Pansh Kestrel, high performance kite

[Regis-de-giens]

Yesterday i tested in 9-16 knots on a hydrofoil, and was very comfortable , not feeling the high end, almost no trim....

I was in confidence to try 360's , backloops, kiteloops (in 12 knots only), tacks and got not fear or instabilities at all.

You're in very high confidence from the first ride, but you feel in paralel that with a bit more expérience on how to ride it, you will "discover" new things.

Today i would not say its target is light wind for light riders. It likes wind, jumps, turns.

[mede]

Regis - why would you use a 15 foil kite instead of a lightweight reactive 12m2 tube kite in 9-16 knts kitefoiling, if there is no advantage in super light wind also (not a polemic question, really interested)?

[SolarSet]

Regis - why would you use a 15 foil kite instead of a lightweight reactive 12m2 tube kite in 9-16 knts kitefoiling, if there is no advantage in super light wind also (not a polemic question, really interested)?

Tube kite will fall of sky once you get to 8-9kts not careful, once wind pick up even to 10kts it will be way more difficult to relaunch tube vs foil kite. Good foil kite will hang in air in 6-7kts unlike any tube

[Windigo1]

Regis - why would you use a 15 foil kite instead of a lightweight reactive 12m2 tube kite in 9-16 knts kitefoiling, if there is no advantage in super light wind also (not a polemic question, really interested)?

Tube kite will fall of sky once you get to 8-9kts not careful, once wind pick up even to 10kts it will be way more difficult to relaunch tube vs foil kite. Good foil kite will hang in air in 6-7kts unlike any tube

What kind of tube kite do you use? I can foil for hours in 8-9 knots with my Airush Ultra and it will never touch the water. This is the kind of wind we get often in the summer when the late afternoon breeze comes in!

[Regis-de-giens]

First : when i buy a kite, it is often curiosity and i do not see as "final" quiver at first sight. I have a lot of (too much) kites and like riding different styles.

Indeed in 11 knots or more i like lei a lot. I like foilkite a lot as well...

I also practice snowkite which justify that i need a whole foilkite quiver.

Indeed, should the wind go bellow 10-11 knots, main lei will not water relaunch compared to all foilkites. Even if aluula allows me to relaunch a bit lower, even this non-light-wind-oprimized Kestrel relaunches with less wind.

Also the hangtime is better with foilkite which allows me to do double backloop on foil and tripple backloop on tt which I cannot with lei with my skills..upwind and speed is better even if in my taste, a lei is enough rapid for my personal taste.

Lei is more agile, more plug and play, which i love sometimes, so just ... Différent pro and cons... And i admit i get more satisfaction of foilkite piloting and manage the special power. Successes are more rewarding.

But you touched a point since i indeed will assess if in kestrel sweet spot i would "prefer " a lei or not
Hope this humblily explains my approach.

I propose we go back to original topic on kestrel kite

[TritonFoils]

Back on topic....

Regis, give us a little more context re: your thoughts on the power of kestrel relative to other ram air kites in terms of performance and power?

It is closer to the Sonic 3 in that it is higher aspect than the Soul say? It seems to turn very quickly in the videos on this thread for a 15m.

What do you think is happening here?

And in terms of power, what take 2m off in terms of power vs. FS at 15m?

Would it be right to characterize the kestrel as a freestyle kite - not race and not boosting but something in-between?

This is a bit of hole right now in the line ups of the various big brands especially in smaller sizes.

The 6M kestrel would be very interesting to try.

Rudy @ Triton Foils

[Regis-de-giens]

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.

[Bille]

Bille,

I understand your bias towards foil kites.

What I don’t understand is why you are looking at buying a relatively untested new design when you regularly kite at one of the more gusty lakes known to man? I don’t have to tell you how crazy Mohave can get. I would have a go with a Gin Spirit or FS Soul or a PL at Mohave, but there are a lot of foil kites I would never fly there.

You might want to let someone else do the beta testing in really gusty conditions before you put your money down on a new design.

Mostly because I trust the unbiased opinion of the OP !

I already have a full array or Ozone Edges ; some of which are early
designs with the thin LE , that have a way better speed range than
the fat LE of the Edge has now.

I also gotta tell Ya ; I really Hate LEI's ; I'd take a foil over
them at any day.

Bille

[Smeagle]

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.

Thank you very much for your informations so far!

I kite a lot in very bad wind conditions, gusty/turbulent. ~5 knots...20 knots. I now mainly use Hawk 12m in those conditions. More stable and easy to use in these bad conditions. Tried Soul (of a friend), but it does not come closed to hawk. Has more power but is just no fun to "struggle" all the time... If the wind get's lower, I switch to Hysper 14m. This one also is very, very stable in bad wind. (I ordered a 8m Hysper). The only other foil kite I can use in those conditions is my A15 15m, but I now prefer the Hysper most of the time. The A15 really has a lot better performance, but is more difficult to handle.

Have you tried the Kestrel in turbulent/gusty wind, can you compare to A15, Hawk or Hysper? From your videos it looks like your spots is not that turbulent, right? I kite at lakes, between some mountains, that makes the wind really bad...

Maybe, Kestrel would be an option to get more performance and still be easy enough to handle?

I am very curious, but have so many kites already

Thanks!

- Oliver

[Regis-de-giens]

The wind was indeed not very turbulent.
In realy turbulent wind i would avoid medium-high aspect ratio. Kestrel seems more stable than other kites of similar medium high ratio, but as you have noticed between hawk and soul, It is really uncompfortable to struggle, and i am not sure that the Kestrel will lead to less struggle because higher aspect ratio.

I think hawk is an excellent "balance" with far more depower than a15 (and also a bit less power than a15). I had a hawk 8m , sold, and now 6m and 4m, not tested yet .

I owned previously hysper2 in 14m, 8m and 4m . Indeed very stable and safe, no accidental lift, very very stable. But i prefer the compfort , glide and reward of double skins .