I apologize for my late response. Holiday madness.
Aluminum struts are generally stiffer than carbon struts. They are also much cheaper to manufacture and much easier to offer in different lengths, since a mold is not required for each length.
The down sides are the issues of weight and corrosion. Delta aluminum struts use a thinner wall so the strut weight is only about 100 g more than the same length carbon strut. The corrosion issue must be dealt with by rinsing with fresh water, occasional disassembly and using anti-siezing compounds.
I don't think that I am the right person to comment on competitors foils, obviously I have a bias towards Delta products. Kyle, the OK kiteboarder, has tested the 633 and the Delta back to back. I think his skill set is actually slightly better than the average foiler, he can do foot switch jibes.
Kite Junkie has expressed interest in the Delta mono and hopefully I can get him a foil in the spring. He can weigh in on what he thinks of it. A foil specifically designed for use without a stabilizer is much easier to ride than a conventional wing ridden without a stab. There is absolutely no doubt about that.
I am willing to ship aboard but the VAT or other import duties will need to be taken care of on the receivers end.
Regards,
George
Many thanks for the answer. It is possible to ride 1500 mono also with stab? /which fuselage and stab then?/ Do you personalty preferer it stab or stabless? I think i contact Horst /kite junkie/ and figure shipping somehow together . I dont think and that Kyle is bad rider - he just ride much more powered style /and strapped/. These riders have often different needs than me.
@Tom:
Yes we can try to order together towards Europe if you have still some time, I think to start with it towards beginning of March, when days get warmer and there is less of this white stuff around on the pictures.
@George
Thanks, just lets keep in contact towards March
Just two nice shots of a friendly visitor of last days session in white with the since 3 years and till now most loved setup, which nearly can do all you want:
Start to enjoy a lot to fly the kite backwards, not just 90° as in the picture but trailing edge forward works when powered well enough even for 500 m.
Also get better with drifts, maybe not as nice as Øyvind but for sure 50 m. I now think to better understand the secret:
Go powered with kite high, but not to much upwind, so you don't need to tilt against kite force, causing the wing tip to breath. Allways switch for sure to get some momentum, here a longer hook can help to increase it.
Then go slowly up, but not to far to try to get the bubble just on the strut not on the wing and if you have it you can go down a bit and try to drift in more and more against riding direction. You will hear bubbles noise and see that your board is no more in riding direction when you get it.
The wings that I have designed for stabless riding work extremely well with a stab. In fact Kyle tested the Cozumel wing (designed for stabless riding) with a stabilizer. The wings and fuselages I offer are all interchangable so you can ride any combination you wish.
I enjoy stabless riding, but I ride stapless and have not figured out how to footswitch jib riding stabless. So I often ride strapless with a stab so I can jibe. Horst has demonstrated foot switch jibes in his video with straps, perhaps I will start doing some straped stabless riding.
@a99
Yes it is a sonic² 9 m². If I use the big 1000 cm² Cruizer wing then I (63 kg) am pretty much the first on the water, just maybe semiprofessional race kiter out, but then just with biggest kites to compensate their extra drag . I never use my 11 m² sonic race in combination with the big 1000 cm² in the lowest winds as the risk to ride into a lull is just to high, I have the 11 m² just for boosting around 10 knts, see viewtopic.php?f=196&t=2393935&start=113
And I for sure often have been out in more than 20 knts in longer gusts with the 9 m². It is my kite to boost then with the 680 cm² Element (or 580 cm² Aspect) wing or using its wide windrange to go distance, where windforce can change a lot, see: viewtopic.php?f=196&t=2393935&start=234
A freerace kite as the sonic is also very helpfull if you want to do manouvers as it holds you up especially during tacks and so even small 580 cm² wings become usable as mono, but to me for sure just with straps.
@ghradil
I also want to try strapless again since a while but didn't made it yet, but anyway not so sure if it will fit my demands and here I think you have to ask Øyvind.
So for riding straps and if, as I would expect, you are well in doing flying tacks (in the best case with full strap to strap switch) I would recommend to first try to learn flying tacks as there is just a very small difference between mono and normal foil. Not to say if you get used to it I would even say mono tacks can feel easier and safer as if you miss some power on the end of the tack it is more easy to turn the mono the last 90° on a dime and restart more downwind in the direction the kite pulls you, while the stabifoil will prescribe the way of the turn much more. For sure as said a racefoil kite that lifts well and floats you upwind for a long time will be very helpfull.
Talking about jibes with straps also a well lifting kite makes things easier but I also start to learn it down to the 2,5 m² firefly. But here is a big difference to stabifoils:
Before foot switch it can help to turn into a upwind course to have more pressure and so stability from the kite.
Directly before you switch foot in front of the jibe you have to bring:
1. the foil shortly into an significant ascending position (as you can't ascend unlimited here timing is very short)
2. in the moment you come forward with your old backfoot you have to hold up the nose with the old front food in the strap, which can mean to pull up your old front leg.
When you have both foot in both front straps you try to keep your weight completely in the kite as it is not possible to load the nose without diving it and try to bring the new back foot as fast back (in front of the backstrap) as possible.
The more floatier and bigger the kite is, obviously the longer time you have.
One big drawback of the jibe is that even when you made it till here, you sill have to place the backfoot into the backstrap (if you have one), which means flying the kite up again and powering up and trying to move back foot, which can also work by turning it around the heel into the strap, but anyway will take a bit of time and is a secound moment of instability. With my Wave singleskin kites I have to do jibes as tacks are hard to impossible with them, here I normaly profit from riding big 1000 cm² wing. But with my sonics and small wings 95% of my turns are tacks as so much easier.
Tried to find some good visible jibes but perspectiv is never perfect, sorry
Have to slow play the videos to see anything. Hope it helps anyway.
Found another video which shows well how to pull up nose first:
Here we go,
I don't call it revolution but it is evolution for sure press sandwich construction, paulownia core allowed me eliminat traditiona aluml fuselage, I saved almost 1kg, wing dimensions 600*400mm approx 1000mm²
Yesterday I tested wing and it works! Of course wing is more sensitive if compare with long stab but much more playful, very good low speed but need to adjust rear wing angle for bigger speed, now is zero angle.
So, stay tuned, more reviews and videos soon