Naish Helix vs Wind-X Monsoonz vs Cabrinha Contra

[tenebaum]

Nopes, looks fine to me.... never found the fabric to be coated on one side.... looks like any available kites, both side are shinny.....

just checked my 10M and the 14M..... the 10m is a few months old and doesnt show any signs of wear yet.... the 14M's brand new, not taken out for a ride yet.... just got them out from the box, and it looks fine too....

[tenebaum]

got the 14m outta the box.... chumbawamba, dont you love the smell of new kites????

anyway, took some photos of the fabric... looks coated and shinny on both side...

[rokap3]

I had my 14 out again yesterday….I must say that I am impressed with the low end of this kite…it was only about 11 knots on average…..sometimes lower…it got so low at times the kite just feel out of the sky. I weigh 94kg and was hooting up wind on the 142 X-koi board…..not enough for me to do any jumps but I was out when no one else was.

I found if I can get up on the plane, I can go up wind. It was so low that I could not go towards the kite at all because it would just drop….To get down wind, I had to really work the kite. I would not like to drop the kite in these conditions because likely hood of a relaunch is not very good, due to the low wind speed. My mate on the beach could not even self launch his waroo because of the lack of wind.

There was no white caps.....

I was impressed….

Cheers,

Barrie

[chumbawamba]

attached to are made of a type of strap.... my previous cabrinha instead of having straps like the wind-x's, had just lines (probably spectra) and these attachment points tend to wear...

what straps? can you describe further?

this one gabe....



rokap: ahahah..... same thing happened to me...... i tend to pump the kite up even at the slightest breeze..... changed your perspective on wind ay? but definitely you cant kite in really really really really light winds......

[chumbawamba]

tenebaum: nice color!! i heard that wind-x have introduced the new colors for the monsoonz......

[Neill]

Looking forward to seeing the 14m and 7m in action barrie!

I'm over on rarotonga right now, wish i had the monsoonz because the wind is blowing an easy 10-12 knots, just not quite enough for the sonic and little board.

flying to aitutaki tomorrow for 3 nights, hopefully the wind comes up! brilliant place to kite......

Will be interesting to see where the 14m bottoms out with a light rider and big twintip - maybe sub 7 knots?

[rokap3]

Hey Neill,

You have got the life...tripin around the world...lol

Don't know what the low end would be for you...maybe a sub 7 knots, but probably only in winter when the wind is dense. Now summer is here you would be lookin at around 9 - 10 knots in open water to keep up wind.

I had an awsome day on the 14 again today. I was the only one able to keep upwind in the surf.....not much wind. I had to use the face on the waves as ramps...got the jumps nailed on the kite now...the landings are so soft...

I have been using the WiND-X X-Koi board as well, which works good with the kite...

Enjoy your holiday...

Cheers,

Barrie

[chumbawamba]

rokap3, you got the x-koi too? i wanted to get a new board but i am not sure about the build.... and there are more specialised board manufacturers around... hope its quality is as good as the kites..... got any close-up shots? is it thick and floaty? i dont want one of those!

[rokap3]

Hey Chumbawamba,

I haven't taken any photos of the board yet. The board is made by Underground for WiND-X. It is exactly the same but the graphis are different....has the same fins and straps as well.... I reckon the WiND-X graphics look better than the 08 Underground ones....however the WiND-X graphics make the board a little harder to see in the surf when it is the rite way up.....

Performance wise I was not initialy impressed on the first ride because it was so different to what I was used to.....but now I love it....it rides so smoothly, has the right amount of flex ( for me ) and planes really early..and is very comforable to slip your feet into....so no complaints...and the finish and construction is industry leading....

I was out on the 14 again today....should have put the 10 up...but I wanted to find the top end of the 14 so I pumped that puppy up...geez it has some grunt...It was gusting over 20 but I had no problems at all...and still was easy to self land..

Cheers,

Barrie

[tanaken]

chumbawamba,

This link might help you answer your question

phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2337666&highlight=xkoi

Cheers