just arrived a new 9mtr soul joins my family of foil kites, need advice!

[Foil]

unwrapped my new 9mtr soul yesterday and flown only for a short session,first impressions.
yes I can hear some of you asking why, why? another 9mtr,
Why Not!
But I need advice.
As an owner of Ozone Chrono v3 ul kites and Hyperlink V1 and the V2 my first launch of my soul made me say blimey, this feels different, very different in fact.

Wind was around 9 knts and dropping at times, but the kite was mega easy to launch, that very large extended area down from the vents that seems to be supported from inside by long battens and clever construction just holds air inside even before launch that just aids "quick launch ability" and up she went with minimal wing tip flap,
the speed the kite filled up was fast, as fast as my hyperlink v2 and a bit faster than my chrono thats for sure, even though the Chrono holds way less air, maybe 50% less air volume I am guessing.

Then once in the sky the flying nuances (differences) quickly made me wonder why the flying of the soul felt so different to my other 9mtr kites of the same era,
for 30 minutes I kept bringing the kite back down to adjust the pigtails to try and gain more positive steering inputs, as my adjustment from the click bar end was already on maximum power, I got to the point where I was happy to get on the water, but had a long long walk to the water where the kite was less than happy to sit at 45 deg as i hurried along, it wanted to drop down and curl the lower wing tip, so i just had to hold the kite much higher in the window, that worked! but that was a big difference to my foil kite experiences up to date,
the first 10 mins or less on the water was comical, the soul felt solid, which was messing with my senses, if my other kites ever felt this solid then that would mean well powered up, so I decided not to loop the kite to get going, and that caused a catalogue of errors, as even though the kite felt strong I could not develop the power to get up,

but then relaxed, laid back in the water and worked it out, I clicked off half the power around 10cm or more of depower, pushed away the bar stopper and looped the kite from behind round to forwards and the power came in good and progressively, and I accelerated away, now its normal at this point to click away some power, but looking down at my click bar power indicator and feeling the feedback from the kite I was fine flying the soul much more depowered than my other kites which was to me was a big difference, I checked the power in the kite by agressivy looping into turns and then was very happy to find the looping power felt very linear and controllable, phew! that was my first worry dispelled, then the jumping!
yes the wind was weak but I know my chrono will boost big in weak wind, my hyperlink v2 less so, so lets see,
and my first attempt was rejected by the kite, I sent the kite back too aggressively and killed the lift in an instant, my other attempts were successful but still need work to get them good with foil away landings, but that will be just adjusting to the kite flying differences I am sure, as it was the same with jumping the hyperlink, so different than the Chrono, and from the few good jumps I did get I can tell this 9mtr soul kite will be awesome when i get some real wind and a bit of practice in,
but here's a thing,
for you guys who jump, and jump big, line length question, what length do you find best, I am using 23 mtr lines which are just great on my hyperlinks and Chrono v3 ultralights, but the soul feels slightly delayed in kite response from the bar compared to my other lighter feeling kites, but my fear is if i shorten my lines this will mean using two bars, one for each brand of kite, but if the advantage is using a soul in its optimum mode of operation, then so be it.
I already think to get the speed of turning,or rather to get rid of the delay I am feeling, not the speed through the air once moving, as that is just great and very samey as my Chrono, (but not as quick as the 9mtr v2 hyperlink) however If I can get the response to near the level of the hyperlink v2 or match the chrono then I will be very happy.

the main reasons for buying the soul are.
I am staying over at flag beach for 6 months each winter and the sailing area is extensive to say the least, with the best waves and long extended rolling swell way out to sea, maybe 1km out, where the best boosting off large swell lines is simply epic, the chances of me dropping my kite is low to very low, but can happen (only once maybe twice in the past 18 months, but the risk is there, and my Chrono v3 ultralights are good at relaunch, very good when new, but not the greatest, however they are awesome at boosting and fantastic fun to use,
I believe the soul will be better at relaunch, will equal the boosting of the chrono, and feel just as locked in for fast speed runs, you know, that locked in driving high upwind feeling, a feeling that is hard to match when using my lower aspect hyperlinks which are more fun to use in the waves at slightly slower speeds or in more marginal winds
so is the answer to go shorter< if so by how much?
I don't want this to turn into a who can p**s the furthest competition, just the real truth of how little I can reduce my lines to gain the best feedback without loss of power.

[jakemoore]

Fly the kite 10 hours before you change anything.

In my experience the Ozone kites do have more stable wingtips and that represents better body dragging performance in light winds. FS designs in some wingtip instability to speed the outer wing in turns. It's mild in the Soul but still there. The Soul also tolerates backstall less than the Chrono or HL. My habit on the Ozone is to over-sheet the kite for a faster turn even if the turn itself is not powerful. The Ozones will sit deeper and lose a little power with backstall. The Soul is more likely to fold a tip to TE and then you have to wait for it to reform to get power again. The soul wants to turn around its wingtip with power rather than somewhere in the middle of the kite.

So keep your 23m lines, tune the bar to zero backstall and fly the kite 10 hours. The kite will "bed in" and your brain will get used to it.

[Foil]

your right, the kite did bed in today,
flew it back to back with the other 2 kites, the chrono v3 ul and Hyperlink v2,
the Soul felt so much better today, very enjoyable to feel the kite behave in a way I can adapt to, its so different to the Hyperlink v2, very different in so many ways, and against the chrono its different again, but less so,
With my 6 month kite foil trip only 96 days away, I needed to practice water relaunch, as this has been on my mind so much and made me buy the soul as its reputation is strong in this regard,that's for sure, and I have seen unbelievable relaunches of the soul in the last 2 years.

I tried 2 hours of "crashing" each kite in as many awkward ways I could think of, and some basic ones where the tip hits the water on a kite loop, and the yikes one where you run towards the kite and let the bar go completely slack leaving the kite to fold in and collapse in a mess, the chrono was not the best, I expected that! and water entered more quickly making the tips heavy which took ages to spill away as the kite struggled to take off again,
reverse relaunches, now that was shockingly fast on the soul, wow! the kite just pinwheel turns round and shoots up without grabbing the centre lines, in fact i tried so hard to sink it, I was having fun inventing new crashes to try a fool the kite, even caused the kite to invert round the wrong way which looked quite mad, but I just let the bar go and waited for a while just swimming backwards a little to keep the lines under slight tension, it sorted itself out with a little tweak on the steering lines and up she went, the hype was true, simply amazing, the hyperlink was very good, but not that good, the soul kite and its lage supported section near the vents just keeps it vents high out of the water, and into wind catching any airflow it can inhale,that is the big difference between these kites, only the soul has this feature, and also helps the kite stay inflated when resting on the beach, left there on the sand while i was using the other two kites the soul was still inflated 30 - 40 mins later, and a little pull on the lines had it shooting up again,full relaunch marks to the sou - 10/10, hyperlink v2 second - 8/10, and Chrono v3 ul -7/10

The winds were light all day, at times under 6 knts and even less, this did show up something not at all surprising, the best kite by far in just staying up there in these silly light airs was the hyperlink v2, it just was so easy to keep exactly where i wanted it, and letting the bar go just had the kite waiting around without deforming, just gently lowering itself a little and then rising again, simply magical, and the kite is the easiest to fly without any drama or worry, its probably the best or one of the best "performance" freeride foil kites on the market for the foil kite newbies, so so easy to use, turns fast and is great fun, faster than the chrono, and its just a little bit more fun to fly, pin point accurate when you need it to be, the kites reaction to bar input is instant and fast without being fearsome, it's a gentle kite, but with heaps of power spike when you back loop it to get you up and going in the light stuff, although its a tad weaker than the other two in the standard normal style of power stroke,
the kite weights are for the x3 9mtr kites - when new, out of the box, no straps, no bag, no instruction book, just the new kite.
Chrono v3 ultra light 1.62 kg
Hyperlink v2 1.65 kg
Soul 1.90 kg,
by the way, none of the kites would get me going in the winds under 3-4 knts, not even my 11mtr chrono, but the hyperlink still wanted to stay up there and just play, the incoming tide did not help as it was running downwind robbing me of some wind speed, in these winds the soul and chrono were not happy, and needed constant attention to prevent misbehaviour.
light wind ability for this size,
Hyperlink v2 10/10 Chrono v3 ul 9/10 Soul 9/10, but the soul will score a tad less due to more misbehaviour when body dragging out in waves as it will not hover as well when a wave pushes back and slacks the lines a little, the hyperlinks in all small sizes, v1 ul and v2s are exceptionally good at this hover ability.

Need a bit of wind now to let the Soul show its stronger side, boosting and locked down upwind speed and stability when locked into the footstraps, I am hoping the reports of this ability is just as true as its water relaunch ability, not the best feature of my Hyperlink, but will it beat my chrono? just matching it will make me very happy, as the price difference is - well a big chunk of cash, in favour of the soul.

A long tiring day today, and now have 3 wet sandy kites to wash and dry.
all good fun1

[Matty V]

In terms of speed the soul is capable of over 50 kts so you should be covered

[Foil]

In terms of speed the soul is capable of over 50 kts so you should be covered

i can believe that
but this is a point of discussion that was raised with Gunnar early this year about kite speed through the air and was there any big differences, and he was very good at explaining this,
its not the kite speed that matters as the kites speed is much much faster than we can ever experience, he was referring to his top recorded speeds when using the 720 moses wing set when using a fully race ready race kite, my buddy steve who was using his freeride kite the Chrono v3ul and no race experience but lots of skill and loves speed recording each and every session,
their top speed run times were almost the same using the same 720 wing set, the point Gunnar made later on the beach is that its the wing +stab +mast design along with rider skill and lack of fear that determines the highest speed not the kite, the kite is more about producing power at extreme angles, so what that means is two riders of the same skill on the same wings but one using a free ride kite and the other using a race kite, then the guy on the race kite of the same size will drive upwind at a higher angle and whilst the freeride kite guy may be going just as fast, but at a lower angle, so will arrive at the windward much later than the guy on the race kite (I hope that's how Gunnar explained it)

I have a loan of that moses 720 wing set referred to above, and if the soul delivers that locked down drive high upwind (like the Chrono does in this respect) then I will keep that wingset (after handing over the cash)
I have now sent off my 9mtr chrono to offset the price of the new Soul, based purely on my findings so far, that relaunch ability was the key to this change, as was matching the boosting ability, which is still yet to be fully understood as I need more wind, which is forecast over the next 5 days.
The souls minor very low wind "misbehaviour" can be managed and avoided by using my better behaved 9mtr Hyperlink v2, or my 11mtr chrono. especially if i have to bodydrag out through heavy shore waves in onshore light winds, the sort I encounter the day after very strong onshore wind.

Just to explain why the Hyperlink is not the best at driving hard and high upwind.
this is easy to feel when sailed back to back with a chrono v3 which is higher aspect,
on the Chrono you can sit back much more in the harness without being lifted to near off balance, which when on the HLink v2 this causes me to lift off the power and drive for speed more off wind than the chrono, which is great fun as the hyperlink is so so fast off wind, but pull it back to drive high and fast and no, the fun diminishes, but this is only if you are wanting to feel that drive upwind at speed, the chrono type kite sits happily much higher into the wind window, gusts just drive the kite higher into wind letting you stay heeled right over with the rails kissing the water, the hyperlink tends to pull you more upright upright in the gusts, and temps you to bear off a little, which is still exciting, and at times more so,as the kite feels so fun and lively when not asked to pretend its a race kite.

[dave1986]

Great review Foil! You must be one of the very few people who has tested all of these kite back-to-back.

I guess there cannot be a "winner" for all disciplines. But only a winner for your own preference and style of riding.

I'm certainly pleased with my 13m Chrono V3 Ultralight for the conditions I use it in and for my style of riding (lightwind freeride and jumps).

I'll be waiting to hear the long-term impressions of the Soul for jumping compared with the Chrono.

Did you sell/ trade-in the 9m Chrono?

[Foil]

Did you sell/ trade-in the 9m Chrono?

yes its with Mark at Boardworx, less than one year old, just.
but has been my most used kite, 9s are the magic size (for me and many others)

[Carlos_C]

Colin...its great hearing about your foil journey....I remember the early days on Kiteboarder.co.uk.......

The older foils were fine - Flysurfer got their act together with the Psycho 3's - around 2006 - I had earlier foils like the psycho 1 - which jumped - went upwind and relaunched and was unstable as hell - scared the shit out of lots of people.

[Jimmi Petrov]

Hi, Colin.
We met year and a half ago on Flag Beach ( Bulgarian guy) and I missed you this New Year on the Flag
I had almost same path with foil kites like you.
Hyperlink V1- 9 and 12 m. They were terrible for water relaunch( I often kite in irregular winds). 5 min in the water and they were both full of water. Later I tried HL V2 and it was little bit better, but not much.
Then i got Soul 15. Amazing. I had a case when I spent 50 min with kite in the water and with first puff i relaunched it. My friends can’t believe.
I got 6,and 10 and used them for an year. All my Souls are super stable and give you huge confidence even in bad winds, as I know they will always relaunch. Zero swims in an year.
I had 2 problems with Souls - they have a lot of grunt( sit little deep in wind window) and when overpowered the downloop after the jibe was too violent. This limits the usefull range of the kite, as even you can depower and ride comfortable, you know you will explode after jibe foot change and down loop. You can try to minimise this, fully powering the kite just before the jibe and realy crank the kiteloop, but in realy overpowered condissions it doesnt helps.
This winter i got Sonic 3 and it is the best kite I ever flown.
Very sporty, goes upwind like hell, endless depower( you can’t believe what range the 9 has), fully controlable loops, enormous low end, jumps higher and loftier than Soul. It’s build by same material as Soul and relaunching is excelent. In my oppinion this is by far the best freeride foil kite on the market now. If you can, try 9 and/or 11. I sold my 10 and 15 Souls and kept only 6 for higher winds. Now my go on the water kite is Sonic 9. I use 11 only bellow 8 knots.
Cheers

[Foil]

Hi, Colin.
We met year and a half ago on Flag Beach ( Bulgarian guy) and I missed you this New Year on the Flag
I had almost same path with foil kites like you.
Hyperlink V1- 9 and 12 m. They were terrible for water relaunch( I often kite in irregular winds). 5 min in the water and they were both full of water. Later I tried HL V2 and it was little bit better, but not much.
Then i got Soul 15. Amazing. I had a case when I spent 50 min with kite in the water and with first puff i relaunched it. My friends can’t believe.
I got 6,and 10 and used them for an year. All my Souls are super stable and give you huge confidence even in bad winds, as I know they will always relaunch. Zero swims in an year.
I had 2 problems with Souls - they have a lot of grunt( sit little deep in wind window) and when overpowered the downloop after the jibe was too violent. This limits the usefull range of the kite, as even you can depower and ride comfortable, you know you will explode after jibe foot change and down loop. You can try to minimise this, fully powering the kite just before the jibe and realy crank the kiteloop, but in realy overpowered condissions it doesnt helps.
This winter i got Sonic 3 and it is the best kite I ever flown.
Very sporty, goes upwind like hell, endless depower( you can’t believe what range the 9 has), fully controlable loops, enormous low end, jumps higher and loftier than Soul. It’s build by same material as Soul and relaunching is excelent. In my oppinion this is by far the best freeride foil kite on the market now. If you can, try 9 and/or 11. I sold my 10 and 15 Souls and kept only 6 for higher winds. Now my go on the water kite is Sonic 9. I use 11 only bellow 8 knots.
Cheers

great to hear from you Jimmi,
and welcome to the growing 9mtr foil kite club,
as you know the winds at flag are mostly spot on for this magic size,earlier this year I spent 5 weeks on Flag and for 4 weeks only took my 9mtr chrono down the beach, it became a laugh as the regulars laughed at they asked what size are you using today Colin? "9 mtr day today I think" worked every day!
good to hear that you have zero swim ins since changing to souls, That was my main driver to buying my first soul.
i did try to get my hands on the flysurfer Sonic 3, and was offered a try out on the larger size, 18mtr I think, which was a great offer but thats x 2- 9mtr kites, my large foil kite days are over, great for some as my foiling buddy just loves his 15mtr chrono, and he is over 20kg lighter than me.
i will be hoping someone turns up to Flag with a 9mtr Sonic 3, I am there for 6 month from early october, so the flysurfer team may return for its yearly 2 week training camp at flag, hope so!