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Airush 2013 Team Series

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s29feb
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Re: Airush 2013 Team Series

Postby s29feb » Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:24 pm

peterheirman wrote:@s29feb
In the video you are testing a wave kite with a twintip on micro waves (<75 cm) ???
No very convincing.
That I can even do with old school high jump kites (Best Nemesis HP 2008)

For a test you need to have and wave board, 3m waves and about 30 knots side on shore - then test the drifting ability of the kite and turning ability when riding down the slope of the wave (fast downwind and hope the kite turns).

Jumping ability:
In most cases kites that jump well are not the best for wave riding as they pull to hard during turns which is especially hard riding in switch stance trying to stay on the wave in a gusty wind. Normally these jumping kites pull you off the wave due to their power and speed.
As I said I'm no wave rider, but I do know kites. Having owned, demoed and rode a lot of kites I can tell you that that the Wave is a bit of an enigma. I own and use the Razor and I totally get what you say about pulling you off the face; however the Wave doesn't do this - depower it and ride at it and it will follow you. It has been described as half Lithium and half Razor and in many ways it is offering the performance of theRazor but the ease of use of the Lithium.

The way I ride I was never going to test its potential in Waves but I'm sure Bear Karry did when helping develop it. Me - when I read the description the first thing I asked was does it jump, and it does. As I suspected it is much more than a wave kite and is a very versatile, easy to use kite that has a surprising amount of performance.

Jumping ability as in height is usually the domain of high aspect fast flying kites - like the Nemesis HP that I have flown, and your delta/open C type kites usually you get more glide; however the Wave is a good mix and even though you don't get core wrenching whip you still get decent height.

So as I said an enigma and a very clever bit of design and engineering - something Airush seem to be excelling at in both their kites and Boards. Other companies have similar kites in their line up that are just as versatile and have been proven in waves and in freestyle; however some lack either upwind, boost, forward drive.... the Wave to me was a bit of a perfect all-round package and it has certainly made me think whether I'll be on Razors next year.

If you get a chance to try one in the conditions you describe then I'd love to hear your feedback because as I'm sure you know kites have came a long way since the Nemesis that if I remember correctly did jump great but if you failed to pump it hard enough to give you an aneurism was a total bastard to relaunch?

Regarding the waves - the GoPro wide angle seems to distort the view and in that part of the bay they are wind driven on-shore and if I see a decent wave I don't see something I can carve a few turns on I just see a big ramp. I was out on the Wave on other days with no camera and Pigs Bay as it is called can get some very close set overhead stuff (taller than me for sure at 5'11") and the Wave was simply a joy to use :thumb:

peterheirman
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Re: Airush 2013 Team Series

Postby peterheirman » Tue Jul 17, 2012 9:14 pm

@s29feb As a matter of fact I still own the Best Nemesis HP 2008 series (12-9-7): when there are no waves then I still manage to jump about the highest. I take care of them and hope they (especially the 9 and 7) last a few more years (I do kite winter and summer on North Sea twice a week - so they have many sessions and hours).
When there are waves (North Sea) then I use wave kites (Takoon 7m and 5m) and occasionally with little wind and high waves (over 2m) the Nemesis HP 9 - and then pray I don't drop it into the sea as I know it folds easily in a wave.

My main wave board has now 3 years on the sea, thus I would like to test the Airrush Compact 5'4" as it is feasible to take it on a plane (European limitations in board bag length).

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Re: Airush 2013 Team Series

Postby MikeBirt » Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:16 pm

peterheirman wrote:For a test you need to have and wave board, 3m waves and about 30 knots side on shore
I had a few good goes on the Wave 9..
I have to say though, side onshore, I most certainly need a kite that sits forward and steers with minimal grunt - if you have too much downwind pull you cant keep a rail in on the face when the wind is trying to pull you off it, but you still need to have positive steering. The kite needs to move without pulling hard - otherwise it's just impossible to get around the wave's whole face properly; There are many kites that will rip you off downwind of the face as soon as you pull enough power in to get them to turn. For these conditions, and I ride them a lot, I use the VX. Plus in 30kts I know of no kite that will not drift!

For me, it's dead side shore, or slightly cross off where you are tempted to tuck into a wave and stop moving it.. that's when the lines go light. Any kite will fall out of the sky if you push into it hard in lightish winds, there is no overcoming physics. The One was probably the best at this, but in my view its rare you get wave and wind in the right quantity and angle to leave your kite static on a regular basis unless you ride a trade spot - so not sure how 100% important drift is aside saving mistakes..
That aside the wave is better than the one in a lot of other areas - especially moving forward and back in the window. You pull against it and it will push forward, slack off and it moves back.. There is not much chicken loop movement as a result, and it's good unhooked.

It's very good on a wave, but for me it's the fact that it is good in a lot of other mainstream areas that I think will do the design proud. It's a kite I can ride in a lot of different conditions and styles, not just waves only. I'm yet to try it on a high wind onshore day - looking forward to trying the 6 too, but the side shore sessions I have have had put it well ahead of lithium and VX for me. It goes deep and comes forward against your rail bite. Constant bar position, speed and forward turn makes for a very slick looking session from where I was stood :-)

s29feb
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Re: Airush 2013 Team Series

Postby s29feb » Wed Jul 18, 2012 9:15 am

peterheirman wrote: When there are waves (North Sea) then I use wave kites (Takoon 7m and 5m) and occasionally with little wind and high waves (over 2m) the Nemesis HP 9 - and then pray I don't drop it into the sea as I know it folds easily in a wave.
Peter - the majority of my kiting is in west central Scotland and being tucked behind Ireland, the Isle of Arran and the Mull of Kintyre we are not blessed with proper waves. We do occasionally get some wind blown on-shore mush but these are closed out and very messy - nothing like on the east coast across the sea from you so ‘wave riding’ is something that I’ve never really had a huge interest in.

Like you I kite all year round and what we do get are cold, gusty frontal winds – in fact with the wonky jet stream that is what we are getting this summer and I’m still in a 5/4 winter suit! As you probably know what these types of winds bring are an appreciation of a stable kite and when I talk stable I don’t mean a ‘numpty’ kite – these are kites that allow the most incompetent of users to get away with really poor handling.

There seemed to be a period a few years back, following a lot of kites falling out the sky, where a test of stability would involve putting the kite at 12 and trying to run under it so see if it ‘drifted’ back. Sure some kites did this and coped well with ‘slack’ lines; however the vast majority of these ‘numpty’ kites flew like a blancmange on string! So (generalising) what we had, not including C kites, were kites that were either direct and involving to fly but took a bit of piloting skill, or kites that were ‘super stable’ but left you feeling disconnected from the process.

Now since I don’t get proper waves and only really slash about in wind blown mush I might be wrong - for wave riding I would want; a kite that I felt connected to in that I could position it where I wanted it and feel where it is instinctively; I’d also want it to be able ‘stable’ enough to depower it and not have it constantly pulling without falling out the sky (while I made lame attempts to ride a wave); and finally I’d want to be able to tap into some power and for it to be responsive enough to get me out the shit if I had to?

Thankfully over the last few years we are seeing the emergence of proper ‘hybrid’ kites that offer both stability and performance. Designs are being developed borrowing from C, Delta, SLE to produce kites that are now truly offering the best of both and I’d honestly class the Wave as one of the best I have flown. Eventually when you need to replace your current kites then I’m pretty sure you’ll find you can replace two different types with one that does both the boosting and the wave riding.

On another note – old school big boosting I can unashamedly say that I am very very good at and it was the whole reason I wanted to ‘kitesurf’. Again generalising - the bridled kites that give a rocket like, gut wrenching high jump were generally high aspect and could be classed by some as being twitchy. This is why, having learned on ‘bow’ kites I was totally surprised at just how easy to use the Razor was and how it offered stability in another way. The Razor never misbehaves flying the same powered or depowered and won’t turn into a crumpled crisp packet - this solidity and feedback give huge confidence to really crank it for some seriously high jumps.

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Re: Airush 2013 Team Series

Postby Schmidy » Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:15 am

The Wave is definitely a sick kite. Surprised to see comments about the jumping characteristic as it wasn't the intentions of the designers to make it a jumper. I'd put the Varial X way ahead in Jumping. :)

Some Smartbar 4 shots taken from the hip :)

Red on Left, White on Right :thumb:
Red on left, White on Right.JPG
3/6/14m (+1m of leader line and trim) segments - Smartbar 4 can be adjusted: 24, 21, 18, 15, or 10m lines :o
MultiZone Connectors.JPG
New bar end for 2 more adjustment options w bigger push pin :D
New Bar End w Bigger push pin.JPG

Schmidy
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Re: Airush 2013 Team Series

Postby Schmidy » Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:31 am

Some more snap shots

New Low Y split on the front lines
Low Y.JPG
Bigger floats for more float :)
Fatty Floats.JPG

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Re: Airush 2013 Team Series

Postby jaysen5 » Thu Jul 19, 2012 12:04 am

hi smidgy

i like the new bar, especially the low Y set up. any comments on compatibility with older model airush kites (lithium & varial/X 2012/11). will the low Y affect the kite performance at all?

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Re: Airush 2013 Team Series

Postby Schmidy » Thu Jul 19, 2012 7:57 am

jaysen5 wrote:hi smidgy

i like the new bar, especially the low Y set up. any comments on compatibility with older model airush kites (lithium & varial/X 2012/11). will the low Y affect the kite performance at all?
I hope "smidgy" nickname won't stick in the office.

The Smartbar 1 - 4 works 100% with Airush kites from 2010 onwards.

The change of the Low Y system on the Smartbar 4 was strictly a performance decision. Mark Pattison (Airush kite designer) wanted the kite to have more freedom of movement and less of a pinching effect that the higher Y system of the previous years. To do this, Airush had to change to a single line flag out - which complies to several countries safety and teaching standards. The center line split featured on the Smartbar 1-3 was a lot further up which was absolutely necessary to have the double line flag out system on the kite.

In 2013, all the bridled kites still feature that V3 bridle which will allow for Smartbar 1-3 compatibility and safety. No Problemo! :D

Im digging the new low Y cause I can self land a lot easier :) The top center line is within arms reach!

Cheers
Schmidy :thumb:

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Re: Airush 2013 Team Series

Postby jaysen5 » Thu Jul 19, 2012 11:14 pm

hehe sorry man couldn't resist ;)

thats good news on the low Y and backwards compatibility with the older kites.

agree 100% on the self landing benefit of the low Y - its a technique i always used till the set up was changed to the hi Y.

have a 9m wave on pre order with my shop can't wait!!!

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Re: Airush 2013 Team Series

Postby Schmidy » Fri Jul 20, 2012 10:08 am

jaysen5 wrote:hehe sorry man couldn't resist ;)

thats good news on the low Y and backwards compatibility with the older kites.

agree 100% on the self landing benefit of the low Y - its a technique i always used till the set up was changed to the hi Y.

have a 9m wave on pre order with my shop can't wait!!!
haha - people have called me worse.

My 9m Wave is also coming soon too! Frothing!
There are a few demos kicking around the world...Australia has a few to try.

The boys in Maui have been getting some shots of the Wave and Cypher...I can't wait for Cape Town winter to be overrrr.

Image

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