Postby Regis-de-giens » Fri Feb 03, 2023 5:08 am
I have almost no experience on the soul, but from my discussions it is "in between" the two. Closer to the soul from my exchanges with a friend who knows the 3 kites, on below aspects :
- easiness
-stability
- depower
(Where sonic3 does not shine).
Kestrel, like the soul, likes to be riden with some shhet-in. It increases it power when sheet in, decreases when sheet out, and does not accelerate when sheet out (kind of similar as a lei , where the sonic3 or elf will accelerate and peak power when sheet out)
I have or had sonic3, sonic2, pulsion, elf joker5, gin spirit, f-one halo, pansh a15 and hawk and aurora, skycontry spirit, and I tryied frs (1st version) and toon. Hard to say it is really in between kites.... It has some features , pro and cons, of each. Better if you ask me to compare with one kite of the list.indeed i would stamp it "freeride performance freestyle foilkite" but with good easiness.
Overall :
good turn/ loop comparable to frs, halo and almost like pulsion. Better than gin spirit / toon and Far better than sonic2 or 3 , millions times better than joker5 15m.
good depower like soul, frs. Far better than elf, and a15, better than spirit and pulsion and sonic3 and sonic2.
Good stab ; not as good as pulsion but better than sonic3 in case of pilot error
Low wind ability to zenith.in the air: comparable to soul if not better from my friend advice. Comparable to sonic3 in static but far better when you work / loop the kestrel. Far worse than pulsion, worse than frs 27gr and skycountry spirit, a bit worse than halo. A bit Better than elf.
Jump height : few experience bit in the range of soul. Better than pulsion . For now worse than gin but i think this is a matter of wind range and adaptation of technics to the Kestrel. Since it has a good turn and a good depower, it should be a killer in jumps.
Floating hangtime without loops: not as good as sonic3, elf and gin. Better than hawk, pulsion and frs i think. Close to a15 maybe but more room to improve with experience with kestrel.
Backstall : impressively no backstall when you sheet in "too much" . That put its easiness to beginners very high, or high tolerance when you try new tricks. Fone halo or sonic2-3 are ore sensitive regarding backstalling when sheet in. Kestrel is comparable to pulsion, frs.
Windrange is in my opinion the wider i know,. Probably equivalent to frs if not better. I would guess 7-25 'knots in extreme on hydrofoil. For comparison for my freeride use, pulsion 15m is 5-15 knots, elf j5 15m is 7-13 knots, gin is 6-14 knots. Sonic 13m was 7/8 - 20 knots (but lower if you want to "pkay" and not go in staight line).
funalex could explain the design but overall its turn ability and upoer wind range is this "inverted V shape " of the canopy, while other freerace kite have a flat center , so higher projected area giving more power per m2.