now foil kiters are saying their kites drift better

[jman]

Better than a wave tube kite, really?

[Slappysan]

What you are probably referring to is the single skin foils, and yes, they drift about 100x better than any tube kite. These kites have really poor upwind though so they are limited to hydrofoiling.

[Matteo V]

Better than a wave tube kite, really?

Drift vs hang. Foil kites hang, tubies drift.

[Mossy 757]

I dunno, when I drop my foil kite in the water on a failed gybe or tack, it usually tends to drift along pretty well with the current...

[jakemoore]

Today I had a superb session 11g13 knots with the 7m v1 Hyperlink and 1100 cm2 wing. I was catching 12-18 inch glassy and riding it downwind. There is simply no way the light weight single struts would tolerate what I’m doing. They need more line tension to stay in the air. I could have had a nice session with the tube kite, but angles limited by the need to keep the kite up.

And as SlappySam says, the single skin Peaks are next level if you want the feeling of disconnecting from the kite.

[slowboat]

Better than a wave tube kite, really?

Not sure why you are skeptical. The foils that drift well are lighter than strutless tubes and are mid aspect, so why not?

[Kitenuovoman]

Drift Better upwind Better Jump Better relaunch Better .. good rider still prefer tube kite for All disciplines(exept race hydrofoil...) whyyy??

[cor]

Drift Better upwind Better Jump Better relaunch Better .. good rider still prefer tube kite for All disciplines(exept race hydrofoil...) whyyy??

I think it's simply because there are not many pro riders that invested the time to exercise on Foilkites and also, those good riders are all under contract with a kite company that mostly produces tubes. Olly Bridge showed us what's possible this year and with foilkites advancing more and more, I hope we will see more of this in the future.

On the topic, my impressions are:
Does a foil kite drift better: Yes, in light winds for sure and the single skins are on another level anyway. In "normal" TT ridable winds, not. I personally would not use a foilkite in the waves.
Does a foil kite jump better: This is not an easy question because "jumping" is so versatile. My experience on the Soul is: Yes, in light wind (again), it has more lift than a delta shaped tube (like Rebel, Cabrinha). In "normal" winds, it's about the same but it has more hang time.
Does a foil kite relaunch better: Yes, in light wind (again), modern foil kites like soul, Hyperlink V2 or Nova relaunches "better" because simply, tubes do not relaunch at all in that wind range (below 7 knots I would say... It however makes a huge difference if there is flat water or if it's shallow).

There are pros and cons for using foil- and tubekites. In my opinion, it always depends on the conditions.

[Pump me up]

More lies and propaganda from ram lovers, unfortunately

Ram air kites have REAL problems with sinking. They certainly don't drift better.

In fact, there's a current thread on the Ram Lovers Subforum titled "Sea Anchor", about how their ram air became a SEA ANCHOR. Check-out the full admission here -> viewtopic.php?f=197&t=2403242

The critical excerpt follows:

so I dropped my 12m soul into the water for the 1st times yesterday, wind dropped to zero, no chance of a relaunch.

Thankfully I wasn't too far out and the kite was floating nicely part on its leading edge and then kinda wrapped over itself so I thought I would swim in and let it bob along behind me. It got increasingly more difficult and got to the point where it was full of water and impossible to move, thankfully I managed to just get into my depth and drag it in.

[joriws]

Better than a wave tube kite, really?

Not sure why you are skeptical. The foils that drift well are lighter than strutless tubes and are mid aspect, so why not?

Also foilkites have better weight balance vs usual LEI kites front heavy.