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Re: Gin Kiteboarding Spirit

Posted: Sun Aug 08, 2021 5:08 am
by nate76
I'd call the bar pressure on the Spirit medium-light. My understanding is it's lighter than the Soul/Hyperlink but maybe someone who's flown those kites can chime in.

Re: Gin Kiteboarding Spirit

Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2021 10:51 pm
by fernmanus
I have flown the Gin Spirit 15m four times now. I own both FS Soul and Sonic3 in a 15m , so I think I can give a fair comparison. The Spirit looks like a Sonic3 with the tips chopped off.

I consider a 15 to be a lighter wind kite, but I have a Soul 21 for light wind. The wind has to be blowing at least 15mph for me to pull the 15 out of the bag. That being said, I fly in gusty inland conditions, so typical wind is 10 to 20 mph and I am riding a twin tip.

What I like compared to the FS kites mentioned above:
More robust bridles and pulleys.
Durable construction
zero tip fold
light bar pressure
great boosting and hang-time
better self-landing, kite is less likely to flop around when flagged out.

What could be improved:
Slower inflation, pre-inflation is a must or the two tips of the kite will be difficult to unfold when the kite is at zenith at launch. However, once inflated, there was no tip fold during flight.
Steering feels a bit disconnected compared to the FS kites, this is my biggest complaint. The FS kites feel more connected.
The storage bag is sub-par compared to the great bag and backpack from FS. The bag is exactly like the one you get with a FS Peak.

Overall, the Spirit could be a Speed 6 taking the best aspects of the Soul and the Sonic. I am a Flysurfer fan boy. I think Gin has given FS a good challenge with this kite. I think FS could one-up this kite with a more precise feel, yet there is a lot to like with the Spirit, especially the beefier bridles and pulleys. I want to try a Spirit in a 10m. I love the Soul 10m except that every time I had to pack it up in high wind, the bridle system would be completely tangled. I am not sure if Gin solved this issue, but I suspect it has to be better.

Re: Gin Kiteboarding Spirit

Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2021 4:55 am
by derek440
I have had about 20 rides on the Spirit 15m (full disclosure i have become a dealer/distributor) and I agree on most of the points above. I actually think the inflation is amazingly fast and I never pre-inflate. I agree RE the bag, I have already sent feedback to HQ that an updated bag should be included in the future when possible, I switched mine to some old bigger bags with straps. I find the Spirit bar feel really good, with Soul I found it wanted to pull me around a bit and per above the Spirit's stability and manners are impeccable, the best behaved kite I have ever ridden including water relaunch which I have done a few times now and its alwasy super fast and wants to open up and fly.

A couple of other points, despite the robust construction both the bridles and cloth are ultralight, everything is super high quality (I think the bridle lines are technora which is a super strong aramid fibre but don't quote me on that) and the kite weighs a few hundred grams less than Soul v1 or v2. The incredibly light weight is a huge advantage when using a foil as when you inevitably send the kite way past the window it just hangs in the air and drifts back. Again I have never seen a kite hang in the air as well as this kite, it is uncanny how well it behaves. When packing the bridles and rolling up you have to be careful with the bridles to not tangle as the material is so slippery they go all over the place and knot if not tied together and put in a vent to hold them. But with a methodical pack-down they always come out easily. The bottom and top end of the wind range are both great I can ride the 15m down to about 6-8kn and top end can hold right up to about 20kn on hydrofoil without issue if the wind unexpectedly picks up.

Overall I think the Spirit is the best freeride foil kite I have ever flown and I've also done a few races on it and its pretty close in performance to full race kites. Its amazingly fun, easy and super-high performance. I've been using the 10m and 15m as a full quiver for our winter and pretty much haven't missed a day with that combo, incredible coverage and a great 2 kite quiver.

Re: Gin Kiteboarding Spirit

Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2021 8:20 am
by Tomlutz
Version 2 is available here in Switzerland. Has anybody had a chance to compare with Chrono? Maybe the 15m? Thanks - Tom

Re: Gin Kiteboarding Spirit

Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 2:44 am
by elguapo
derek440 wrote:
Fri Sep 03, 2021 4:55 am
I have had about 20 rides on the Spirit 15m (full disclosure i have become a dealer/distributor) and I agree on most of the points above. I actually think the inflation is amazingly fast and I never pre-inflate. I agree RE the bag, I have already sent feedback to HQ that an updated bag should be included in the future when possible, I switched mine to some old bigger bags with straps. I find the Spirit bar feel really good, with Soul I found it wanted to pull me around a bit and per above the Spirit's stability and manners are impeccable, the best behaved kite I have ever ridden including water relaunch which I have done a few times now and its alwasy super fast and wants to open up and fly.

A couple of other points, despite the robust construction both the bridles and cloth are ultralight, everything is super high quality (I think the bridle lines are technora which is a super strong aramid fibre but don't quote me on that) and the kite weighs a few hundred grams less than Soul v1 or v2. The incredibly light weight is a huge advantage when using a foil as when you inevitably send the kite way past the window it just hangs in the air and drifts back. Again I have never seen a kite hang in the air as well as this kite, it is uncanny how well it behaves. When packing the bridles and rolling up you have to be careful with the bridles to not tangle as the material is so slippery they go all over the place and knot if not tied together and put in a vent to hold them. But with a methodical pack-down they always come out easily. The bottom and top end of the wind range are both great I can ride the 15m down to about 6-8kn and top end can hold right up to about 20kn on hydrofoil without issue if the wind unexpectedly picks up.

Overall I think the Spirit is the best freeride foil kite I have ever flown and I've also done a few races on it and its pretty close in performance to full race kites. Its amazingly fun, easy and super-high performance. I've been using the 10m and 15m as a full quiver for our winter and pretty much haven't missed a day with that combo, incredible coverage and a great 2 kite quiver.
interesting..
i actually prefer that minimalist/compression bags.. excellent for travel and is perfect to carry for self rescue.
out a 6, 8 and 12m.. i probably use the 12m and 6m the most.. the 12m more or less replaced a 15m FS VMG i used for lighr winds.. (the spirit is sufficent for my for speed runs.. but it is 1000x more forgiving of "pilot" errors)... the 6m was my primary kite this summer(ie freestyle riding)
while the kite does stalls well enough to be useful in riding decent sized swell.. the small peaks are still much better suited for foilsurfing on a kite

i do wish there was a smaller size than 6m... a 4m would be perfect for the afternoon thermal winds in cabarete..

Re: Gin Kiteboarding Spirit

Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2021 9:43 pm
by Nem0
What about a 18m version für light wind TT riding?

What are the upgrades on v2?

Re: Gin Kiteboarding Spirit

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 9:51 am
by derek440
There isn't a V2 Spirit, the Spirit is a new kite (came out about a year ago) so it is already comparable with that latest Chrono and the Spirit V2. There was a colour change moving away from the bright yellow on early kites but both colour schemes are V1, there won't be a V2 for at least a few years. Also there is no 18m Spirit, but there is an 18m of the new model the Instinct, check out the web site. I raced on the 18m instinct last weekend and it was brilliant for lightwind racing, very impressive.

Re: Gin Kiteboarding Spirit

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 10:19 am
by Regis-de-giens
hello Derek,
I was looking for number comparison between the 3 double skin models : spirit, boom and instinct;
unfortunatelly gin tables on the web site are not easily comparable since some product sheet mention the span, other the ratio... could you help ? span comparison between spirit and instinct seems questionable , to be counter checked ...
in particular , do you confirm that the instinct is more race oriented than boom and spirit ?

also interesting to mention the weight for each model please, useful for several people in pârtcular when announced as light weight :-).

thanks a lot for your clarifications.

Re: Gin Kiteboarding Spirit

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 10:46 am
by Peter_Frank
derek440 wrote:
Thu Oct 21, 2021 9:51 am
There isn't a V2 Spirit, the Spirit is a new kite (came out about a year ago) so it is already comparable with that latest Chrono and the Spirit V2. There was a colour change moving away from the bright yellow on early kites but both colour schemes are V1, there won't be a V2 for at least a few years. Also there is no 18m Spirit, but there is an 18m of the new model the Instinct, check out the web site. I raced on the 18m instinct last weekend and it was brilliant for lightwind racing, very impressive.

I am a bit confused now - how many brands got a foil kite named Spirit?
So there is a Spirit V2 but not from Gin.


A search made it even more confusing:

https://www.kiteoutlet.eu/index.php/fr/ ... y-new-2020

Or is it simply same name used?

Duotone has a foil named Spirit.

And there is a Sky Country Spirit2 also.

8) Peter

Re: Gin Kiteboarding Spirit

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 11:52 am
by elguapo
Peter_Frank wrote:
Thu Oct 21, 2021 10:46 am
derek440 wrote:
Thu Oct 21, 2021 9:51 am
There isn't a V2 Spirit, the Spirit is a new kite (came out about a year ago) so it is already comparable with that latest Chrono and the Spirit V2. There was a colour change moving away from the bright yellow on early kites but both colour schemes are V1, there won't be a V2 for at least a few years. Also there is no 18m Spirit, but there is an 18m of the new model the Instinct, check out the web site. I raced on the 18m instinct last weekend and it was brilliant for lightwind racing, very impressive.

I am a bit confused now - how many brands got a foil kite named Spirit?
So there is a Spirit V2 but not from Gin.


A search made it even more confusing:

https://www.kiteoutlet.eu/index.php/fr/ ... y-new-2020

Or is it simply same name used?

Duotone has a foil named Spirit.

And there is a Sky Country Spirit2 also.

8) Peter
yup,
that is the (FLYMAAX) gin spirit