Disclaimer: I do not sell Airush kites myself, however, my kite school is affiliated with Airush/Airborne Kitesurfing.

Been waiting a while to get the right conditions to test the low end of the Airush Ultra 15m on the hydrofoil. Today was the perfect opportunity. It was a hot day with a light but constant on shore breeze below 10 knots.

A friend of mine who is a beginner hydrofoiler (but a highly skilled pilot and kitesurfer in general) showed up with a top of the range 15m race foil kite but simply couldn't get going, even on 30m race lines. At that time, the wind was at the most 7 knots so I decided to setup the 15m Airush Ultra along with 35m thin race lines.

I went out not expecting much but was fairly easy to get going after a few power strokes. I'll let the video below do the talking:



You can see my friend in the last 15 seconds of the video who has no more than 25 sessions experience on the hydrofoil was also well powered even @100kg.

Definitely a kite to consider if you want to tackle sub 10 knots conditions on the hydrofoil but don't want to get into foil kites. The performance of this kite in light wind will simply amaze you.

Christian

I like the part at 0.18sec when you buzz the kid and fly your kite meters above there heads.

KiteHume said..
Would love to know how it compares to my Ocean rodeo flite 14.5m. If any one has flown both.

Can do a partial comparison. I have the flite 12m (Gen 5) and have flown it back to back with a friends 12m Ultra. (Caveat - back to back was done with both on long lines ). Its not the big sizes but the characteristics should scale up.

The Ultra is more stable in the lulls and relaunches better. Flite sits closer to the edge of the window and is faster. Flite turns faster and reacts faster to bar steering (worth noting both are on the fast end of the spectrum). Both are pivot turning. I 'think' the Ultra can drop the power slightly easier (I'm qualifying this as I'm not 100% certain). Ultra has suprisingly good pop for a wave kite but I couldn't get the timing right to boost with it. The Flite boosts well with LOTS of hangtime. Both coped alright overpowered on a foil (like 16-18knots so I could happily change the foil and go out on the twin tip)

If I was buying just one to primarily foil on then it would be the Ultra (although if I'm foiling only I'd probably go the whole hog and get a strutless 12m like the Storm Voyager).

If (as in my personal case), I'm mainly on a twin tip and want something that works well on a foil, then its the Flite.

I feel longer lines definitely do add value. I fly my 12 Reo with 28m lines and it would sometimes probably make sense adding say another 3m.

Christian, did you change your mind about larger kites and foiling then? Serious questions, just want to see whether you feel it makes sense i.e. really offers the extra 2-3 knots compared to an actively flown light 12m kite on long lines. I am thinking heavier material despite the one strut only...

Was out foiling today in 10-12 knots and it was enjoyable but probably this is as low as I would risk going out far from shore as I don't trust any LEI kite to stay up at all times in sub 10 knots. Having said that I am crashing frequently when attempting foil tacks and this is of course a different story to someone needing the extra power to get up on the foil only once, while benefiting from apparent wind for the rest of the session.