DukeONuke
Since 24 Aug 2005
26 Posts
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 Fri Feb 15, 08 3:49 pm La Ventana Kite Showdown! |
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I was down in La Ventana for the Kite Expo, Racing, and Competition events run by Marina Chang of The Kiteboarder magazine. The whole event was awesome. I did the Island Crossing Race and The Old School/Big Air event. And something like $11,600 was raised for the local schools and a bunch of us helped paint the El Sargento elementary school a beautiful dual blue.
OK...now to the point...."The Kite Showdown". So I rode a lot of the kites during the kite expo. Let see: I rode FreakDog, North, Caution, Eclipse, Naish, RRD, F-One, and Slingshot. Did not ride Cabrinah, Flysurfer, Ozone, Ocean Rodeo, Best, Air Rush, or Blade. But I did look over the build of each and every kite there. All of the kites are good kites and you probably can’t go wrong with any of them.
However if I were to pick a kite with the best overall package of control bar setup and best overall build for durability I think I’d have to go with the Eclipse kites. They pretty much got it all right on their kites. Abrasion patches in all the wear points on the leading edge and anti line catching devises smartly integrated onto the trailing edges of the struts (no mess, no fuss, no tangling for us). Good stitching and attention to detail. They fly sweet, quick turners, and have ton’s of range via the nice long sheeting strap. Only thing I noticed they could improve on the bar was that at full power the depower and power straps sit on top of each other making it hard to figure out which one your grabbing when your groping around up there. I think if they’d put the two straps on opposite sides of the tensioned strap it would solve that conundrum.
All the kites flew great…yet different. So it still takes one some trying things out to determine which kite to get, or at least knowing what kind of flying characteristics your looking for. FreakDog kites where sweet, the EZE was the power house for low end power but a little slow in turning for my taste, however the Vicious and Unleashed turned much quicker. I prefer the quicker turning kites…each to his own. Liked the Slingshot Rev and the Cautions…nice quick turners…responsive to input…Good for waves = . I rather ride waves more than anything else…so my opinions are based on those desires. North’s are a good kite…liked the bar set up…except those damn clam cleats on North and Slingshot piss me off as the line will get caught and you can’t make the kites power up on they fly (to much monkeyin’ around with bearded clams…if you will.. =. Did notice that the North Rhino seemed a little heavy handed on the control bar. RRD are another good kite, fly well, responsive. Did notice on the RRD and Cautions, and probably all inflatable end strut kites can have this problem, that when underinflated you get the dreaded pucker at the ends of the kite. So pump it till it’s firm…and inflate your kites well too…. =~ . The F-One kites were very nice too…quick and responsive…good power and depower…but they need to incorporate a good stopper ball system on there kites….something you can rest the bar on and cruise…take less energy and kite longer (so says the 6 hour session man!). Road the Naish Helix and found it to be one of the most stable kites in the line up. Didn’t get a chance to ride the Naish Cult, but I’m assuming it has that solid stable feel too, due to the new Sigma shape that they are incorporating. I rode the 12M in very light wind and found it had plenty of power…something like a 16M C Kite. Helix seemed pretty quick turning, but I’m assuming the Cult is quicker yet.
Was bummed I didn’t get to ride the rest of the kites: Cabrinah, Flysurfer, Ozone, Ocean Rodeo, Best, Air Rush, or Blade. But it’s hard to get back to the beach when you’re out having fun on somebody else’s kites! Wanted to really ride the Blade kites as they aren’t readily available here in the states. Also wanted to try out Flysurfers ram air and totally water relaunchable kites. Did watch some people relaunching those out in the El Norte swell. Couldn’t believe how easy they popped up. I’m thinking they would also be perfect for snow kiting, or any other kind of traction kiting one would want to do, along with regular water kiteboarding.
So if any of the manufactures out there want me to try out there kites for them…. =
Give me shout out and I’ll shoot you my mailing address…. =
Oh… on boards I was pretty much riding surf style boards the whole time. Rode the North, Caution, and the F-One. All are great boards…but if I had my druthers I’d snag up that F-One in a heartbeat. They’ve got a see thru deck with a Bamboo laminate that looks HOT! Damn sexy if you ask me. I think I wanna sleep with that board (is there something wrong with that?). Rode the 5’8” with straps and the 6’1” w/o. Snappy quick boards, sandwich & epoxy construction with a see thru UV protected epoxy deck to show off that tres’ bitchin’ bamboo. Also liked F-One’s and Caution’s pads, as they didn’t have that damn hump in the middle of the board that hurts the arches on my flat feet. Also just rode a new 6’0” Naish CR (Carve Rocker) surf style board…very quick and responsive…and fun…and no bloody hump.
Well…I think that about covers it for me.
Ride hard and fly far.
The Duke. |
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