Hi Marina,
Re: The new 2003 kites are no longer slow-- they turn like 12meters!
I agree the new 2003 kites do seem to be faster than the 2002 ones. We already have the new fuels here and they turn faster, have more depower and are generally friendlier than the 2002 ones.
From what I can tell a lot of 2003 kites have a higher Ar and wider tips than last years model. In fact a lot of this years kites are looking like last years supertypes and X2s. These were and still are great kites in more wind but have less low end than others. For example there are often riders on 18m X2s and 19m RRds out in the same conditions as riders the same weight on 16m fuels or Rhinos, doing the same moves too.
If the big breakthrough for big 2003 kites is really just higher Ar this may also mean the same size kite pulls less at the low end but you can use a fast turning bigger kite.
Maybe this is why fuels are 1m bigger this year. In fact last year a few people I know tried the 22.5 rhino and didn't like it, too slow at the low end and once the wind picked up the 16 was way better.
People who are blessed with good wind, (15+) maybe won't notice much difference but people using kites in their low end range want low end power and speed if poss thankyou.
A big , fast, high Ar kite will be great for competition result but may suck for the punters trying to get out there in as less wind as possible.
What do you think?
Jo