Foiling In Super Light Wind

[skideeppow]

I was out yesterday in Muskegan MI (i live in co but here visiting). It was blowing 14mph-16mph. I was out on my kanaha shapes 40 inch, air rush v2 ultra 12 m and 679 moses 111 mast 450 stab. Using a cab fireball bar, with out the fire ball clipped into a slider.

When i was turning, the kite was soooo slow that i have to pull on the steering line, like a shit ton in order to get the kite to come around. I was trying to do it with just the bar, but had no luck getting it to come around.

I pull in a foot or two of steering line to get it to come around. Kind of nervous about that line wrapping my bar.

You think I can modify my equipment to help with this?

[Qiter]

Your gear is good for light wind, its all about the technique...
Try to make the turn tighter to avoid slack lines and dive the kite actively down (and up again) during the downloop when you jibe. Main thing is to fully pull the bar in and crank it when you downloop and then immediately release the bar a bit to let the kite "breathe" and get power again once the downloop is in its last stages.
I hope this helps!

[skideeppow]

Your gear is good for light wind, its all about the technique...
Try to make the turn tighter to avoid slack lines and dive the kite actively down (and up again) during the downloop when you jibe. Main thing is to fully pull the bar in and crank it when you downloop and then immediately release the bar a bit to let the kite "breathe" and get power again once the downloop is in its last stages.
I hope this helps!

I would come in and prior to the turn bring my kite over and lead with the kite, but it was just so slow.

i down looped my heelside turns no problem. Toe side i came in hot and the kite hit the water. I was going from the 633 moses and trying the 679 (which i loved) so i was making a wider radius turn.
ill try that and see what happens.

[wavy navy]

Don't worry. You have enough time to fix it in case. It probably won't even happen.

[mister-z]

I live in San Diego -- 14mph is a high wind day for us, and 16 is a twin tip day. I don't know your kite, but I've read it's good for light wind. We regularly foil in 10-12mph here, and with a big wing like yours a 12m kite should be plenty.

What size bar are you using? I've got 9m, 12m, and 17m LEIs and a 12m Hyperlink, and I use a 60cm bar for all of them. It's amazing how fast a 17m Contra turns with a 60cm bar.

[Peter_Frank]

With a 12 m2 kite like that you should have no problems at all, turning with the bar.

I suspect you underfly the kite so steering input almost doesn't work nomore...

It is a timing issue, about when you dive the kite, and when you carve downwind, which isn't right.
It will come as time goes.

You can do two things if you want to make it better and safer.
Use longer lines 28-30 meters.
This way you have a lot more room, and can keep line tension no matter what, and you can ride in a lot less wind without being too powered in gusts.

You can also fly the kite up and around instead, no risk of dropping the kite this way even if you mistime the actions.
You will be able to turn in just as light wind when turning up and around

Peter

[FLandOBX]

....14mph is a high wind day for us, and 16 is a twin tip day. ...... We regularly foil in 10-12mph here, and with a big wing like yours a 12m kite should be plenty.
......

I agree. 14-16 mph is a lot of wind. I use a 7 meter LEI to hydrofoil in that wind, and rarely use a kite larger than 10 meter in light (10 mph) wind.

Make sure you're keeping good tension in your lines as you enter your turns. Your kite won't respond to bar movement if the lines are slack. You can often increase line tension in advance of your transition by bearing upwind just before the turn. Downloops will help maintain the responsiveness of your kite through the turn.

It's also a good idea to periodically check your line lengths to make sure your bar is properly tuned. If your steering (rear) lines are long, your kite will be less responsive. You could try rigging your steering lines on the highest knots (the ones closest to the kite), which should give you more control, although that could introduce a backstall issue.
Keep working on it, and have fun.

[Windigo1]

I use a 12m Airush Ultra V1 for foiling in wind so low that the kite will fall from the sky if I don't keep it moving at all time. I have never experienced this with my kite. I use a 56cm bar. Maybe your lines are stretched and the kite is not flying properly. This is my go to kite for below 10 knots wind and it's a really great kite. Sometimes I have to get back to the beach pumping the foil because I can barely keep the kite in the air by keeping it moving and even then I never had to pull steering line. I have experienced this with my 22m foil kite on 30m lines in insanely low wind but not on an Ultra.

[jkrug]

i agree with everyone here that 14-16 mph is hardly 'super light wind'. that's more like 'time to go with my 9M kite' when foiling. but stretched lines will not cause his reported problem...unless the flying lines are getting stretched, which i've never heard of. normally just the center lines stretch, causing more tension on the flying/outer lines, which doesn't sound like the problem here. flying under the kite sounds like the problem. we all have bad days out there, maybe this was one.

[skideeppow]

I use a 12m Airush Ultra V1 for foiling in wind so low that the kite will fall from the sky if I don't keep it moving at all time. I have never experienced this with my kite. I use a 56cm bar. Maybe your lines are stretched and the kite is not flying properly. This is my go to kite for below 10 knots wind and it's a really great kite. Sometimes I have to get back to the beach pumping the foil because I can barely keep the kite in the air by keeping it moving and even then I never had to pull steering line. I have experienced this with my 22m foil kite on 30m lines in insanely low wind but not on an Ultra.

Interesting. Had no issues on my 9 m and 6 m today. Those are drifters.