Postby Regis-de-giens » Fri Aug 25, 2023 1:51 pm
indeed, I swaped from 14.5m to 17m for jump performances, despite my 60 kg on a foil, as you know.
Jump is overall better than 14.5m ; hangtime of course, noticably better ; height it is hard to judge because it was a bit too light to waterstart with my 14.5m despite its excellent low end ... (believe me those +2.5m2 and lightenss of full Aluula helps waterstart to foil-up , so not only the jump capacity but also low wind limit); What is clear is that you ride ride much faster in 7 knots, so with excellent skills and timing like you have, you will gain jump performance also from this feature.
The next days, I had 10-14 knots , same 17m with still 27m lines , with is a wind where the 14.5m would have also shine ; I was not overpowerd at all , while the R1V3 19m was a its limit ; hangtime still clearly better, height hard to compare because I still need to better know both kite ; at first impression: a bit more height with the 17m but less obvious that the gain in hangtime.
What really shines is Aluula stability and ability to recover after a jump reception mistake, which is not obvious for every LEI in 7 knots when kite goes beyond your head. Even in the worse cases where I got some hindenburg start, it finally recovered its shape because it started falling slowlier than other heavier kite, then recover its shape and without trendemous bar input skills.
Also the depower is excellent, which helps both for high ends but also jump easiness : you can ride in higher winds , so higher jumps, but you can also better keep your edging during the upward sending just before the jump.