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blade 9m - ultimate lightwinder?

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bennyh
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blade 9m - ultimate lightwinder?

Postby bennyh » Thu Mar 06, 2003 9:57 am

whaddyareckon?
sub 10knots , sunny day, safe water, lots of gently flapping LEIs on the beach, even 20m too little power.
Could the blade be the answer to this one? Cheaper than water-relaunchables too, and can be depowered now.

Any experience?
Ben, 70kg;surf;145 directional;1.5 yrs kiting

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Lenze
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Postby Lenze » Thu Mar 06, 2003 10:31 am

Most propably yes. Just takes a little more skill to fly it on the water since you cannot re-launch it. It is also easy to break the kite if you land it on the water.

I myself have 4.9 Blade but haven't been flying it on the water (yet). 9m2 will be really for light wind only since it has a huge power!

Would be a good deal to buy one Blade 9 for several people and circulate it.

See more about flying blades in the water from Chris Calthrop's home pages and specifically:
blade vs. inflatable
Blade launching and landing techniques

Happy flying!

_____
Lenze

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Peter_Frank
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Postby Peter_Frank » Thu Mar 06, 2003 10:57 am

No - the Blade 9m2 is a stable and anti-luff-prone kite (the best I've seen of these at that time), but it is not the answer for real light wind kiting.

I've flown it several times on different days, and the low end seems to be somewhere like the 2001 Airblast 16m2 (not very good).

It needs a huge bar, and turns very slow.
When the expert who had the Blade rode it again, and we switched back, the picture was the same.

The Blade is an awesome kite (I am talking about the 2 year old blade that is - don't know never ones....), but not the ultimative lightwind machine.

I think the 16m2 warrior or mastair seems to be way better regarding low end, according to those knowing or owning one.
They seem to beat LEI's regarding low end - the 9m2 Blade certainly don't (nor does the Psycho 15.5).

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Postby Guest » Thu Mar 06, 2003 12:48 pm

Peter,
Dont you have a Psycho 15.5? What do you think the lightest, surfable wind would be? I weigh in at 185lbs or so and use a big floaty board.

Paul

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Postby Guest » Thu Mar 06, 2003 1:19 pm

I use the Blade II 9.0 in 2002 spring. 80 cm bar, 40 m two lines. the kite stay between the AB 11.8 and the AB 10.0. really different feeling than a LEI. I enjoy the Blade II 9.0 in the right wind strenght but, without depower, if there was too big excursion in the wind speed I go for the AB.
Blade II 9.0 in 40 m lines configuration is really slow so, no hi jump but long, floaty ones. looking for the new Blade III 10.5 coming soon.

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Postby Peter_Frank » Thu Mar 06, 2003 3:31 pm

Anonymous wrote:Peter,
Dont you have a Psycho 15.5? What do you think the lightest, surfable wind would be? I weigh in at 185lbs or so and use a big floaty board.

Paul
Hard to say - I would estimate 10 knots to be the real low end, for me on a relatively small board, with my 72kg.

So with your bigger board and weight, it might be the same, or maybe 12 knots for you.

There must be lots of other Psycho riders out there who can tell you - but I would definitely say 10-12 knots as the low end for you.

As low end I mean where you are able to go slightly upwind (not losing height).
But even in this low wind you can make small floaty jumps and transitions with the Psycho 15.5.

Wind here is measured in 8 meters height - it might be a little less if using a handheld anemometer of course (8-10 knots ?)
I am not sure about what a handheld would show though, as they are very different at different locations !
Sometimes because the wind can accelerate over the shore obstackle height, it shows the same as in 8 meters height....
Always fickle to give windranges to outsiders :!:

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Postby sq225917 » Sun Mar 09, 2003 9:45 pm

yeh, one of my mates picked up his 15.5 last week , he rides a 140, wide and weights about 80kg. he is a skilled rider and has used the flysurfers for a bout a year, he was holding ground at 9mph, going upwind in about 11mph and jumping for a bout 3 seconds in 13-14mph, with the trim strap pulled it about 4cm.

very impressed with the 15.5 it seems to have a good amount of extra bottom end to the 12.5.


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