2004 equipment, What way to go ? Naish, North or SS

[Shamikaze]

Hiya Guys,

I've been flying over the last 2 years with Wipika kites (2002 : AB10.0, 2003 AMP 5.5, 8.7 & 11.9). Due to some "struggles" with warranty and product-support, I have a very negative personal feeling towards he brand. Hence I'll be flying another brand this year. I'm only seriously thinking of 3 brands : Naish, North and SS. The kites obviously would be V4/Boxer, Fuel/GTO and R4.

I'm looking for a 3 or 4-kite quiver. My boards are a D'Light Mutant and a Radical TT. I weigh in about 75 kg and been actively kite-surfingfor 2 yrs, 3th season coming up. Regular conditions around here (Belgium) are Side-Shore/Side-On-Shore and wave-breakers 400 mtr apart. Seldomly get good waves but rather choppy and unstable conditions.

The idea is to get going around 10 knts and keep it going (safely) up to 35-something knots. A few guys at my break have either SS or naish kites, but I basicaly wanted to throw the in front of a way larger-public then just 3 local guys

We've got no-one around here with much or any credible North experience so make yourselves heard and try to convinve me.

TNX & GReetz

S.

on a different note :
It's just great to read all these posts...

I've only just (due to extra responsibilities in my job) starting to read up on motivational and leadership techniques and it all comes down to playing a "head-game".

Now if any student psychology would come down here and start reading all these posts, he would pas his final examn hands down. One can give A-class examples of empathy, sympathy Horn and Halo-effect

Just great and enormous fun. (Which is why we all keep coming back here, isn't it ?)

[BLOWN AWAY]

hi ... yeah we're all crazy. that's why we kite... and love it.

anyway in regards to your question....

what type of kite do you want? high ar front line flyer or a grunty med aspect wakestyle kite?

slingshot specialise in the latter. naish do a bit of everything.. v4 is like the fuel, ie torquey, low end etc. boxer is a great stable allround kite.. and the x4 is the high ar jumping machine.

north? never used the r4 but i've used the r2. it's a high ar kite thats fast and jumps great. the r4 is even meant to even more so than the r2... but someone who's actually used one should be able to provide more imfo.

as you've used airblasts you come from a high ar front line flyers background... great upwind, crap low end, brilliant top end, great jumping, hard to use, very defined sweet spot.

[Shamikaze]

I guess for making the biggest possible progress (board-offs and kite-loops etc.) medium AR are best way to go. Also my AMP's have the tendecy to drop from the sky like a brick if a slight timing-error is made. I definitely want a ktie that doesn't do that. I've became extreme-skilled kite-relauncher because of this so I reckon I can get everything bac k in the air under 2 min. Average time on my AMP's is between 30 and 45 sec.

The 2 smallest kite-sizes should also be quick enough for wave-riding. These may even be low-aspect ratio-kites (Booster / GTO) for the simple reason that I'm not gonna use them unless it's blowing hard and then I prefer a more reliable kite over a more perfomant kite. Just thinking of self-preservtion here ..

TNX again,

S.

[BLOWN AWAY]

(Booster / GTO)

booster?? you don't mean the windtools booster do ya??

[skymann]

One of the best 2004 kites is the Cabrinha - The BT:Nitro and the CO2 have excellent build quality and added to this the RECON system you have one of the best kites available ... i would suggest that you def check this out

[Eskimo Joe]

Hi Shamikaze.
I've been flying Wippy A.B.'s since 2001 and flew 11.9 and 8.7 amps all last year. I don't recall these kites falling out of the sky "like a brick", maybe on some botched slack lined pendullum jumps with the A.B.'s ,but I'm sure that's common with all brands when learning . Is this a problem with your 5.4 amp as I'm planning on buying that size and a 7.1. My first 2003 11.9 had a wing tip flaring problem, Wipika N.A. acknowledged it right away and sent me a kite from a later production run that has been nothing short of awesome and has improved my kiting tonnes. Funny, come to think of it , I never had to relaunch that kite at all last year even after throwing rolls and stuff.
Sorry to hear you've had bad luck with them. If I were buying a different brand I'd consider GK lift 2, Rhino 4 and SS Fuel but I'd imagine they all have their good and bad points.

Regards E.J.

[tweekster]

here's something to think about. which shop do you feel most comfortable with? i would think that all three of those brands produce excellent equipment (i fly naish), but you said you were ditching wipika due to warranty and support problems. a good relationship with your local shop can go a long way.

[sq225917]

here's my take on it.

if you want to go on what could be a great front line flier lots of top end and plenty of boost then the x4, might be the one. but you have to balance that aginst its need to be real powered and its not going to be anywhere as forgiving as either the fuel or the v4.

the v4's are great reasonably torquey kites, they dont push right out of the edge of the window but are smooth and predictable, though not an ultimate balls out performance kite. from what i've seen and tried on them they are solid and dependable.

the fuels like the v4 are a bit more torquey, they dont push right out to the edeg of the window, but are super predictable and very fast on the turn for looping. you need a decent back leg and a sqaurer tipped board to be able to really kill the gusts on them if you ride them over powered but they are one of the most predictable kites out there. though the standard safety system is limiting if you want to use the wrist leash. for wave riding the constant power is great but you need to go a size down to compensate for reduced grip.

the rhino's i havent tried yet, but they look solid yet again and by all accounts ride very well. though i've yet to see a review by someone who doesnt have some sort of link to them.

however...... if you want a kite with real good feel, a lot of depower good boost and excellent hang time for the AR and ease of use, you might want to look at the new globeriders with the pulley system. i was mighty impressed by the performance of the ones i've seen and they come out of a sort of airblast heritage, but without the bad sides to stability and durability.

or you could wait for the new vegas from north or diesel from slingshot, the vegas is more like the fuel and v4 and the diesel is gonna be a faster more top end fuel with better depower and lighter build.

obviously i'm slingshot linked, but the globeriders are worth a look, if i couldnt ride slingshot i'd ride them...

[Toby]

well, if you have a bit time and are comming to Egypt end of March, you can test a lot of gear and find out yourself.

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Greets
Toby