Pulsating kite

[windmaker]

I own 2 F-One Diablo foil kites a 10m V5 and 8m V4 both flown on a 13m lines. The 10m V5 is flawless, smooth with amazing upwind performance.

The 8m V4 also performs exceedingly well but in strong wind it has an annoying tendency to pulsate back and forth at the edge of the window when going hard upwind which forces me to constantly sheet in and out to compensate for that.

Is there an adjustment i can do on the mixer (or elsewhere) to make it more stable ?

Any input greatly appreciated!

[Dingus]

I watched a kite pulsing (racing forward a metre or so then drifting back) 2 or 3 times a second on the edge of the window. Initially I thought it was a kite problem. After watching closely I felt the rider was very overpowered and losing edge pressure, then regaining it as he bounced along.

So I copied the bouncing motion and managed to get my kite to pulse in a similar way. I feel lighter kites are more responsive it is to edge pressure, and I definitely prefer that.

13m lines suggest foiling so this is probably unrelated to posters issue, although i would be interested to hear if mast flex has the same effect on kite.

[evan]

Make B a bit shorter and brake longer to get more reflex into the profile and make it more stable, but with less performance.

Also know that the 8m is just a sized down kite that didn't got the same testing as the bigger sizes as it is a size that is only used by the lighter girls in racing. Guys use mostly 11m as the smallest diablo and very rarely the 9m let alone the 8m.

getting longer lines can also help a bit, but 13m isn't that short for kitefoil racing.

[StillLovinIt]

13m lines are way too long for an 8 square meter race kite. Not sure if your measurement includes the leader lines but I ride an 8 with approx. 9 meter lines plus leader lines or about 10m from bar to pig tails and many racers go even shorter. You won't believe how much of a difference it makes in gusty conditions until you try it.

The reason a small race kite feels nervous and rocks back and forth is because it's super light and has very low drag. So every time there is a gust in 20 - 30 knot conditions the kite will accelerate like crazy and shoot forward to the new edge of the wind window. And then the wind drops again and it will fall back again. So just make the window smaller with shorter lines and you will stay in control.