Postby pikovsg » Fri Nov 04, 2016 12:28 am
Right, I didn't quite phrase it right. Let's try again.
So. If your foil mast is a typical 35-40" and you're trying to waterstart, the water needs to be deep enough so your feet don't touch the ground. So you end up sending the kite while floating in the direction of the kite. In side/offshore winds sending the kite pulls you into out into deeper water. If you can't launch, you just keep drifting. In onshore winds, the wind sends you straight back and you end up scuffing the foil over sand w/o enough space to properly dig in and get up on the foil.
Normally, all this is standard stuff and part of kiting. But in marginal winds, one wrong stroke or one weak stroke can drop your kite or send you drifting towards the kite while sending it back and forth, which loses a lot of kite power. From that point on, it's usually a losing battle. Particularly, if you have a relatively heavy or slower-turning kite.
But. If you start with the 15" mast, you are standing on solid ground in knee deep water and can resist the pull of the kite. This allows you to build up apparent wind in the foil kite, which forces much more resistance into the kite than while floating. After one or two strokes, the kite will have enough momentum for you to quickly get in the strap and get up on foil. Also, with an LEI or a foil, standing on solid ground allows for faster kite arcs as you swing the kite with more resistance. All this gives you just enough of an advantage to get more power out of the kite on the initial strokes.
Additionally, when launching in shallow you can always walk back and start again. This saves a ton of time in marginal conditions.
And lastly, if your kite falls and you're standing on solid ground, it's much easier to relaunch.
That's my case for 15-24" masts. It really works, especially with foil kites like Pulsion, R1, Lotus, etc.