Single Skin kites for UL winds

[Flyboy]

My observations:

double skin racing kites have a huge amount of power on hand for light wind foiling ... however, people are using huge kites to generate that power. I see the race foilers able to go 25 knots plus in 5 -6 knots of wind using 21 m high aspect race kites. They are, of course, slow turning, but I never see them gybing in very light wind, only tacking where that is less of an issue. The kites will sit on the water ready to relaunch in a gust of wind - I'm thinking more than the 5 - 6 knots, as long as there isn't a tangle in the bridle, which can happen quite easily in very light winds. As far as can tell, swimming in with a large double skin foil kite is no joke.

I suspect single skins - like my Peak4s - aren't efficient in very low winds because they lack structure provide by the internal air pressure of double skins. So, there is a law of diminishing returns with bigger single skins. Peaks excel at a very specific type of foiling: playing around in swell & waves, particularly going downwind. They're not very good at other stuff. Swimming in with a water-logged Peak isn't much fun. Much easier if you have your board (preferably not too small) to put in on after rolling up. I now wear a proper PDF when foiling with my Peaks, because should you become separated from your board, swimming in carrying a Peak is really challenging.

[grigorib]

From what I've understood, if your kite gets in the water in ultra light winds, you won't be able to relaunch it no matter if it is a single skin or closed cell foil kite. My question is: If you are going to swim anyway, why don't we all stick to single skin kites in UL winds, as they are lighter and more "easy" to keep in the air?

Double skin gives you quite much better relaunchability and time you can relaunch before you can’t.
Single skin is “don’t touch water” thing unless you’re ready to swim.

Double skin wings fly better. A spiderweb can stay flying in zero wind but you can’t ride it. Even inflatable kites stay up
In the air in less wind than you need to be able to ride. Keeping it in the air helps you bodydragging in, but you’re still swimming.

There are no miracles, no matter how much we want to believe in them

[jbrodin]

I have a Soul and Peaks, I agree that the Soul is a better kite in nearly all regards, but for hydrofoiling and long ski-kite trips I prefer the Peaks. For hydrofoiling it has all to do with keeping the kite in the sky. Where I go out the wind is always unstable. My 8m Peak and large front wing gets me on the water with the same low end as the guys that go out with big racing foil kites. There are lulls when they can keep going and I may sink, but as the Peak stays up anyway, I just wait out the lull and get going again. The problem with the closed cell kites is that if you make the slightest mistake and fail to keep the kite constantly moving, they fall out of the sky. In such low winds relaunch is often not an option anyway, so it is all about keeping the kite in the sky. When I get better and more fluent in all transitions I might reconsider. On snow I use the Peaks because of the 5th line and the light packing weight.

[drsurf]

In my experience and weight, 65kg the Peak4/5 single skin kites give the best fun in light wind foiling. I say that with the following provisos.
First I'm referring to foiling with an appropriately sized surf foil. You need a foil which gets up quickly and easily and doesn't drop you when you hit a lull. Also needs to turn well to extract the fun from a Peak kite.

There is a chance you'll crash a Peak kite and it may not relaunch... but a single skin kite is very light and will stay in the air easier and longer than all other kites. A large twin skin foil kite will also stay airborne in light wind but is far more technical to manage as it can overfly or fly too close to the edge of the window and collapse. The Peak kites fly deeper in the window and are much easier to control.

Gybing any kite in light winds can be fraught as you can be turning towards the kite at or faster than the windspeed, and any kite will fall out of the air if you don't get your timing right. Single skins will cope with this better as they'll hang in just a few knots but you really need to focus on your timing, keep tension in your lines and your turn radius small.

Although larger Peak kites may feel slow to turn, when compared with their equivalent in an LEI kite or twin skin foil kite the Peak kites do turn faster. And make your comparison accurately, an 8m Peak kite is approximate to an 11-12m LEI kite.
Small Peak kites, (6m and below), are fast turning but easy to control and loads of fun.

There are lots of characteristics of a single skin kite that make them attractive for foiling but here's one you can do to see for yourself. Buy a Peak kite. They are relatively inexpensive and with Peak5 kites slowly coming onto the market there are some good deals on secondhand Peak4 kites. There's only one way to understand how a single skin kite feels and that is to try it

Ignore all the above if you're wanting to foil fast or jump in light wind. That's what a Flysurfer Soul is for.