Naish Cult Ride Review - from Maui!

tonyb · Sun Sep 23, 07 12:36 am **Naish Cult Ride Review - from Maui!**

Hey all, we're wrapping up our stay in Maui and Bam Bam was kind enough to hook us up with two Naish Cult's to play with for a couple of days so I thought I'd give a little post ride report - and a big THANK YOU to Jon for setting us up.

I think most people know my background but just in case, so you have a frame of reference for my comparisons... I've been riding Best Waroo's for almost two years now with the 9m and 12m being my favorites. I like big jumps, slow floaty high spins, down looping, and easy kite loops. I'm just starting to go unhooked but I still suck at it. Confused

I like the waves but didn't have a surf board to play with this trip so I was using my twin tip 125 Drive all week.

I had demo'd a Helix in the Gorge a few weeks ago and overall wasn't that impressed with it. It turned fast, looped well, but jumping was fussy and the kite tended to back stall a lot. Jon thinks this was a factory line length problem they had on some of the early shipments that has since been corrected. I'm happy to report the Cult flew much better and I enjoyed the kite.

My first day out on the Cult was Friday when the wind was really gusty and holey. It was gusting over 35 on the outside but it would drop off to less than 15 or so on the inside during the lulls. It was like this all week long - hard to get off the beach as the kite is getting knocked around then dropping back and then once you get up all of sudden the nuclear blast hits you and yanks you out of your socks.

Bam Bam set me up with the 7.5m Cult on 15m lines and sent me out. The kite handled the gusts and the holes extremely well, dropping back slightly but not surging ahead like my Waroo does. The initial power stroke on these kites is fun too - dive it straight down, then turn it on a dime about 10' off the water and hang on as you accelerate. Reminds me of making right angle turns with a stunt kite!

The bar pressure on these is just right - not heavy like the Cabrinah's or really light like the '07 Liquid Force Havoc. Has a very C kite feel in the air - you know right where it is at. The sliding stopper setup works well but it can get pushed a looong way away from you on a big crash. I struggled with using the under the bar sheeting a bit but I think it's something you can get used to.

One thing I didn't like is the short 15m lines. I REALLY prefer the 20m lines. The kites are very fast on the shorter lines which probably works great with a surf board in the waves but I found that it tended to drop me out of the sky on big jumps most of the time. I had a hard time getting my normal butter soft landings like I do with the Waroo. Most of Friday was survival kiting and the Cult handled the difficult conditions very well. Overall I came in having enjoyed the kite with the only negative being the short line setup.

On Saturday the wind was much steadier and a little lighter so I went out on the 9m Cult with 20m lines and had a nice 2 hour + session on it. And got a chance to know the kite. Very Happy

Things were much better than the day before. The 9m is a VERY nice kite. Super stable, pulls like a truck but turns like a sports car. Down loop transitions are very nice with the kite maintaining it's pull all the way through. Kite loops (small ones!) were very smooth and FAST. I also dialed in my jumping technique with the kite. This thing likes to FLY! I didn't get as high as I do on my Waroo (probably because I know it better) but I definitely got more hang time and glide out of the kite. After about 30 minutes of practice I finally got the soft landings working again although you have to land with more board speed than I do on the Waroo to keep it soft. I had a lot of fun boosting off the waves into a jump transition then down looping onto the face into a bottom turn. Or a face plant about 50% of the time. Embarassed

The Cult goes upwind very well too. Very fast and easy to keep at the edge of the window without losing power.

So, to recap: these are good solid kites, fast turning, super stable, nice jumps, lots of hang time, Smile

, perfect bar pressure and lots of fun. The only things I didn't like were the under the bar trim line and the amount of force it took to get it un-cleated (and the angle is kind of weird too), the sliding stopper can get pushed up too far to reach and the rear bridles seem to get tangled up when you take the kite out of the bag and start to blow it up. I had to untangle both kites both days. Not a big deal but it was quite a rat's nest at one point. (this may be because this is Jon's test kite and there were lots of knots in the bridles for trying different setups). For anybody that tried the Helix and wasn't overly impressed, try the Cult. Just a bit more of a C kite feel, a little more stable, and no dropping back in the window. I think I only put the kite down once and relaunch was super easy - but it was already on the wing tip when I went down so I didn't have to do anything to get it back up. Watching others with the kite it looks like it is super easy to relaunch in all conditions.

So, thanks again for hooking us up Bam Bam! - was fun seeing you and hanging out on the beach Saturday night drinking beer as the sun went down! See you in da hood in a few weeks!

Tony

Kraemer · Since 24 Apr 2006 1736 Posts Sky Pilot Unicorn Captain

Nice Review Tony! Now Let's see some more picts....

Rico · Since 13 Mar 2005 1219 Posts Vancouver Photographer

Sounds like lots of fun Tony. Watch out for turtles Shocked

bambam · Since 15 Mar 2005 760 Posts Hood River Photographer

Tony,

Glad to help ya out and get some honest feedback on the Cult...

Oh Rico, yes... even though you ride those Slingshot things, I will have kites for you to try on the Rock...

Jon

railgrab · Since 29 Mar 2005 177 Posts Seattle, WA Stoked

Tony, I agree quite a bit with your review of the 9m Cult. I'm sure it's the same setup I flew a week ago in Maui, thanks Bam! I was immediately comfortable flying this kite, as the bar pressure was very similar to the way I ride my Waroo 9m. I kited in well powered and fairly steady winds (by Maui standards) that day and was happy with its jumping and looping ability. The 9m Cult also seemed more stable in the air and I wasn't able to oversheet it the way I do with my Waroo sometimes. In Maui, I also flew a Waroo 9m (RIP Crying or Very sad

) , Switchblade 9m, and Bularoo 10m. Hopefully, I'll get around to comparing them soon.

Ethan