2016 Turbine 15m or 2016 Rally 14m for coast kite?

mikethemate · Since 16 Jan 2007 55 Posts White Salmon

Just sold my 2012 Rally 14 meter and find myself mulling over the replacement. The purpose of my 14m Rally was primarily as a 'session saver' or light wind coast kite. I am a big dude of 215lbs and have recently gotten into foiling, so light wind kiting in the gorge will be on smaller kites.

I kite waves primarily at Fort Stevens, which can often be fickle. I am trying to determine if the 15m Turbine will be a better option than another 14m rally, particularly where it comes to wave riding, looping in light winds, and drift while riding a wave.

Being a loyal Slingshot rider, I will only consider these two kites. (If its 17m conditions then I will take the beer option.) Appreciate any input from any of you who want to share your feedback on these kites, if you have ridden both, likes, dislikes, opinions, etc...

Gracias!

WindSki · Since 14 Dec 2012 402 Posts Portland Obsessed

I have the 2016 Turbine 15m and had the opportunity to test it against the LF solo in 15.5m. Note that the 15m Turbine had more power than the LF !! also it turned just as fast. I have not tried the 14 Rally. My comment is just confirming the power of the 15m.

patdaniels · Since 29 Jul 2015 91 Posts Seattle area

Hi Mike,

I had a 2012 14M Rally, which was a great kite! Being 165lbs though, I found the 12M Rally was powerful enough (quite powerful for a 12M), and a bit quicker; so I switched to that size starting in 2013, which was the same year Rally went from 3 struts to 5 struts.

I do have a 15M Turbine in addition to 12M Rally. To me, the 15M Turbine feels similar to a post 2012 14M Rally (5 struts) - just bigger, slightly slower and with a bit more low end. So, I went from 2012 14M Rally to 12M Rally and 15M Turbine to extend low and high end wind ranges. But, that also meant going from one to two kites on that end of my quiver.

If you are happy with the low and high end wind range of your 2012 14M Rally and that size fits nicely in your quiver, then probably 14M Rally again is the ticket. 14M Rally is slightly faster than 15M Turbine for loops, a bit more responsive to input, similar drift between the two.

Depending on what you have as smaller kite sizes in your quiver and how light a wind you want to kite in, it could make sense to go 12M Rally and 15M Turbine to extend low and high end wind range of 14M Rally...but that is two kites.

Cheers!

mikethemate · Since 16 Jan 2007 55 Posts White Salmon

I have replaced my 2102 rally quiver with 5-7-10-12 Wave kites and am leaning towards the turbine to get me out on the light days at the coast where there is good surf and low chop. I am rather nostalgic about that 2012 rally as it got me so many good sessions in those sort of conditions.

I know the feedback was not great on the 2013-2015 rallys (in comparison to 2011-2012) and have not demo'd the 2016 or 2017 rally, nor the turbine. I have heard the turbine has a bit of a 'lighter' feel in the air where the 14 pulls harder. Perhaps the new iteration is better but going to be hard to beat those 2012 rallys. It sounds like I may give up a bit of performance in order to gain some more low end if I choose the turbine.

patdaniels · Since 29 Jul 2015 91 Posts Seattle area

In that case go 15M Turbine!

I have 6,8,10 Wave SST, 12 Rally, 15 Turbine. I happen to really like the 12M Rally specifically, just picked up a 2017 12M Rally this week, along with 2017 Wave SST's. I had 12 Wave SST, but liked 12M Rally better as an all around kite in that size for where I kite. That said, I prefer Wave SST in all the smaller sizes vs Rally.

If you have 12M Wave SST and like it, the 15M Turbine would complement it better than 14M Rally for the use case you described. It will give you more low end wind range and perform well enough relative to 14M Rally IMHO.

Shred on!

Jonpnw · Fri Jul 08, 16 7:09 pm **15 Meter Turbine**

If your in the gorge this weekend I have a 15m Turbine for you to try. I love this kite for light wind and feel like it would compliment the Wave SST nicely.

Jonpnw · Fri Jul 08, 16 7:10 pm **15 Meter Turbine**

If your in the gorge this weekend I have a 15m Turbine for you to try. I love this kite for light wind and feel like it would compliment the Wave SST nicely.

bigjohn · Since 13 Mar 2012 663 Posts Addicted

for me the transition from 12m Rally to 17M Turbine is easy. No gap.

Thus, I am of the belief that a major consideration is design of the kite rather than just the power range.

A lightwind kite should be of lighter design (with a possible trade-off in durability).

In super light winds just keeping your kite in the air is as much a factor as the power of the kite. Thus, I am a fan of the Turbine simply because I believe it stays in the air better than the Rally in super light conditions.

mikethemate · Since 16 Jan 2007 55 Posts White Salmon

Thanks for the offer Jon, I will catch up with you at some point but won't be this weekend.