MidAtlanticFoil forum posts in last 60 days

Good advice above, but make sure you have a screw going through the front wing hole, done up just snug. If you don't, you run the risk of the titanium core slipping inside the carbon fuse. The screw will hold the fuse and carbon core together.

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Velocicraptor said..

miamiwngr said..
My 75l frank custom weighs 4.2kg

What dims is yours? Are you winging and parawinging it? Im doing 6', 20", 73L (80kg).

I'm currently just Parawinging.

5'9" x 18.5" @ 58L for my 68Kgs

58L / 68KG = .85 ratio

73L / 80KG = .91 ratio. So all things constant, you should have a bit more float than me, according to my theory.

I've only had it out in Honking wind and one light light wind session. I was able to schlog and keep balance as the wing barely stayed up. I wasn't counting on that!

My 58L custom is crazy light! So much so that I think it makes it feel like more volume (less weight added to the equation). Compared to my 55L armstrong ML, the 3 extra liters and wider tail make the board substantially more stable. I would sink to my mid thigh on my 55L and only to my lower calf on the 58L. I'm a 67kg rider with 5/4 suit, backpack, vest, etc. added.

I show how the Patagonia Guidewater Sling works in this vid about 1 minute in:

?si=tgwniLLu5MwwAh9G

I really like how it stays on your person while you swap out wings. One less thing to juggle.

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Jve said..
From extensive experience with foil kites I'm quite sceptical about a double skin as an option for high gusty wind. They might have good depower, but are often sensitive to gusty wind. I'm much more optimistic about the hybrid models that are coming out, as they eat gusts like nothing else. I'm often out foiling with hybrid foil kites in 30-40 knots and have an amazing time, while my friends complain it was terrible because of the gusts, which I haven't even noticed. There will be a hybrid parawing soon from 777 that should come in 3.2m and 2.5m sizes.

Paia is great in gusts at the upper end. You can see the gusts coming and you get a marginal increase in pull, without any fuss from the flight, just rock solid.

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BWalnut said..
Glad to hear there's still love out there for this model.

MidAtlanticFoil that's a great shot and session report. Looks like smoke on the water with that windspeed. When you say it can be a bit scary, do you just mean it gets shock loaded when the wind grabs it or is there something else you can give me a heads up on about it?

Thanks for the tips Sheps. I'm very intrigued to see if on the extreme wind end of things this is the right call. It's funny to think that if I can't hold on to my 3m Pocket Rocket any longer I should upsize to the 3.1 Paia but I'm just telling myself its a different tool. I likely wont have any real experience on it until April/May but if I can score a few winter sessions I'll be sure to check back in with you all to share my experiences on it.

Regarding the scary bits, I was just kinda worried about the double skin suddenly acting like a single skin. It never really did, but I guess I got out of a few somewhat hairy situations on gybes where I relied too much on the A Lines, when I should have put it back/down in the window a bit more during the transition. I had one time where it was upside down under my board after a gybe, but I got it right-side up somehow. Just the transition from 'oh this isn't flying right' to 'Ok I'm good' can be a bit unnerving in 30-40knts. . When its good it is just so comfortable that anything but that feeling kinda snaps you out of it and makes you hyper aware.

I feel like I've had the 4.5M flap on my a few times when overpowered and it gave me a good tug on the arm, but I think that was due to a bit of a tangle on a redeploy, like one outer B or C line over the bar. Usually fix it on the fly after turning downwind a bit.

Just had a great 3.1M session last week. A neighbor happened to see me heading out on the river and snapped this photo:




The wind was about as strong as I've been out in and it went from no whitecaps to thigh high waves in a matter of minutes (6-10km fetch). The Paia was epic. I was able to collapse and ride swell and relaunch pretty easy. If it doesn't get air in it, it can get a bit scary as it can get caught by the wind, but I didn't have any major issues. Worse case would be a partial tangle and a spiral loop.


it's insane how well it holds its shape and sheds gusts.