Seated kiteboarding in light wind in Goa!
This kite-scooter, despite being an amateur-built and somewhat crude and heavy prototype, is a fast, incredibly versatile, easy to operate and amazing sail craft Designed for light wind and flat water conditions
it is best powered by any light wind surf kite, the bigger the better. The ingenious bow-mounted pivotable rigging system – not only provides the lateral resistance vital for upwind sailing in the most effective conceivable way by using one hydrofoil for each tack, It even transmits only the desired components of kite and foil generated forces to the hull, but not a tiny little bit of heeling moment, the main performance limiting and often unease generating factor of any conventional sail craft.
The value of the mentioned assets highly effective asymmetric foils combined with a huge sail area enabled by a completely heel free design, becomes apparent by the fact that these are shared by no less a sail craft than the VESTAS Sailrocket, which just recently has smashed the existing speed records for water based sailing.
Objective of my kite-scooter concept is not, however, to chase speed records, but to create a maximum of excitement in the lightest of winds, in a craft that could be operated after nothing but a short instruction,
by anyone able to safely fly a surf kite.
Once the many variable parameters in foils, rig and hull are optimized, I am expecting downwind speeds of considerably more than 20knts, in as little as 6knts of wind.
That would about match the performance of race course kite boards and certainly be fast enough to have some fun.
I am next going to find and hopefully convince the right people to help me turn this from a concept into an awesome product and you might be able to help me as well, by sharing this clip or simply giving some feed back!
Please rate, share and comment.