Light Wind Kites

Facts are, that foils have a bigger range and are better in light wind than even most modern bow kites.

Modern inflatables are starting to become more and more like foils... flatter profiles and bridles.

There was a test done awhile back with several kites (foils, c's and bows) connected to a scale, depower measured while being pulled behind a truck at a constant speed in dead air. The foil won, bow was 2nd.

The big problem with foils, is surprisingly not water relaunch... thats no problem at all. The problem is that they fold,collapse, taco, and loose drive in gusty conditions and unfortunately tampa/st.pete have some pretty gusty conditions.

The peter lynn venom is an awesome foil, but it's actually more of a C kite. We tied the 12 to a garbage can a few years ago at east beach and watched it fly itself while we ate lunch. We never landed the kite after riding, just connected it to a pole and walked away as it flew.

The kite was awesome. I really like foils but the conditions aren't ideal for them here most of the time. The extra weight and structural rigidity of the SLE's makes them a better choice in gusty conditions or for freestyle where you are constantly stalling the kite and getting moments of slack in the lines. But for steady wind and free riding (read light wind) the foils smoke sle's.

Bayflite has that foil for sale on his website: http://www.stpetekites.com/catalog/p...products_id=38