Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2001 6:36 am
by Andres_Santacruz
Marina,
Are you flygirl from the kitesurf forum? How do you like the booster, is the stated wind range true, it seems really big.
Thanks in advance,
Andres Santacruz
Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2001 9:12 pm
by marina
Hi Andres,
Yes I'm the same flygirl from yahoogroups. RE: the Booster, I am very happy with it although my tube came a little twisted and I have been too lazy to rethread it.....
The windrange for me at 125 lbs is 9/10-18/19 knots. Stefan at kitexcite.com uses his 8.6 in 13-28knot winds and he is about 175lbs. I think the range is awesome but is always a bit narrower for lighter pilots (like paragliders). But in all fairness, I think the majority of the new 2002 kites have been modified to have incredible wind ranges so hopefully we will just have to have a quiver of two instead of 3-4. RE: water relaunchability, I have had no problems but as previously posted, I don't crash the kite much. I have found it to be just as easy/frustrating to water relaunch as my 7m cabrihna black tip and 5m wipika. The trick for me is to blow up the LE really hard (tube is extra durable, so it can take it). You also have to make sure the battens are adjusted right (only need to do it once..okay maybe twice!) so the kite has the intended profile.
There has been some discussion re: size of kite. I like it but I have a subaru outback and box on top of my car so have plenty of room. I like the fact that I only have to blow up one tube and if battens break, they're easier to replace and cheaper than most bladders. The only bummer is when I travel but I have a 170f-one twin tip so have to pay oversize baggage fee anyway.
If you have more questions, please email me and I'll try to answer.
PROS:
easy set up
responsive
large wind range
low cost to replace things
quality construction
great fabric
affordable
CONS:
will incur oversize baggage charge when traveling by air
bad depower strap (works only one way and cannot adjust while riding)
wrist leash too short (okay in light winds but I use a snapshackle with an 8-knot instead of a chicken loop anyway)
leader lines too stretchy
will sometimes invert (this happened to me once but I don't think I pumped up the LE hard enough)
But I must say that after dealing with all the issues with my 7 meter cabrihna which started deteriorating after less than 1 month of use (fabric, bladders, also crappy depower strap, slow turning/heavy input needed), I have been reborn with the Booster.