Rider: 80Kgs, Intermediate
Style: Freeriding, Surf, Wake, Freestyle
Weather: 15-25 knots


Hey guys, I have been riding SLE for a while and want to move to FOILs as I see the equipment and water relaunch has vastly improved. Also my main reason is to ride on light wind days and travel light(weight of FOILs vs SLE). Im living in a place where 80% of the time the wind is 5-13kts max and only 3 months of the year we have around 13-18kts.....

So can anyone recommend some good brands and name of kites please? Im looking to kite from around 8kts-30kts. I will keep my SLE but need something like a 17m(or bigger) FOIL just to bridge the gap. I have ridden C-Shape, Hybrid, Delta and Bow and currently riding Delta's on a 135cm Board.

So if anyone is a fan of the FOIL, please help me out, I would be most grateful.

Cheers

Happy Winds

Hi mate,

the Spleene x19 is an amazing foil. 1 kg lighter than the Flysurfer and in 5-10knts an amazing weapon.

Where are you located? Maybe we can arrange a demo for you.

cheers

Flysurfer are the leaders in closed cell foils so always worth a look. The Deluxe fabric is the way to go and no it's not heavier.

Peter Lynn won't make one big enough for what you need unfortunately.

HQ have a new model being released soon called the Matrixx. Some video here-

Thanks Guys, I have watched all the youtube vids on these FOILS but it's hard to know which is best overall including value for money.

Would it be safe to day that they are all much of a muchness? I tried looking at comparisons between each other, still not an easy choice.

Cheers

Racing Nationals on Spleene x19 in 4-10knts.

I'm not a foil person, as I dont mind having a lower limit of 8 knots (currently), but this video looks a bit surreal at 1:04, where it looks like he is standing still in the lake, then you see he is moving.

Guys thanks again, just wanted a little more feedback if possible. Im in 3 minds right now and so far I have heard about the X19 Spleene and the FlySurfer S3?

Can anyone offer some advice on Peter Lynn Chargers? I ee they also make a 19m and I am impressed with this auto-zenith feature. I think my choices are those and just need to get some more info about them.

Many thanks in advance......

I didn't mention the PL kites because you were asking for a lightwind kite. You would need a 25m Arc to get the same power as a bridled 19m foil.

Jas

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INTHELOOP said...

Racing Nationals on Spleene x19 in 4-10knts.

There were lots of white caps out at sea in that video. White caps start at 15kts.

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edhead said...

INTHELOOP said...

Racing Nationals on Spleene x19 in 4-10knts.

There were lots of white caps out at sea in that video. White caps start at 15kts.

these are sandbanks out the back in Alva.
give this kite a demo if you like. i am happy to organize one.
simply amazing if you want to kite decent in less than 10knts.

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[

There were lots of white caps out at sea in that video. White caps start at 15kts.

these are sandbanks out the back in Alva.
give this kite a demo if you like. i am happy to organize one.
simply amazing if you want to kite decent in less than 10knts.

Must be some big ass sand banks up there ,looks like they go out 10 miles or so.

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Saffer said...

Nice sandbanks...not sure about you but we call that white caps but maybe its different terminology for the same thing

I can assure you that at the moment when that race was being run there was NOT 15kn!
Later that afternoon i took the X19 out for a spin with my 134 TT and there was enough wind to hold ground but not enough to get upwind. It's a little tricky for me to estimate what the wind speed was as it was at Alva and the FNQ winds have substantially less power in them than our Melbourne winds.

let me estimate the wind for you then..the pic above there is easily 10 kts .white caps like that start at 10-12 kts...there 's no way there's 4 kts in any part of that clip.

I was kiting the previous hour before this video was taken on my 71 litre Alex Aguera CR64 race board on a 15m edge and I estimate the winds were 6 to 10 knots at most, at times I couldn't even plan so that means it was below 6 knots as my race board just slows and stops below this wind speed. When this video was taken I had just come in as the average wind of 6 to 1o knots was dropping. In fact at the end when Marvin fell of board my kite had already fallen out of sky. When this video was taken I didn't bother even trying to race as I knew most of the other 15 -20 kites would be totally under powered and or fall out of the sky - and this happened. I'm sure if we had all had been out the back of Alva I could have got my race board powered up in these conditions as inside the course was very short and narrow. But the spleen had heaps of grunt and was totally powered the whole time.

I've never ridden a spleen or other ram air, didn't know Marvin , and or ever kited before in such low winds .... but after kiting at Alva in 6 to 12knots for 2 days, I kinda got the buzz and even liked the very technical, difficult side to kiting in these conditions.

Hey I was there with sunscreen on ....thats all I CAN SAY .....

I will rephrase my previous comment
That explains why SOME of the claimers around the forums are all convinced that lots of white caps = 6-10 kts . (when everyone else is usually pretty happy with the idea that it is somewhere between 12 and 15 kts ) 6-10 kts with plenty of white caps around is obviously the new black for SOME .
I think when someone reports with a balanced report with more than one kite out ,the types of boards etc with a wind graph from a nearby weather station ,or a video without whitecaps in it ,then they have a legitimate claim
BTW That video on the glassy water is amazing

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Mr float said...

IBTW That video on the glassy water is amazing

That video also is a little decieving ,there is a phenomia in the inland lakes in north America and Canada where there is breeze above the water but nothing just above the water causing the water to look like glass .there is more than likely 8-10kts in that flysurf video.I've seen pictures of Yachts on those lakes healed right over with a massive bow wave coming off the front of the boat in those glassy conditions.

Saying that it's still a very inpressive clip.

Marvin the next time you video on a light wind day just make sure it isn't onshore with nearest land mass Fiji. Go to a lake or Woodmans point in WA and kite next to the shore in an off shore. Lots of the best freestyle kiters in the world kite each summer at Woodman WA and on a normal seabreeze it is 20 to 25 knots and perfectly glassy until the horizon. Yori Zons ( bad spelling) new video in WA over summer perfectly illistrates this fact.

The ocean can continue to whitecap with no wind, for atleast 20 minutes from my observations. But those whitecaps in the picture do indicate there "has" been 10-15knots.

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yeehar said...

The ocean can continue to whitecap with no wind, for atleast 20 minutes from my observations. But those whitecaps in the picture do indicate there "has" been 10-15knots.

interesting mate.

we should have some more relevant feedback soon as the X19s are making the round in oz with not much wind in a lot of places atm.

let us know if you keen for a testfly of the x19 and we make it happening people.

Is there one in Perth?

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yeehar said...

Is there one in Perth?

not yet. if you keen pm me for details

Demo, demo, demo!! By the way foils have always relaunched quickly. They have to!

Having owned a flysurfer, make sure you can land them by yourself - not that you should, but you have the capability.

FS pyscho - was pyscho to land! The fifth line thingy was/is a joke.

See whatt he spleen has to offer, they spent a lot of time developing this.

Foils relaunch easily but they can quite happily sit on the water for 40 minutes and still relaunch. The moisture makes the valves sticky and makes the stitching swell up a little sealing the inside.

The big killer is that if you try too hard to relaunch in too light winds you can drag the valves through the water and scoop water inside. It is far better to relax and wait for sufficient wind to relaunch.

Landing foils easily and safely is an acquired skill. You learn how to do it as your skill and understanding increases. You don't need 5th lines or any of that stuff.

Self-landing an LEI is much easier than a foil but may people never learn how to do that properly. The same proviso applies as for foils. It's an acquired skill. If you understand how your kite works it is easy to do.

Anyone got a vid of the spleen water relaunch,whats it like, is it a reverse launch like a flysurfer,or a different system.

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INTHELOOP said...

let us know if you keen for a testfly of the x19 and we make it happening people.

send it down to Brisbane I'll give it a crack ...no wind here!!!

will do mate.
pm me your address!

have you flown a foil before? you familiar with set up, launch..?