Utah Windriders Association

Foil:

The Pro:
-No down time( like what Kenny said)
-relaunch is easy
-super light wind kite 5 knots
-They last a lot longer then the inflatable kite for age duration

The Con:
- boosting and kitelooping are too slow.
- The kite turn too slow.
- Can't use it in the water
- unstable in gusty condition
- kite bridle tend to tangle inside and outside
- required you to untangle by hand
-

I have struggle a lot with these kites but everybody has a different way riding and flying there kites. Foil kites are still great kites for some people.

SLE or BOW (NOT C-Kite)

the Pro:
-easy relaunch
-Good safety system
-can us it on snow, water, and land
-Great in gusty condition
-Depower system on them are perfect when you can leave the kite flying to have a piss stop or whatever
-Turning are super fast which I like for kitelooping and boosting

The Con:
-down time for rigging and de-rigging
-required pumping
-kite age duration less then the foil
-

HEY CREW, PLS ADD TO THIS. I know I'm missing something

It all depend on the person riding preference. For me, I mostly perfer the Bow or SLE kites because I like to do kite race and freestyle stuff. It's dependable kite for me to use. I would use the foil kite if it meets all the BOW or SLE capable.

There a new foil prototype kite that I tried out while I was in Europe. It felt like the SLE but it didn't have strut or LE. The depower on it was like the SLE or BOW kite. The turning was fast. I could do kiteloop just like the SLE. I was able to Boost on it. It was also stable in gusty condition. All the con I was having with the foils was about to be move out my book. But I only had three days of riding with it. I'm suppose to get a set of final production kites in the next two weeks from a kite company. I can't announce what kite company is it from til things are finalize first(NOT BESTkites).

I did just write something to this effect in another thread, but for the sake of topicality, I'll rewrite.


As with everything kite, it matters what your style is and who made the kite and what model it is. If you're unhappy with the turn speed of the Frenzy, there's the Speed (most of the FS kites would also solve your gripe about the unusability on water). For gusty conditions, I've often heard that Peter Lynn kites are unbeatable in terms of stability. That's what I ride, and I have to say that I've never been disappointed. Bridle tangles can be an issue, but if you know how to pack up the kite effectively (or just leave the bar on) then the tangles won't happen. And if they did, it takes less time to sort out a bridle issue than it does to pump up an LEI (especially one that doesn't have a one-pump, like a Waroo (although I don't remember if the 07 Waroo is supposed to have a one-pump)). Also, I've been really impressed with the turning speed on my VenomII, but I'm not exactly some new-school freestyle pro, so I can't really comment on that.

-J

Jacob,

Give us the scoop when you can on this special European kite. Sounds alot like the Flysurfer P3. If the company is not flysurfer, please find out if they are building some big light wind foils.

I would add to Jacob's list that the foils are better for light wind, but I am not sure if that is really true anymore. I have seen the 20M Waroo flying in some very light wind.

As for me, I like snowkiting on both foils and LEI's. If the wind is stable, I will launch a foil because I am so stoked about riding that I don't want to spend the time to pump up the kite. However, I bought a great electric pump last year and it has really cut down the amount of time it takes to pump up the kite, so I may be using SLE's a lot more this year. Especially, since the relaunch is so easy with a Waroo on the snow.