Tkb Light Wind Test: “The Diablo can’t be beaten for low end pulling power”
Foils are not really a beginner kite, and don’t match the steering precision of an LEI kite, but within the niche of racing and extreme light wind kiteboarding, this kite cannot be beaten for low end pulling power. -TKB
F-One Says:
The story of the Diablo is first of all a story about a man. When we decided to start the foil kite program it was only because we were able to collaborate with a state of the art designer and factory from the paragliding industry, namely Mr Gin Seok Song.
Gin Gliders Paragliding is a leading brand of high end and competition paragliders. The DIABLO was designed by Gin Seok Song and then tested and developed by two previous paragliding world champions: Gin test pilot Hans Bollinger and the F-One designer Robert Graham. They used advanced design and manufacturing technologies that have been acquired through many years of paragliding. The experience of this collaboration has enabled us to quickly build a kite that has already placed F-One team riders on the podium of international competitions.
TKB Says:
The Diablo is a really great example of how the light wind equipment category is being redefined. In terms of pulling power in the lightest of wind, it’s beyond amazing to feel this foil kite’s weight to lift ratio in action. If you are flying a foil kite for the first time it will take a bit to get used to. A foil’s turning response isn’t quite as crisp or fast as a LEI kite like the Bandit, but when the Diablo begins moving across the window, essentially building apparent wind, it becomes the ultimate light wind weapon. All kites steer by stalling one side of the canopy while the other side accelerates, LEI’s included, but when you steer a foil kite you really experience those forces at work. Foils tend to stall during aggressive turning, but as it regains forward motion you will feel insane acceleration out of the turn. This takes a little bit getting used to, particularly because the turning radius isn’t as sharp as a LEI, but you just can’t compete with the low end pull of a foil in extremely light wind. We dropped our wing tip in the water a couple times, but the internal baffles kept the wing inflated and it relaunched with no problems. Foils are not really a beginner kite, and don’t match the steering precision of an LEI kite, but within the niche of racing and extreme light wind kiteboarding, this kite cannot be beaten for low end pulling power.
This kite comes with the Diablo version of the Monolith control bar. It shares the same bar as the Bandit, with the same quick release, plastic coated throw line and Clamcleat but there are significant differences as well. The Diablo bar features an extra-long depower rope much like you would find on most race bars. This bar also features horizontal stall lines that attach from the outside lines to the center lines, the purpose of which is to be able to stall the foil completely. This comes in handy when trying to inflate the kite on launch (stall the kite back into the middle of the window, then release and allow the kite to fully inflate to the wingtips).
