alowishus wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2019 12:47 am
Peter_Frank wrote: ↑Sat Aug 03, 2019 6:09 pm
Indeed, looping is needed to give an easy waterstart up onto the board, and then another loop or a loop the other way, to get going.
BUT, sometimes it is better to dive the kite, works great if longer lines, and NOT loop it, as you get a lot more efficient stroke with more power because of the apparent wind and angle, and can get going a lot better this way, but only sometimes it is better as said
So IMO looping is not always the best way in light winds where your kite can not hang in the air really - you have to "feel" and find what works the best, and also kite dependent and line length dependent I would say.
I ride in this wind really often, like today we were out 5 hours in sometimes marginal wind, other times loads meaning 7 knots 8 in gusts maybe, with a 12 m2 strutless tubekite, a great day.
What matters is to get the feel for exactly where your hydrofoils "foil-point" is, so you know how to sqeeze it to the max, or should I say, to the "minimum", as if you stall, you are in deep shit if kite is flown down close to the surface.
If you dont stall, you can start extremely efficient this way, particularly if wind is dead onshore an low water
PF
Hi Peter, so you prefer a strutless 12m LEI over a foil kite in these conditions?
This is the dilemma I’m contemplating ATM.
If my 9m single strut can just hang in the air, I can foil on my 1000cm2 wing. Looping essential. If it gets “iffy”, or my kite gets wet, it’s all over! It’s a very fine line for me between cruising along and packing up and going home. 9-11 knots zone.
I’ve been considering a 10m foil kite for these winds, to provide enough power and also hang nicely in the lulls, but then i read about people like yourself using LEIs in winds even lighter than this....???
I definitely prefer a LEI kite yes, if possible in any way.
So around 7 knots, a 12 m2 strutless.
In 8 knots a 10 m2 onestrut.
And when more wind, using my 9 m2 and smaller Furia wavekites.
Going down in board (and wing) size when going down in kitesize, except for some waveconditions where I sometimes stick with a big surf wing.
Below 10 knots, not a chance of relaunching, unless there are some gusts, but doesnt matter, you drop the kite extremely rare as they hang so well nowadays.
So a rare swim/drift is needed sometimes, thats just fine as a variety
Only when 5-7 knots, I HAVE to use a foilkite, the only way to ride in this wind
But thats just me, personal choice only
Peter