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Voodoo 10m Review

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Freestyler
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Voodoo 10m Review

Postby Freestyler » Sun Jan 18, 2004 10:27 am

Part 1:
aaahh...a triple-whammy of pleasures this weekend, while some of you lucky lads (and laddettes) were having fun in Fleetwood I made the tough choice to stay at my usual haunt with the chance to demo the new Voodoo.

Beaches were deserted, 18-22mph dead cross shore and flat at old hunny- two guys out. Undid the ties on the bar & lines that come already attached to the kite, unwound the lines and checked what little bridle was on the kite (for a foil), and found some new bridle adjustment points that can change the profile of the kite depending on user ability/use (water/buggy/snow/ lapdancing etc). Also found some zips for inflation/deflation on the leading edge, but didn't need to use them as there was plenty of wind.

Left the bridling on factory settings and asked a friend to hold my harness while I side launched ( always a good idea with a new kite) and sheeted out the bar. Kite goes up no problem as do I but my back-up buddy holding my harness stops me from gaining any more than his eight foot reach ( thanks Tony). A little surprised I pull half in on the depower and walk easily to the water.

First of all this is a 10m supposedly the eqivalent of a 13 LEI, and it turns really fast- not just for a foil- I mean fast, it felt similar to sq's 13 04fuel but still felt like a foil- smooth transition of power and hardly any bar pressure.

Swept it back from 10 to 12 and pulled in on the bar, launched into the air and after looking up to see where the kite was (cos it does turn fast) sheeted out and spotted the landing- butter smooth and fast.

yyyyyeeeeeeeesssssssssss!!!!!!!!! You know that feeling you get when you know the potential in a kite or a board will make your favourite sport even better, that was it, I spent the next hour till dark shouting ooooooohhhhhhh mmmmyyyyyyyyyyy ggooooooooooddddddd!

Sunday morning, Brancaster 12-15mph crosshore and not a cloud, 16m weather for LEI's, rigged the 10 again (keeping the factory settings) and went out. Now anyone who has learned to ride a foil properly will understand how to coax the apparent wind out of the kite by using its profile as opposed to just flying it up and down, and when it works well its a fantastic sensation. This kite made it feel as easy as the 9 psycho and allowed me to sail the whole time without going downwind and could still get the one footers, front and back kiteloops and floaty transitions due to the turning speed.

A buggy friend of mine then asked for a go and proceeded to rip up and down the beach and managed to stuff it nose first into the sand, relaunched by pulling on the bar in about 5 seconds! If he reads this he may like to give his own opinion of what he thought.

Another friend was getting nailed on his fuel 16m as the wind picked up and pulled his release, so I took pity and offered him a go. "Never flown a foil before but I'll give it a thrash!".

Chased that b*stard up and down the beach trying to get the kite back.

He managed to fly it nose first into the water at one point, and remembering what I said about pulling on one line relaunched in about 10-15secs. He turned around and laughed and pissed off again."This could be an expensive weekend" as he handed it back. Hopefully he'll give his own opinion but his grin said it all to me.

I tried everything to get it to luff but stopped trying. Super stable with the big vents, 'jetflaps' in the trailing edge and speed of turn, but the best thing was the pop. Being a leightweight (10st) I easily get pulled off a rail if the upstroke isnt quick enough and so lose the pop that heavier riders can get from holding the rail longer, but this didnt happen even in the strongest gusts because I only had to sweep the kite a small amount before pulling in on the bar and instantly going up. JOY!

Needless to say I kept the kite and the girlfriend is having a lean christmas this year.

Whole forum discussion can be found here:
http://www.sickair.tv/forum/display_top ... Position=1
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Part2:
Here are a few details of the Voodoo and Spirit.
The Voodoo comes for now with the same bar as the latest Titans. The chickenloop is the same too but has a new rope. This new rope has a dyneema core and it is easier to spot when it needs replacing.
The jumping is quite different to the Titans and especially to the old Psychos. The Voodoo and Spirits only need a small redirection into the zenith or slightly back and they boost. Big sweeping upstrokes from 9-10o'clock don't work as well as they do on the Titan or Psycho. Hangtime is similar to the Titans but it depends on the setting.
Turning speed is obviously fast and much improved compared to all previous Flysurfer kites.
Relaunch is like the Titans but even better due to the lower aspect ratio.
Pull on one of the two side-lines and it flips around.
The blow out valves work a treat and have no negative effect.
Pull stop works but you have to be sensitive to not pull too hard and reverse the kite.
Windrange is big, very big!! It gets goind very early but I know the guys in Holland are using it up to and beyond 30mph and thats winter wind.
Because of its great turning speed it is possible to depower it lots without loosing control It still feels lively.
If you come from LEI's you will first think thst there is hardly any bar pressure when steering or powering up. This is true on the factory setting but if the kite is adjsuted to WAC- and maybe Tip Brake then you get lots of bar feedback less or no backstall and better hangtime. I always flew the Protos like this and felt it was better alround. You loose some of its bottom end in this setting but when I want to go and jump it usually blows.
You can plane and stay upwind with the 10m way before you can jump. So don't be fooled there is probably less wind than you think.
For beach use e.g. landboarding I would recommend the same setting as it flies better in no wind and has less backstall as well as more bar pressure.

Don't worry about having to do adjustments as they are absolutely foolproof, everything is indicated on the lines via the use of little printed up tags and it only takes seconds. It makes a massive difference to the feel of the kite.
You have to experiment a bit to find the best setting for your liking.
The guys in Norway have put a nice video on the Flysurfer website showing the Voodoo in snowkiting action so check it out.

If you need size comparisson to LEI's then I would say that the 10m Voodoo/Spirit is like a 13-14m LEI but you can hold it up to 10-11m LEI weather too.
In comparisson to a Ozone Frenzy, it has as much grunt as their 12.5m but is a hell of a lot more stable, turns faster and can be used on the water.

If you want to go big on flat water go for the Psycho2 for waves and freestyle trickery the Voodoo/Spirit is the one.
I hope this helps.
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Part: 3
It does go in 12knots but i prefer it when it's powered up. then it's fun. In 12 knots u ride up and down and u can go upwind a bit. Like a 14 lei.

It's only fun after 20knots at least for me. I like to ride small boards with lots of power to pull me and i only had one session on the final voodoo with 15knots, so i guess it will rock in 20 as the proto i tested.

I also managed to go upwind when riding long side to the fuel 19 of 2004
bouth of us were just riding no jumps. He is a bit heavier he has 90kg and i'm 75kg

I'm still waiting to test it in higher winds but with the proto in 20knots i didn't feel the need to use the trim at all so i gues it can go easy to 25 and maybe with all the trim and the right mutacion it can go to 30knots with small board.

Can't wait to get the 14 as it will light up much soonner.

i will get some good wind days as the forecast for day 1 and 2 of 2004 is very good. I hope all the year is like these 2 days!
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Dread
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FS

Postby Dread » Wed Jan 21, 2004 8:02 pm

Hello Freestyler,

Great reviews keep up the good work! I've just got a titan 15.5, I've only flown it once on land in about 4-5knts but I was impressed with the power and turning speed in such a light breeze. I can wait to try it out on the water. I'm interested in hearing a review of the Voodoo 14m as I chose the Titan 15.5 for it's renowned low end grunt. I've hope to get the 10 Voodoo to complete my quiver for this year.


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