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Bridle adjustments for a 2 line foil...


RobB
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Hey there,

I just got a 2 line foil (1.8m) just for messing around with. It's strange, but it won't really lift off until the wind is over 15mph. Is it possible to adjust the bridles, similar to a sparred kite, to get more lift in lower wind conditions ?

The foil is made by Radsails, and I can't find any info on their web site on this topic. I have a larger foil made by the same company, and it flies in 3 mph wind.

Thanks...

~Rob.

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bigger fiols are better for light winds and smaller one are better for heavy winds as for bridle adjustments i dont know about your kite but my beamer 3.6 ans adjustable brakes for pull you can make knots on you leaders that will help with pull but not much with wind youll need a few foils to take out there with you so you will be prepaired for anyting

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I'm no buggy pro that's for sure, but doesn't it seem like it should at least fly in 10-12 mph?

Anthony is right, adjusting your leaders.. (leaders? talk about jargon) Adjustment lines on your handles, right? lol

Ok, adjusting those leaders will help.

But depending on the kites wind range you won't go far in low winds with it. A smaller kite for high winds. I use my little sky tiger over 12 though.. I'm a powder puffer and don't want to get hurt.. I've been flown out, thrown out and rolled just as fast backwards... in the beginning.. now.. I'm just careful. :)

BB Penny~ hoping to squeeze some bugging in during February.

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bigger fiols are better for light winds and smaller one are better for heavy winds as for bridle adjustments i dont know about your kite but my beamer 3.6 ans adjustable brakes for pull you can make knots on you leaders that will help with pull but not much with wind youll need a few foils to take out there with you so you will be prepaired for anyting

Hey Antman...

This foil was supposed to be a 2 liner, but it may be possible to convert. It is just like my 4 line foil with too much brake adjustment. Goes up and hovers about 15 to 20 feet above the ground until the wind goes up around 20 mph. THEN it takes off and flies like you would expect. I'm only looking for something to zip around with, or to hand to someone that's just starting out. The 3 meter foil that I have is often too intimidating for a beginner. They think it's real cool until I try to hand them the handles...

Thank you, Penny, also for you input, but I'm not really looking for power out of this foil. I guess in 30mph it might get some pull going, but this time of year, if it's blowing 30mph, you'll find me inside.

I'll roll it out in my shop and see if I can figure something out, otherwise, I'll just use it when it's stupid to fly anything else. My resolution this year is to try to break less kites...

Happy New Year All !

~Rob.

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Rob

i dont know much about radsails but i can tell you that the prism stylus and flexi fiol blades are 2 and 4 line compatable with the flexifoil kites you can use the bar and make it a 2 liner and the brakes lines both hook up to a wrist strap i only use the bar for skudding and jumping for bugging i like the handles better i hope this helps ill have to look up the radsails to see how they work

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The Radsail 1.8 is a two line kite only. I imagine it could be converted over to a quad line if someone wanted to take the time to do it. It would require adding in tabs onto the bottom skin of the kite and attaching a home made bridle to it and a second pair of lines and a set of handles. By the time you did all of this you would be over the cost of just purchasing another quad line kite.

Bridle adjustments are not recommended on ram-air type kites at all!!! Unless the kite is designed to have multiple adjustments on it (like the PKD, some Blades, etc...) Messing with the bridle will surely hinder the kites performance. This is unless the bridle has been stretched or deformed by some previous method not disclosed and then you would only be adjusting it back to its factory settings.

Smaller kites will take more wind to get into the air. It is a matter of sail area & weight vs. wind speed. Larger foils will generally fly in less wind because of the added sail area even though they do tend to weight more. As your flying experience improves you will discover ways to keep the foil inflated and will be able to fly the kite in lighter (and stronger) winds than you are able to now. Even with adequate experience, flying a foil smaller than 2.0 meters in winds less than 10mph can be difficult. A larger kite will give you a lot more enjoyment in those winds (not to mention a ton more power).

Most Blades (and most other quad line ram-air kites as well) can be converted to dual line and flown off of a bar but you do loose a huge amount of controllability when doing this. This is accomplished by connecting the lower bridle to the upper bridle on each side of the kite and then attaching them to a single pair of lines to the control bar (or straps). The Prism Stylus comes in different sizes P1 (smallest), P2, P3, and P4 (largest). The P1 and P2 are dual line kites only like the Radsail 1.8meter. The P3 and P4 are sold as dual line kites with straps and one pair of lines but they both can be converted over to quad lines by simply un-attaching the lower bridles and adding a second pair of lines with handles. The larger size Radsails are sold as quad line kites and usually come ready to fly with a quad line set and handles.

I hope this helps.

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Update on the stubborn 1.8 meter foil...

Thank you all for your input, I got a chance to fly the foil in 20-25mph wind. It flew pretty well, and had a good amount of tug to it. It's surprising that it just won't fly until the wind gets close to 20mph. After an hour of flying, the wind died down to 10-15mph, so I got out a stunt kite and practiced stalls & slides. Awesome to fly in New York in January with bright sun & 65+ degree weather !

Thanks again...

~Rob.

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