It's the foil boards that are amazing. :D I have seen guys here smoking upwind on 24m lines and 7m kites when absolutely no one on surfboards or
lightwind twins and 13.5 to 17m kites could get off the beach. You can go on those things in winds too light to relaunch your kite. My 9m kite would
definitely be my big kite with a foil board.zero gee - 20-1-2015 at 12:23 AM
Double post.crazyherb - 20-1-2015 at 11:56 AM
That too Zero...I agree foil boards I think are here to stay...read somewhere they have like a 20% performance boost over standard race board.zero gee - 20-1-2015 at 12:03 PM
Yup. They need their own class since other race boards cant keep up. :Derratic winds - 20-1-2015 at 02:47 PM
Yup. They need their own class since other race boards cant keep up. :D
wholeheartedly agree. if you don't have a race foil board and you are trying to race, it's like you showed up at today's Indy 500 in a 1980 vintage
race car. You're completely outpowered.
PHREERIDER - 21-1-2015 at 01:42 PM
Nice stuff , just traded for a race board . The guy I got it from is getting a foil. So the education begins , I been on the race before Sensitive
!and fast in 8-10 ! Definitely will be trying the foil as soon as he gets it. Foil for me is prolly a year away . Long lines wow that's a bit much
cool stuff mangrigorib - 13-2-2015 at 03:59 PM
Back to the topic - long lines are amazing. Peter Lynn FAQ says every 3 meter of lines are comparable to adding one meter in kite size. My first
exposure to long lines was when I started wrapping down my 19m Flysurfer Speed3 Deluxe once as I couldn't get going anymore in dying wind when Jimbo
kept riding his 17m Core LW on 35m or 40m lines - I can't recall the length exactly. I gotta mention here that his launch was literally an upward kite
throw by two guys from direct downwind but once up in air the 17m kept going and looked like 10m being far. I got a chance to ride it the same evening
and it had enough power for landing a smooth backroll, not only for cruising.
I took the note and did ride my 10m Rally on 30m lines later in conditions when 12m wing would not have been enough. In a combination with 159cm
Spleene Door board it is a bliss - quick kite, large board. Sweet.
The main difference of bigger kite vs. longer lines, as I see it - on initial dive you get so much more time as kite travels the arc - enough to get
planing and start working the kite gently, while on short lines you end up having to start working it before gaining speed and attempt dies. Also
there's more wind "up there"
A race board or even better a foil must be fun too aside from being racing gear but I like versatility and ease of a twintip for common freeride.
After all long lines must be hatred by kite manufacturers since the length of lines is the most cost efficient "kite size" tuning knob.crazyherb - 14-2-2015 at 01:20 AM
At 2:10 you see why I like my long lines... HUGE power stroke "S" gives you fun initial start...then it's all apparent wind... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FM7Nlz3yhM grigorib - 14-2-2015 at 11:30 AM
Steve, how long are your lines? I'm curious if I should build and try 37mcrazyherb - 14-2-2015 at 10:17 PM
Grigorib... The sweet-spot for the big 24M Phantom is 55M lines...
Keep in mind, I've found that line length can impact smaller kites more...due to line drag.
If you're flying anything over 10M, hit those 37M lines...and go have fun!!grigorib - 21-4-2015 at 04:17 PM
So I put together 7m extensions plus 30m lines and rode 16m Liquid Force NRG on it and 10m Rally. While I expect and get 7 knots low-end from the NRG
anyways the Rally transformation was amazing - I rode along others riding 14-15m wings. Long lines screw up jumps timing but for a downwinder and nice
smooth downloops they are a steal. A steal from dealers' revenue since I don't need a kite between normal 10m and 16m lightwind kite. Not that I can't
afford one but I just love the 10m so much that after riding it a 12m feels like a slow dull truck. One would say it's not a big difference between
10m and 12m but if feels as big a difference as between 8m and 10m - and that's huge!tridude - 21-4-2015 at 09:32 PM
The winner of this years race across the harbor was flying a 9m Chrono and used a foil board. His avg speed for the 5 mile course with a tail wind was
just over 30 kts............grigorib - 24-4-2015 at 04:01 PM
Aren't race lines limited to 30.5m?
Well, no surprise...grigorib - 26-6-2015 at 01:20 PM
So I heard nice words again, literally "you rode when no one else could" from a guy staying couple of houses away in Rodanthe last week.
I think it comes at cost of carbon fiber Spleene Door, 19m Speed3 Deluxe and experience of riding light wind.
Upgrading to Lotus would be nice but would cost me a thousand so I'm opting out for Flysurfer 6m line extensions which by Peter Lynn assessment should
result in 2m of "added kite size" and hopefully will get me riding water in 6 knots.
I've got the lines, I'll update the forum on the effect once I try it.
