Welcome Andrewinsa

[John Barresi]

Hello @Andrewinsa,

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[Andrewinsa]

Thanks. I am in South Africa and fly mostly when on holiday when we go to the beach. I have a cheap 1,6m foil kite which my kids and I fly, I also have a little single line I bought when the kids were smaller, but they get bored with it now. I have another small 2 line foil which is a really bad design and doesn’t fly well. My pride and joy is my Radsail 3m, but I can only manage this for short periods at a time. I want to get a 2m foil, and have found 2 options available. Both are the same price, both show 2m. I can get the Radsail 2m or the Prism Synapse 200. The Radsail comes with a nice backpack, but I know that is not a reason to choose.   Bridle lines look better on the Prism, but they attach with small holes through the foil vs the Radsail that has small strips stitched into the kite to hold the bridles. Your opinions are welcome please, which route should I go?

[makatakam]

Hi, Andrew, and welcome to the forum. I look forward to sharing the flying field with you someday.

I have owned and flown two line foils before, but I have not owned or flown either of the two you are considering, so I can't give you any meaningful information about them. I have seen and heard of the Synapse frequently on this forum and elsewhere quite frequently, but this is the first time I have ever heard of the Radsail, so I Googled it and took a look. It is made by a company that makes power foils and in the 2m size is probably intended as a training kite for that purpose. It appears to be well-made by a company that specializes in power kites. The Synapse, as most foils in that size range can also be used as a trainer for that purpose.

This is the limit of what I can tell you about them, but many others on this forum are very familiar with at least one if not both of them and I'm sure they will chime in soon with more information.

Have fun, smile and don't forget to breathe.

P.S. -- Admin may move this question and replies to a more appropriate location for this topic. If so, we will be informed where it was put.

[Breezin]

I'm in the same boat as Makatakam. Have  Prisms snapshot 1.4 foil and Zephyr stunt kite. Completely satisfied with the quality and flight of both. Watched some you tube of the Radsail. Can see why you're looking for something a little smaller 😲. That'd wear me out in 5 minutes. Maybe sooner. I wouldn't think the attachment points make much of a difference. Both are proven designs. There are people here who fly the quad foils and have a blast. Great videos. The Radsail video I watched was a Quad. If I were to go bigger than my 1.4 I'd get a 4 line. More fun. Another option for you and your kids are the high speed foils. 1.2 m speed foils might be of interest to you.Be something different than you have. Spiderkite neon will be my next foil. Not much pull,rated to 40+ mph and clocked at 120 mph. Draw back is crashing at high speeds and blowing out the baffles. Not much help to you but welcome and have fun with whatever you choose.

[Andrewinsa]

Thanks for the replies, still trying to make final decision, but you have given me more to think about. As a general rule, is the smaller foil going to be faster?

[Breezin]

From what I've read below 2m yes. Above that kite shape starts  coming more into play for the kites purpose. How the surface area is measured can be different between a power, traction or static flying kite. Riffclown posted a really good breakdown that was pretty easy for me to follow (before you ask which power kite should I buy). Search aspect ratio in the forums search engine and a bunch of good stuff will come up about all kinds of different kites.

[Edmond Dragut]

smaller is faster but also less pull and need a bit more wind to fly. 

[Exult]

My own experiences with foils are limited to the three foils I own. Hopefully there is some new angle to your choice of foil to be found in the below text. I guess it can be seen as a lengthy way of saying that quad line foils (QLF?) also can be fun:

• Peter Lynn 5m² Peel quad foil. At the time, soon 20 years ago, I was much into learning to handle (framed) DLKs and the size and absence of tricking possibilities made it feel like a large mattress with brakes. Did some limited traction on skies. Yes, the comparison to trick kites was unfair, this foil was a tool of traction that also (obviously) could be used by a rookie.
• A small budget two line foil with very poor flight properties. It easily collapse, kind of pulsates when flying forward and is only stable and begins to pull in a tight spin. A better than nothing kite.
• Spider Kites 1.1 m² Smithi pro. Sold as an extra controllable foil, including reverse flight. Can more or less be operated in two modes. You can fly it like a QLK or forget about the QLK thing and let go of the wrist control and fly it like a DLK with decent cornering (feels speedy then, but I have not much to compare it to). Some differences from a Rev(-like) perspective: It is (after not so many hours) in my hands less precise (but then compared to Revs I have only used it a fraction of the time) and demands much active input if you want to somewhat approach the preciseness of a Rev. I also get a collapsing wingtip when side sliding upwards. It also behaves somewhat differently when pulling back your arms to power up the sail. Otherwise I believe that the similarities are there so that QLK control can be learned on it (without breaking spars). If flown like a DLK (no reconfiguration of the kite – just how you use it) it can be flown just by left/right pulling without much thought (none) on how to angle the handles just having the handles in neutral with loose wrists. For that type of turn it is easier to control than a Rev.

Though I’ve done several comparisons to Revs there are other properties to explore. E.g., I got two kites that I can do bouncing reverse landings/takeoffs My HQ Maestrale (due to some flexing glass fibre battens when 2 point landing) and my Smithi pro (both designed by Christoph Fokken btw). A bouncing landing takeoff is clearly not something you would like to attempt with a Rev.

I’d say my Smithi pro is the most fun foil of the above ones – controllable and with some pleasant pull in non-light winds, but have not tried any other foils than the above ones.

If you intend to use your new foil on a beach a couple of times per year and have no intention to move on to (framed) QLKs then it would be easier to go with a two line foil, handling only one pair of lines. On the other hand if you like to learn both DLK left/right control (obviously without duali tricks) and QLK control, Smithi Pro could be an option (and looking on the above text I do realize that it was a bit pro Smithi ).