Kite sports are evolving rapidly. Kitefoiling, now Olympic, uses foil kites with a very high aspect ratio and other features as described below.
https://www.kiteworldshop.com/en/freeride-kites/8665-flysurfer-vmg-2-kite.html
Hydrofoil | Race
The VMG: revolutionary, highly efficient, extremely fast. The FLYSURFER technology showcase is a masterpiece of German engineering specially developed for the Olympic hydrofoil kite racing sports. Tested in competition, untouchable on the racetrack, easy to maintain. Increase your performance and leave your competition behind!
VMG … born on the racecourse
The VMG is a revolutionary concept in hydrofoil racing that is the pinnacle of 5 years of development in high-performance closed-cell foil kites. It is created to put cutting-edge technology in the hands of world-class athletes, who are striving for the Olympic gold medal. The mission was to create a fast and easier to ride wing that inspires the next generation of kiters or sailors.FLYSURFER’s R&D mastermind Benedikt Boelli gathered our top racers to mark a huge step forward in the evolution of kite-design to develop the world’s first two bridle level (A,B) race kite. The VMG changes its angle of attack in a highly effective manner in contrast to the conventional change of the profile camber without the help of an additional Z-level. The entire wing has been extensively modified with redefined profiles, optimized aspect ratio, lightweight materials, and the fiberglass rod-reinforced upper sail construction to gain the highest amount of rigidity to enable an insane reduction of total bridle lines. We added different sizes and fine-tuned every kite’s aspect ratio, cell count and adjusted their attributes to the weather conditions requirements, to ultimately build the fastest kite on the racetrack.
Upon unpacking the VMG, it shines with straightforward simplicity and a unique bridle system that distinguishes it from all our foil-kite products. The complexity of use over time with high-performance wings is one of the biggest challenges of kite-racing: Only the athletes who are good at maintaining their equipment remain competitive. We strongly focused on a drastic reduction of trim sensitivity. The VMG is in a league of its own with how linearly the twisting is distributed from its center to its wingtips when steering. Less time trimming and learning how to trim means more time on the water.
FLYSURFER wants to especially thank Theo de Ramecourt, Nico Landauer and Florian Gruber for spearheading the development of the VMG, a kite born on the racetrack.
Key Features:
- Two-Level Bridle Design (A, B)
The first competition kite with a two-level bridle design in the history of kite sports. The low-stretch Edelrid Kevlar-bridle reduces drag to an absolute minimum and activates the VMG’s incredible upwind performance. The innovative kite changes its angle of attack in a highly efficient manner in contrast to the conventional change of the profile camber over the Z level. The net result: the best angle as well as maximum speed on the racetrack.- Rigid Airfoil
The two-level bridle design requires a particularly rigid internal construction to perfectly support the reduced bridles. The profile of the VMG is additionally reinforced with fiberglass rods integrated into the internal rib construction. The rods are protected at the ends and can be replaced. The VMG hardly deforms, the flow is clean and it has a high level of stability in the air, which constantly inspires confidence to push the limit.- Smooth Leading Edge Technology
The VMG gets a special material mix: Inelastic Skytex32 on the leading edge, proven X-Light top and bottom sail as the best combination of weight and robustness and to support the inner structure, TX-Light hard finish rib material. The use of these high quality materials enables a very rigid wing and particularly low deformation from the center to the wing tips. The bridle lines therefore change very homogeneously, which has a positive effect on the stretching and shrinking of the construction, and the maintenance time is significantly reduced.- Speed Mode
The VMG is controlled by a one pulley on each wing side and has no mixer, the feeling this gives is unique. The holding forces increase continuously with the force development of the kite, which enables defined and precise feedback at the bar, as if you had the entire surface of the kite in your hand. The profile only changes its angle of attack and gives you access to an enormous wind range, the ratio of power to depower is phenomenal.Technology: Closed-Cell Foil Kite
On the video below, we can remark that the VMG flies very close to the water level, in an almost vertical position, being very stable and controllable in addition to be fast and powerful. This can be an advantage for an AWE use, considering superimposed unities connected to their respective ground stations, operating in reeling yo-yo mode, and sweeping a large area by flying by transversal (horizontal) crosswind trajectories, forth and back.
A sketch of a reeling version of OrthoKiteBunch I presented to the 21st World Energy Congress Montreal 2010 https://www.osti.gov/etdeweb/servlets/purl/21505319 :
