Hi all,
People asked me for a review of f-lite board with Onda, so here it is.
There are two of us here on our local beach who bought this board and Onda set. My buddy was out numerous times already and I was out only 3 times with this setup.
Both us totally love the setup and higly recommend Onda with a no-volume board as you don't need volume on the board anymore for most situations. (I only tried CF f-lite, but I am sure other boards with a track or multiple holes will work as well.
Pros:
Onda produces so much early lift that you don't need volume board to get going. Literally you just need to extend your front leg during iniital kite-dive and you come up instantly on the first dive from 6 knots +.
Onda is insanely stable. You can almost think about something else, listen to music , push the board down, up, sideways as you ride and it just recovers to a stable position.
Riding without straps on this combo is super easy. What surprised me was the fact that it literally floats on its side with the front wing remaining at the surface by itself! That means, you don't need to be quick to get on the board before it sinks. It just sits there just waiting for you to get on. it even continues to float like this all by itself , sometimes for a minute when you fall off and lose the board.
Despite the fact that board has no volume, I was comfortably sitting on it during kite relaunch. ie: it can support your weight.. I suspect the reason is that Onda wing provides some additional buoyancy (is it hollow inside??? ) anyway, don't know why, but it was NOT sinking under me when I was sitting on it.
Board is stiff enough.. I did some jumps and landings were nice and I did not feel the board wobble under me..
Board is 115 cm and 2.5 kg! Finally a travel set that will fit into a small bag.
Board is a thing of beauty. really pleasure to hold and stand on.
Board is very comfortable and does not feel small .
I could go pretty fast, despite this huge wing.. (another thread discussing the top speed). But the point is it was a comfortable ride. The wing was not becoming unstable at higher speed. But, I could feel increasingly more lift and increasing pressure on my from foot as speed increased ..
Can go VERY VERY slow! and still be flying.. awesome.. practice tricks at low speed.
My buddy is now doing aerial transitions on this combo.. (he was also doing them on T40 ). it seem very effortless for him.
And he did not bring his T40 back to the beach even once since he got the f-lite.
We now use 76 keys "electrical keyboard" bags that can be bought for $20 USD on aliexpress as a carrying case. Useful when boarding a plane. Instead of claiming old "golf" excuse, you can pretend to be a musician
For carrying the set to the beach fully assembled, we use "wakeboard edge protector type bags" https://www.buywake.com/liquid-force-20 ... eboard-bag. so the edges are protected while mast is already attached.
Here are two videos of my buddy enjoying his Onda + Cf-lite setup:
https://www.facebook.com/lohszewei/vide ... 942940343/
https://www.facebook.com/lohszewei/vide ... 943095343/
Picture of CF-light board: https://www.crazyflykites.com/cf2018/boards/f-lite
Cons:
The fact that foil can sit on it's edge is good for easy starts, but also can be a negative.
If wind start pushing against the board as it sits on it's side, the foil can start going upwind instead of coming to you downwind.
Could be serious issue if you get really unlucky and foil just refuse to dip into vertical position and keep going upwind on it's own.
I think having a volume board during self-rescue can't be understated. I did not do self-rescue with this board yet, but I am sure, it will not hold as much of a wet foil kite as my T40 did.
Also, puddlng on T40/60 would be easier.
If you do touchdown gybes / transitions, it is obviously much harder as the board sinks under you. Volume board, works better for learning transitions.
I think CF missed an opportunity to make extra holes on the board for regular twintip fins. If they did, this board could be used as a mutant-twintip for high wind conditions.
That would be awesome to use same board as hydrofoil in low wind and mutant twintip when wind is too high to foil.
However, even without fins, you can ride this board finless as a directional mutant.
Conclussion:
Must have in my opinion. Could be ultimate travel setup.
One board, one kite quiver is finally a reality, as switching wings can give you huge range. so say 12M kite + Onda + 560 + f-light is probably all you need for many conditions.