" is about -1.5Cm to A&Z. I made this change via short mixer test, to save time, versus long mixer, hopefully that works. The kite is fine, I am just not use to it as I normally fly my bigger kites 12m and 18m. I want the 9M more like the 10m Soul, As the 10M Soul I found have more boost and grunt at my size 80kg, also want I want it more stable in our gusty conditions, as many seem to mention the 9m is less stable than 10m Soul in gusts, but not sure if this is entirely true or not.

[nothing2seehere]

Hi. I assume you have looked at the Soul user manual (https://flysurfer.com/files/dlm_uploads ... ual-EN.pdf ). It talks about the effect of the PMA adjustments. If I remember correctly I think people on the massive Flysurfer Soul thread suggested just making a change to only one or two of the outer wing tip PMAs (and Armin also made a few suggestions about stability) but the guy on this thread here (https://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Kit ... erformance) changed each one. You will note that he wanted a higher boosting kite at the expense of stability. Don't forget that the 9m soul has slightly different characteristics to the 10m due to its different aspect ratio.

The second point is that you can't really adjust for BOTH better boosting and stability together. You kind of have to pick one or the other. As it is, I would have expected the 9m with its lower aspect ratio to be more stable than the 10m in gusty winds but gusty winds are pretty rubbish to kite in regardless of kite.

As I understand it, the advantage of the PMA over bridle changes are that the PMA adjustment changes the aerofoil shape throughout the entire bar stroke rather than just at full power. Foilholio explained is on one of the pansh threads if I remember correctly.

Not sure how experienced with foil kites you are but I have found its worth checking a mixer multiple times. I've been known to do a mixer test, then check it again the next day and be amazed how far out it is on one side or the other.

Hope this might help