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ufo fluttering..normal?

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papasmerf
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ufo fluttering..normal?

Postby papasmerf » Sun May 02, 2021 4:53 pm

great session on my 5m ufo yesterday, love that kite.

getting a lot of fluttering though when bar pushed out during a transition, in my case, the kite arcs above me during a gybe, so i sheet out bar to reduce lift. the kite flaps a lot. i am not a fan of downlooping the kite for a gybe as i lose too much speed bringing the kite more overhead to prepare for the down loop, i suspect this is just my technique, the kite works fine when normally powered up, just when i punch that bar out, it starts flapping like crazy when depowered. suggestions?

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Re: ufo fluttering..normal?

Postby GregK » Sun May 02, 2021 6:26 pm

Don't sheet it out as far.

All LEI kites will flutter in the luff when fully sheeted out and the fewer struts the kite has, the more pronounced / noticeable that flutter will be.

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Re: ufo fluttering..normal?

Postby Herman » Sun May 02, 2021 8:32 pm

Looking on the bright side the flapping probably causes a bit of drag that makes the kite less likely to overfly the window into a luff......

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GregK
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Re: ufo fluttering..normal?

Postby GregK » Sun May 02, 2021 10:01 pm

Herman wrote:
Sun May 02, 2021 8:32 pm
Looking on the bright side ... overfly the window into a luff......
I think you meant "lull"

The drag from your no-strut kite's luffing can also be very useful to almost instantly transition from flying to drifting without having to wait for the kite to fly to edge of the wind window. Kite's bridle also needs to be designed such that the tow point is a bit forward of the kite's lift force center of effort.

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Re: ufo fluttering..normal?

Postby Herman » Sun May 02, 2021 10:26 pm

I mean luff.... leading edge tucking in the same way as a sail luffs as a vessel is turned upwind. Wind hitting backside of sail or topside of canopy. Flappy TE drag will keep the kite away from edge of window. Hindenburg less likely....

Not worth getting in a flap about it though...
Last edited by Herman on Mon May 03, 2021 4:27 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: ufo fluttering..normal?

Postby airsail » Sun May 02, 2021 10:59 pm

No strut kites flap a lot when approaching the top of their wind range, if your on a 5mtr, change to the 4mtr, doh, no 4, well that’s a bugger

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Re: ufo fluttering..normal?

Postby papasmerf » Sun May 02, 2021 11:03 pm

airsail wrote:
Sun May 02, 2021 10:59 pm
No strut kites flap a lot when approaching the top of their wind range, if your on a 5mtr, change to the 4mtr, doh, no 4, well that’s a bugger
it's my smallest kite right now,, for about 2 more days,, then getting a 4m (not ufo)

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Re: ufo fluttering..normal?

Postby Matty V » Sun May 02, 2021 11:18 pm

Sheeted out fully on a strut less kite and complaining it flaps?

Are u ok hun?

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Re: ufo fluttering..normal?

Postby papasmerf » Mon May 03, 2021 12:20 am

Matty V wrote:
Sun May 02, 2021 11:18 pm
Sheeted out fully on a strut less kite and complaining it flaps?

Are u ok hun?
no, i need some damn sympathy. it's my first strutless you cyber bully!
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Trent hink
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Re: ufo fluttering..normal?

Postby Trent hink » Mon May 03, 2021 1:01 am

keeping a bit of pressure on the bar is good advice, but if that doesn't work, try flying the next size down. These one and no strut leis generally seem to work best at the lower end of their wind-range, especially for hydrofoiling.

The 9 meter ufo I got to try out once seemed pretty sweet, and the low-end was surprisingly low. But I only tried it once in light wind, so... what do I know?


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