Postby james » Fri Apr 13, 2012 1:28 pm
its still only three struts and has a simple NO pulley bridle with direct attachment for the rear lines, from putting it on the scales they have chopped HALF A KILO out of the kite through a narrower diameter LE and lighter LE bladder removal of pulleys and simplification of the bridle while still keeping the same grade of canopy and LE material and teh same kevlar scuff guards on teh LE , it is still Split strut as well which definitely aids its stiffness and rigidity.
The 2011 Turbine was a weapon in light air, very very solid as soon as it was flying well balanced and it felt incredibly powerful even when parked at the zenith, the lower aspect ration and the deeper camber to the canopy and the large LE all helped in this regard, so for teh heavy guys who wanted a park and ride kite that would pull very hard it was perfect. Whilst it was capable upwind on a race/light wind board it could overdo it slightly if you were on a twin tip with a small surface area to channel the power through, you sometimes felt that you were always fighting upwind as soon as there was a gust.
The 2012 version feels slightly more flighty and mobile in light air and needs a little more active flying to start with but as soon as you move the kite and the airspeed increases over it you are back to teh same impressive grunt as before but the difference being that it pushes much further forward without the effort through your legs to get it there, you don't need to haul in all the de-power to get it to sit forward, as soon as its moving it feels lighter on the bar and more nimble to position and any canopy flutter behind the LE has been reduced partly to a shallower entry to the foil so that it is less effected when sheeted out completely, translating into a smoother feel through the bar, it flies on a 23" bar with 27m lines as standard, if you want to really push the light wind side of things then some 3-5m extensions are a good addition to have. Because of the flatter arc to teh kite it is not ever going to be a kite looping freestyle weapon, its a big old turn when she goes round, last years could be pivoted pretty fast coming out of a transition for example. the trade off for teh twin tip guys is that there is much more boost and glide when you do jump and because it isn't constantly trying to tear you off your edge you can build some decent line tension and get up there now.
windrange is a tricky one, it feels more comfortable than before and easier and you don't get the death run scenario you had with the 2011 if it picked up that little bit too much, so far the lightest i have been out on it on a race board with 27m lines at 87kg has been 6-7kts and planing upwind and down, highest so far was maybe 16-17 at the Clacton race event, upwind was still good confirming that it does push forward well and the wingtips do spill excess power when needed.