And what about the buckling you mentioned seeing on other strutless kites? How does the UFO perform here?
That was another thing I was surprised about! I didn’t see any buckling at all. And the flapping is pretty minimal as well when you compared it to other no-strut kites. It’s very quiet. It does flap a bit when you’re sheeted all the way out and you’re going straight upwind, but usually you’re not doing that at the same time.
It has incredible relaunch, too. You can just hit it on the water and then immediately turn it back up and have it flying again. You don’t even slow down on a foil. It produces so much room for error.
Our SST has in the past been a popular kite for foilers, including yourself. How does the UFO stack up to the SST, specifically for foiling performance?
The SST was definitely my go-to kite for foiling because it was so easy to fly and super responsive and you could fly it sheeted while still steering. I definitely think that the UFO is something completely different that’s super cool. It’s like an SST on steroids—it does everything an SST does but much, much faster.
Not only does it steer faster and goes through the window quicker, it’s also so light and never falls out of the sky—it just drifts with you. You can sheet out the bar, have it above you and it’ll just follow you down the swell without ever having to worry about it. And then when you do have to maneuver the UFO again while riding down the swell, you can loop it and not really get too much of a pull from it.
The other day, I went back to the SST to try and compare. And I realized that I was constantly waiting for the SST to get to where I wanted it to be. It was always kind of slowing me down in my maneuvers. The UFO is in another ballpark because it’s so lightweight for going downwind. And then upwind it really does lock in and the canopy fills really nicely and you get a very consistent power even throughout lulls.
The UFO is a really incredible kite. I’ve been really surprised by it. I definitely think that a lot of people are going to be transferred over to the UFO due to the ease of use. The SST is a great kite, but, for foiling, the UFO is perfect. I’m pretty blown away by it, honestly.