kite for foiling in 11-15 knots

[richieski]

I use hyperlink 9m for 6kn - 10kn

[palmbeacher]

Cabrinha Contra S1 9m is my favorite. I have owned Ozone Chrono, Cloud, Duotone Mono, Cabrinha Velocity & Apollo. None of them beat the performance and range of the new Contra.

[RalfsB]

I am using the one strut Naish Boxer 9m for these conditions. Curious: what size foil kite would be a good match?

[JoseTumaco]

What's wrong with just using your Enduro? I had a 9 v1 a few years ago and it was a pretty decent kite for foiling in that 11kts+ wind range. Stays in the air without fighting too much, it can relaunch, big flight window, turns well, and you're used to flying it.
Using a kite you already have is always going to be the cheapest option...

Thanks, you are right, I used it in winds above 15 knots and it is nice. But between 11 and 15 knots it is difficult, it falls/stalls easily when I gibe, and I have to be very agressive to re-take it so it doesn´t fall to the water. I read that strutless or one strut kites do not stall so easily in gibes.

[grigorib]

7m UFO would be my choice

Thanks, I really want something not so slow as Soul, why do you prefer Ufo to other kites in foiling? What is the fealing?

It turns faster than single and 3 strut kites, has great lowend, stays in the air in lulls, relaunches perfectly and packs tight and light. Also it provides amazing support in zenith for tacks

[galewarning]

Due to frustration when trying to foil in threshold (8-12kt) conditions, using a 10 to 12m 3-strut kites, I bit the bullet and bought a 9m UFO 1.1. At my low skill level, the result was... wow! No more constant backstalling and having to give so much attention to flying the kite, when the wind drops and there are barely any whitecaps. Now I know what the Cloud and strutless peeps have been talking about. It's amazing how much a lighter weight kite improves the fun factor in light wind. I'm overpowered at about 15mph on the 9m UFO. I'm not good enough for a foil/ram kite yet and plan on adding another 1 or 2 UFO to my quiver.
BTW, I'm about 168 lb (75kg) and foil with a LF Impulse 1100, but have a Phantasm 633 waiting for its maiden voyage.

[Flyboy]

I have read a lot of information relative to this question, but need some more help.
I own a 12 m Soul and 12 m Hiperlink (in bad conditions now), also Ozone Enduro 9m for TT.
Soul is great for most of may days in my spot, with 8-10 knots normaly, where I need power to go. But I need a new kit for foiling when the wind is above 11 knots, because Soul gets to "slow" and powerfull. I am 73kg and own 82 and 91 Moses mast, w600, w679, w550.

I am thinking in: a) 9m Ultra b) 6m Peak c) Other one strut or none strut 9 m kit.

What do you think about? Thaks for your commets.

Curious to know what the conditions are like in Tumaco. I spent a month at Santa Veronica, which has a point break with epic waves on the right day ... although a bit scary with a foil at times with all the wood in the water.

A 6m or 5m Peak4 would be a nice compliment to the Soul. You don't necessarily need "waves" - ridable swell will do it. But as others have said, once you get to 11 knots + any lighter kite like the UFO would deliver similar fun performance. Peaks are in a class of their own in terms of light weight & pack down functionality, but water relaunchability can be an issue which you're not going to have at +11 knots with something like a UFO.

[bragnouff]

What's wrong with just using your Enduro? I had a 9 v1 a few years ago and it was a pretty decent kite for foiling in that 11kts+ wind range. Stays in the air without fighting too much, it can relaunch, big flight window, turns well, and you're used to flying it.
Using a kite you already have is always going to be the cheapest option...

Thanks, you are right, I used it in winds above 15 knots and it is nice. But between 11 and 15 knots it is difficult, it falls/stalls easily when I gibe, and I have to be very agressive to re-take it so it doesn´t fall to the water. I read that strutless or one strut kites do not stall so easily in gibes.

Surely when it's flown in lighter winds than what you're used to on the TT, it takes a bit of adaptation, some different trimming and some finesse and aggressive steering at times. I also had a 12m Enduro to cover the sub 12kts range, and this was definitely much harder to manage than the 9 in 11kts+. I'm relying heavily on speed and downloops to prevent cases of stalling. I'm sure there are better kites dedicated for foiling now, I'm using Peaks now, but as far as I remember, the Enduro 9m was a fairly decent kite for foiling.

[JoseTumaco]

I have read a lot of information relative to this question, but need some more help.
I own a 12 m Soul and 12 m Hiperlink (in bad conditions now), also Ozone Enduro 9m for TT.
Soul is great for most of may days in my spot, with 8-10 knots normaly, where I need power to go. But I need a new kit for foiling when the wind is above 11 knots, because Soul gets to "slow" and powerfull. I am 73kg and own 82 and 91 Moses mast, w600, w679, w550.

I am thinking in: a) 9m Ultra b) 6m Peak c) Other one strut or none strut 9 m kit.

What do you think about? Thaks for your commets.

Curious to know what the conditions are like in Tumaco. I spent a month at Santa Veronica, which has a point break with epic waves on the right day ... although a bit scary with a foil at times with all the wood in the water.

A 6m or 5m Peak4 would be a nice compliment to the Soul. You don't necessarily need "waves" - ridable swell will do it. But as others have said, once you get to 11 knots + any lighter kite like the UFO would deliver similar fun performance. Peaks are in a class of their own in terms of light weight & pack down functionality, but water relaunchability can be an issue which you're not going to have at +11 knots with something like a UFO.

Tumaco is in the Pacífic coast, in the border with Ecuador, very nice spot, it is a Bay, flat water many days, but not a lot of wind, from 8 to 10 knots 80% of days, always good for foiling, and 11 to15 knots 10% of days, 10% of days without wind. Best months july to november. See US in instagram kitesurftumaco.

Thanks for your answer, I am coming from a big and powerfull 12 Soul, and I am thinking in a 6m Peak4 (big temptation) or a 1S or strutless. But I am a bit afraid that Peak4 is not powerfull enough in my 10 days of 11/15 knots. Under 10 knots I have my Soul. I foil 3 years ago, 3 days a week, like going from A to B, jumping is not my prefference, and there are not even little waves here. I dont worry about relaunchability, because I am near the beach. So I am still not sure. Reading all your posts I think 1 S or strutless is a best option in my particular case.

Thanks to all

[tmcfarla]

5m peak4 would be my choice. Cheap and amazing performance. Obviously there are some drawbacks of single skin kites, and maybe not the choice for all locations, but they are so nice in that wind with a foil