Has anyone flown both of these single strut kites AR Ultra & BRM D_1 in size 9-10m & could share their thoughts please. I'm looking for a light wind kite for foiling/surfboard with easy relaunch.

By reputation (never even seen a BRM cloud of any type in the flesh as they don't make it into Europe very easily) they fly in a totally different way.

Ultra is easy to fly, resists stalling and can easily be pushed to the edge of the window. Surprisingly little flutter in the turns for a single strut kite.

The clouds are lighter but more trim sensitive. Good if you have excellent kite skills or want to be forced to sharpen your kite skills.

The Ultra has very good relaunch in low winds (a good 2 knots better than my regular kite of the same size).

Give that you aren't worried about importing from abroad, have you looked at the French foiling kite brands? (Gong and Storm). Both offer interesting and unique approaches. Gong have a batten in the canopy instead of a strut to help with relaunch and Storm have a high aspect offering for their single strut kite.

Have the 9m Ultra, 8 plus 10.4 D_0's. One of my other colleagues has the D_1.

My colleague thought the D_1 was just a little more stable the D_0 but everything else was similar.

The ultra is slower turning than the D and does not drift as well but it makes up for it by having a lot more overall grunt.

For foiling and surf I prefer the D's, for TT I prefer the Ultra.

Both are fun.

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bigtone667 said..
Have the 9m Ultra, 8 plus 10.4 D_0's. One of my other colleagues has the D_1.

My colleague thought the D_1 was just a little more stable the D_0 but everything else was similar.

The ultra is slower turning than the D and does not drift as well but it makes up for it by having a lot more overall grunt.

For foiling and surf I prefer the D's, for TT I prefer the Ultra.

Both are fun.

Great feedback, thanks mate

Select to expand quote

toppleover said..

bigtone667 said..
Have the 9m Ultra, 8 plus 10.4 D_0's. One of my other colleagues has the D_1.

My colleague thought the D_1 was just a little more stable the D_0 but everything else was similar.

The ultra is slower turning than the D and does not drift as well but it makes up for it by having a lot more overall grunt.

For foiling and surf I prefer the D's, for TT I prefer the Ultra.

Both are fun.

Great feedback, thanks mate

The strutless D's from the 8m down, all re-launch without in dramas from almost any downwind position. The smaller they are the better they re-launch.

The 10.4 and 13.4 can be a little challenging if water lands on top of the canopy in light winds.