Introducing the World's Lightest and Strongest Kites - Aluula

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[alford]

Hilarious, at 1:24 he sounds like Popeye!
Damn gusty inland lakes.

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At :48 You can hear the geese

[GregK]

Interesting to hear what Matt at Real has to say about the 10m Aluula Roam -

[Baptiste_FR]

Interesting to hear what Matt at Real has to say about the 10m Aluula Roam -

Yes, very interesting. And the strong point here is that he was not even selling Ocean Rodeo before.

[longwhitecloud]

reminds me of a mylar leading edged wipika kite from 20 years ago

Basically thin plastic bottles layer (PET). laminated onto somekind of sail cloth that greatly increases the strength and reduces the weight (can laminate a very light cloth in sandwhich)... the shiny surfaces.

at the high end sails are advanced composite layups - some of the material layups are nuts - helps to have a spare 100k for a sail

[jkrug]

still no reviews anywhere on a 12M aluula. i'm surprised none have been made available since it seems this is where people would really be most interested in spending the extra money. since all 12M's suck out there right now, and most 10m's are pretty good, i just don't get why the focus is on the 10M kites. the 12M's need help, the 10m's really don't. the only thing i can think of is that there really isn't much of an improvement with aluula in that size range, otherwise we'd be hearing about it. hopefully i'm wrong.

[droffats]

I tried to make two videos of the 14.5m Aluula Flite this weekend and both times the GoPro didn't record. GAAAHHHH! GoPro I wish I could quit you. Anyway, Ocean Rodeo made the 10m Roam and 14.5m Aluula demo kites to hit the surf/foil and light wind markets. 10 and 14.5m would make a good quiver for many people. Anyway, my impressions are that it turns faster and hangs through lulls way better than the already light, traditional construction Flite. The real big surprises for me was the apparent wind speed in static position and range. I'm probably not using the right terminology here but this is what I mean: with the kite parked at say, 10 o'clock and riding upwind, I kept accelerating beyond what I expected from the Flite. Not quite as much as a foil kite, but better than a traditional construction kite. Maybe a little better upwind too, but there was a breakwall in my way so I can't be 100% on that. The range in the Flite is more than a traditional construction kite too. It handled being depowered and still responding to steering input really well, it ate up gusts, and trimmed out being overpowered on the hydrofoil without any adverse steering or deformation of the airframe (no jellyfish).

My plan was to back-to-back test it against a Chrono 3 13m, but because of beach closure, wind dying, and the GoPro not recording, I packed it in. The 14.5m and 17m Aluula Flites are, in my small mind, probably best for twin tip riders, people who don't have the deep water, weed free water, etc. or are heavier people. Otherwise, the 12m Flite will be enough for light wind foilers. For me, it will take the place of my foil kites because I can drift launch it. There are a couple of inland lake launch sites where I don't have room to launch a foil.

We sell Ozone and Flysurfer too so we can sell you whatever you want. Or not. I think the Aluula Flite achieves light wind flying in a different way from Chronos and Souls. It turns faster, is less complicated (bridles), can be drift launched, holds it's shape, and flies like an LEI. On the other hand foil kites still have better glider-like hang time and are faster around a race course. Whatever butters your bread.

Stafford
www.adventurekiteboarding.com

[iriejohn]

still no reviews anywhere on a 12M aluula. i'm surprised none have been made available since it seems this is where people would really be most interested in spending the extra money. since all 12M's suck out there right now, and most 10m's are pretty good, i just don't get why the focus is on the 10M kites. the 12M's need help, the 10m's really don't. the only thing i can think of is that there really isn't much of an improvement with aluula in that size range, otherwise we'd be hearing about it. hopefully i'm wrong.

I think it's more likely that the reason why Roam 10m rather than 12m has been made first in Aluula is because 10m is about the largest size most people use for wave riding and strapless.