Airush Ultra 12m as Main Kite for Twin-Tipping

[AdroVempo]

Hi Kiters,

Following are my details before I ask my question.

Weight : 190 lbs

Kiting Skill : Beginner-intermediate. Can ride both directions and also ride upwind, but not with much confidence, and not perfectly. Only TT freeriding for now, and near future.

Kiting Location : In-Land lakes of Minnesota (pretty inconsistent and Gusty winds at times). And No great launch locations, so always have to drift launch and self-land the kites.


Question:. Can I have Airush Ultra as my main go-to kite (12m) ? Usually, I had seen that people only use this for Hydrofoiling, or Lightwind TT riding, or Surfing Waves at the most.

For now, short-term goals are to get better at TT freeriding and possibly learn some old-school jumps. My board skills are pretty bad, so I don't think I'm close to learning to Foil yet.

Why would I want this kite for regular, or high-wind TT riding? Instead of a 3-strut or 5-strut kite? Coz I loved the way it rides. I already own a larger-size Ultra, for LW kiting. When I rode that, I realized I like the following 4 things:

1. That smooth pull, and manageable power, rather than the Truck-Like strong pull of the Slingshot Rally's, which I seem more intimidated by.
2. Ease-of-use,. Such easy flying feeling.
3. Light Bar Pressure, yet it felt the feedback from the bar was good.
4. Stability - it might sound funny, but something as simple as getting into the TT board straps (in the water), while keeping kite stable at 12 seems like a Herculean task to me. So something that's so stable in the air will help. (UNLESS I'm wrong in this point, and Ultra is NOT known for its stability, then please do let me know).


My concerns with proceeding with Ultra 12m as main kite is :
1. Will learning to jump on a 1-strut kite be too tough for beginner-intermediate guy? I keep hearing about those smooth-landing capabilities and forgiving nature of big-air and how kites for jumping. Wondering if I can have that with single-strut like Ultra.
2. The strong-winds and gusts : but this doubt had been clarified by reviewers and some local kite school folks. Saying Ultra handles very well, when winds pick up strong, or during gusts. Still wanted to hear it from the larger kiting community here.

[Zurki]

Nowadays you can use most kites for most disciplines but you can make your life easier and progress faster by choosing the right equipment for the job. In my opinion the Ultra is a fantastic kite but definitely not the best suited for TT and big-air. I own a 12m and 9m Ultra mainly for foiling because of their incredible low-wind capabilities. I brought them to Tarifa once and tested them on TT and directional. I liked the 9m a lot for surfing small waves. I hated both sizes for TT-riding and jumping. You need advanced skills to pull of high jumps and the one-strut doesn't give you a lot of hang-time. I also dislike their behavior in gusty winds. These kites make you feel every gust and lull directly in your bar. This is why own a 10m and 12m Duotone Evo for my TT. I think from your description you would be much better off with an all-round 3-strut kite such as the Evo, Cabrinha Moto, Ozone Enduro or similar. You should try and test as many different kites as possible before buying. Try and ask someone at your beach if you can try out his kite.

[Windigo1]

I own an Ultra12M it's not the best kite for TT riding. I have another quiver of freeride kites for boosting on the TT. The Ultra is super ligth and hangs in the sky in almost no wind it also drift very well which is good for waves riding and foil. On a twintip you want a powerful kite with lots of depower and really good upwind. The Ultra will flap a lot when really powered that why it's best for ligth wind. The fact that it is designed to drift downwind does not make it shoot upwind like a good freeride kite and and it won't be as good for jumping because it will want to stay low in the wind window. So will it work yes but if twintip riding is your main goal get a freeride kite!

[wvickers]

Given that you are kiting on an In-Land lake with alot of lulls in the breeze and doing some drift launching, the Airush Ultra does make sense, as one option. Partly since it will stay aloft in the severe lulls, is a stable kite, has easy relaunch, and stays relatively light when trying to drift launch. It's also easy to do self landing too even in over powered conditions. You can jump using it, but the Rally and many others are slightly better for that.
I use the Ultra 12 m for TT and light air foiling, especially if I am traveling. It can still give you some big boosts and big smiles on a TT and can even loop and do back roll loops and mega loops...but it is NOT ideal for that. It will flap some during powered maneuvers. It does work well as a cross over kite but again there are better options for heavy air boosting. Single strut designs have dramatically improved but when it's in heavy air/near over powered conditions, which are ideal for big boosting, there are a number of kites that work better for that.
If you really love kiting and it sounds like you are progressing well, you will eventually want a quiver of different kites till you find your nitch. The truth is, foiling will eventually be a real good something to take a look at when you're ready....as foiling works well for up/down conditions and In Land lakes. It will give you more kiteable days on the water and make gusty days less of an annoyance. And the Ultra works well for that.
You might get a hundred different opinions on this, so take your time, research this and find a brand you have easy access to or a brand that you love their stick for your car. Also understand not everyone kites on Lakes or understands what it's like on a Lake. Also, likely your kite preference and style will change in 2-3 years. So a brand name kite or a kite brand some locals use near you, might have an easier resale.
The Mackiteboarding guys are somewhat close to you, so might be a good place to call.
Have fun

[downunder]

I do not agree with the statements above since riding 9m V2 on 25-30kn and can jump huge on flat water.

How big? 10m no problem. That IS big for 1 strut kite so we need to compare it with other one strut kites, and not with Edge, and the rest. And with which 1 strut this thing can be compared? None in my books. Flapping is not the issue, not for that money anyway. Plus, not at your level.

The simplicity of the kite is where it shines. It can be reversed launched no problem, it is pumped way faster than 3-5 struts, and most importantly it will last longer since only two valves. Plus main.

The valves are first to go on any kite. Buy any good ones u can get. I would.

[ciscokitesurfer]

I love my 12 v3 Ultra. I only use it for surfing on a surfboard when the wind is light. Upwind, very good, Drifting , very good, turning, amazing. Also, where I kite there is a lot of wind shadow so the kite stays on the air. It is am amazing kite but if you want to go high there are better kites on the market. Cheers

[AdroVempo]

Thanks everyone. I think the verdict is mostly unanimous here.
The Ultra will work for what I'm looking for, but certainly not the best option.
Given that I put so much thought into what gear to get, and I want whatever helps me the most with progression, I think I'll go for 3-strut all-round freeride kite.

However, like "wvickers" here said, most of the Kiters here in Minnesota seem to be Hydrofoiling. So hopefully, I'll be able to attempt it some time in a distant future. .

Thanks again, everyone for all your input.

[RadDrDuke]

I have a 9m Ultra that I ride as my main kite all the time, 8 sessions since Sunday actually, it's literally the only kite I own (other than a bunch of old kites).

It's an amazing kite for everything except jumping, although I was actually just jumping off 6-8foot waves last night and sending it huge old-school style for some of the biggest jumps of my life....but it's not the best tool for the job by far and it would have been better with an orbit or whatever

However, I actually would recommend an Ultra for a beginner and here's why:
- Super easy to fly, great feedback, almost never falls from sky or hindenbergs
- Insanely high quality and durable
- Large wind range (flaps depowered but you won't care or notice)
- Excellent for travel, foil, waves, lightwind

Negatives are: relatively bad relaunch, jumping, kitebag

Also, you should learn hydrofoiling ASAP, it will change your world and more than double your number of kite sessions

[AdroVempo]

Negatives are: relatively bad relaunch, jumping, kitebag

Thanks RadDrDuke. The things you say make sense. The simplicity and ease-of-use reasons are why I wanted the Ultra, so that I progress better with general kiting and freeriding, maybe until the non-jumping part of learning. But from what you're saying, even for learning to do a short jump, the Ultra won't hinder me.

About the bad kite bag: they seemed to have made it better with V3, but that's ok, I can live with a bad bag of V2.

But the point I want to talk of is : "WATER RELAUNCH". Would you say relaunch will be a challenge for learners? I did struggle with the water relaunch of the 15m Ultra V1, but,. That was in really marginal low winds. I thought the problem then was the wind itself. In otherwise normal winds, do you think just the fact that it's a 1-strut kite will actually cause any problem water relaunching?

Some of the others who posted here actually seemed to have said the relaunch is really good. And we're agreeing with me that for drift launch and self-land, this kite is great because of it's light-weight.

[downunder]

Just to clarify, u are concerned of jumping with Ultra and a water relaunch?

None of 15m kites are easy to relaunch, particularly heavy kites.

None of the kites jump well in unskilled hands. It's the rider who can jump even with an umbrella

Our sport is all about the skill, personal taste and conditions.

It takes years to find good equipment to match an individual. So whatever u decide might not be relevant with new Alula.