Alma 6 review in IKSurf magazine
19-10-2023
#Products
Issue 101 of IKSurf Magazine (Oct / Nov 2023) featured a review of the Alma 6, and their reviewer loved it. Here are some extracts from the review, which you can read for free at the link:
“I’ve used plenty of traction kites in my days of teaching kitesurfing lessons, but never have I gotten a kite out of the bag to go riding on the water that has weighed 1.18kg!”
“The Alma is far more forgiving of constant heavy backline pressure than many foil kites (keeping the bar in for long periods, even while turning). This is an ideal characteristic to ensure that the Alma will be safe in the hands of pilots with lots of LEI flying experience who are used to being the bar in for long periods to generate power. This same flying input will often stall foil kites that don’t have adequate riding speed yet, but not the Alma”.
The drift available is the Alma's party piece. My testing sessions included a lot of riding downwind on small to medium bumps as well as flat water experimentation with long downwind gybes to try and leave the Alma with zero line tension. 90% of the time, the Alma maintained its shape and fell back with you enough to remain perfectly flyable (it doesn't take much line tension when the whole kite weighs the same as a bag of sugar!). Even when you really went for it, and your lines were drooping down to the water, it might not have looked pretty while it was falling back, but when the lines did re-engage, the transition was smooth, and off you went. My confidence in the kite increased more and more as time went on, and I found myself concentrating more and more on the board/foil and wave, doing what I wanted and worrying about the kite later.
And their conclusion:
"With freeride and wave kitefoiling being a bit of a niche within our sports, there are few examples of kites that are truly developed for and dedicated to foiling (outside of the racing scene, of course!). The Airwave Alma, however, was built from the ground up to deliver all of the desirable characteristics for freeride/wave kitefoiling. Thankfully, not only does the Alma deliver in that regard, but it does so without requiring an absolute wizard of a pilot! It's fast through the sky, playful, has some crazy drift abilities, and doesn't punish you if you get a bit carried away and put it in the drink. If you're an avid kitefoiler, what more could you ask for?"
Read on IKSurfmag.com
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“I’ve used plenty of traction kites in my days of teaching kitesurfing lessons, but never have I gotten a kite out of the bag to go riding on the water that has weighed 1.18kg!”
“The Alma is far more forgiving of constant heavy backline pressure than many foil kites (keeping the bar in for long periods, even while turning). This is an ideal characteristic to ensure that the Alma will be safe in the hands of pilots with lots of LEI flying experience who are used to being the bar in for long periods to generate power. This same flying input will often stall foil kites that don’t have adequate riding speed yet, but not the Alma”.
The drift available is the Alma's party piece. My testing sessions included a lot of riding downwind on small to medium bumps as well as flat water experimentation with long downwind gybes to try and leave the Alma with zero line tension. 90% of the time, the Alma maintained its shape and fell back with you enough to remain perfectly flyable (it doesn't take much line tension when the whole kite weighs the same as a bag of sugar!). Even when you really went for it, and your lines were drooping down to the water, it might not have looked pretty while it was falling back, but when the lines did re-engage, the transition was smooth, and off you went. My confidence in the kite increased more and more as time went on, and I found myself concentrating more and more on the board/foil and wave, doing what I wanted and worrying about the kite later.
And their conclusion:
"With freeride and wave kitefoiling being a bit of a niche within our sports, there are few examples of kites that are truly developed for and dedicated to foiling (outside of the racing scene, of course!). The Airwave Alma, however, was built from the ground up to deliver all of the desirable characteristics for freeride/wave kitefoiling. Thankfully, not only does the Alma deliver in that regard, but it does so without requiring an absolute wizard of a pilot! It's fast through the sky, playful, has some crazy drift abilities, and doesn't punish you if you get a bit carried away and put it in the drink. If you're an avid kitefoiler, what more could you ask for?"