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Peter Lynn Bomba 10.5 tested.

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Kolahi
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Peter Lynn Bomba 10.5 tested.

Postby Kolahi » Tue Apr 13, 2004 3:52 am

So it was a typical day out at the "SPOT". So i got to test out the 10.5 bomba for approx 5 consecutive hours.

I'll say right off the bat that this is my favorite ARC i've ever flown to date, just because it suits my style SO well.

I weigh 175lbs, and ride a 147 procarbon wavetray but most of this was on my 140 firebird directional.

I started out in about 18mph average pretty gusty stuff, mid twenties gusts and under 10mph lulls, but the arc didnt let me know what was going on in that department, the wind sensor just did though. The bomba actually doesnt have the gust resistence of a G, as i could go "oh i think that was a gust" when i hit one. Anyway after about 30 minutes it shot up to mid twenties and stayed there (gusts mid upper thirties lulls low teens). To get a good idea of the wind conditions there were a lot of 4.0m kites up and a couple fat guys on 6.0's, range of tubes was 4-6.0(more in the 4.0 and 5.0 range than the 6), started out in the light stuff when there were 8-10.0's up.

Anyway so my first impression of this kite in the lighter portion of the session was that it was TOTALLY my style, it liked backline tension, so it flew on my bar perfect, and it liked to be ridden FAST, im talking fast, i usually ride my kites very fast, doesnt matter what board im riding, im usually on the edge of blowing up, and the bomba loved that stuff. The G2-11 didnt like it very much as it just got way too much apparrent wind doing that.
Wind range im not sure whats the lightest i could go with the 10.5 bomba, but it didnt have the low end of the g2-11. However, it still did have very good low end, so i would give a guess at 16mph average and top end I really dont know it handles high wind very well, like the g10. I really enjoyed this kite the most because it fits in between the g13, and the g10 SO well, in fact i'd say it doesnt just fit in between, but it totally destroys the g-10, as with it depowered(yes i used it this time), the kite behaved SO well it could easily take more wind, so really its the best high wind kite i have tried to date. Has the low end where its needed, and the top end of the g10, what else could you ask for? OH YES the most important part.
Turning speed. I Honestly wasnt expecting this kite to be too fast, just because the g2-11 let me down when i was expecting it to be faster than the g-10, but in fact it was a tad slower, turning speed is actually the selling point for me on all kites, so if i take it a little seriously, its because i LOVE zippy kites, im sure we all do, but thats all i really want in a kite. Anyway the B10.5 totally SHOCKED me with its turning speed, Its SUCH a fast kite, i mean seriously a VERY VERY fast kite, with the power to match, i wasnt able to test it back to back with the g10, but i could EASILY say it was AS fast, i would also put my money down on it being a tad faster, but AS fast is good enough for me, because the g10 has the perfect turning speed. The b10.5 just PIVOTS, SO fast, god in the waves it zips around, i couldnt ask for more turning speed, and the power delivery is so SMOOTH, its everything i could dream of when it comes to waveriding. It can also do some insanely easy kiteloops.
After long downwinders of wave riding, i decided to test its upwind ability. The thing obviously shoots upwind rediculously easy, im talking 1 tack = 2 tacks on my 04 Lei high aspect. What i found funny was that whenever a gust hit, usually i would either sheet out to let it pass by, or sheet in and edge for my life to slow down, but with the bomba i just casually edged harder and surprisingly it would make me shoot up wind at an even sharper angle to kill the power, almost into the wind sometimes, it was amazing when i saw this in action, i've never seen this on a kite before. I'll clarify this as its kind of confusing, most of the time when youre hit by a gust you just LOSE it on instant, or you edge and slow down, with the bomba when a gust hits it very smoothly transfers into usable power, it shoots the kite forward to kill some power, the rider automatically speeds up a tiny bit just enough to still control the edge, and you just press down slightly harder and you shoot upwind at an even sharper angle, then the kites back where you started at the same speed.

Most people say that the bomba is a wave-only kite, and i really wasnt sure what to believe, so i tried throwing a couple, and honestly i found this thing jumps very very similar to a G, it has a lot of hang time to do all the necessary tricks( board offs no problem) in fact it has a lot of hang time i'll admit it, but not quite the G hangtime. The height in comparison with a G is also less, as in the wind i was in i remember the G2-11 would rocket me to insane heights, but the 10.5 bomba took me very high, but not quite as high. If youre a boost head i think this kite would still be satisfying, but go for a higher aspect PL kite, ala G2 or phantom, if you want insane wave/wake style at the cost of a little height and VERY little float, go with the bomba.

I cant think of anything else to talk about, other than stability, and god knows i dont even have to begin to talk about the stability of an Arc. Oh yea i kind of found that this 10.5 is more of an autopilot than an autozenith.

Bomba equates to about a 10 tube in the low end and top end you can be out wave riding when people are out on 4.0-6.0's

prairiesurf
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Postby prairiesurf » Tue Apr 13, 2004 6:49 am

Thanks for the review. I've been waiting to hear something about this kite for a long time.
It sounds like your pretty happy with it. One question (you sort of have already talked about it); the Sarc has that sheet out to depower and kite speeds up effect. Does the bomba still do this? Also most of my sailing is in onshore conditions, threfore wave riding tends to be a down wind sort of deal. reading your review I get the impression that the bomba is another upwind success for PL. My question is; how's the down wind? With my Sarc I've found that it drops power to much when going down wind (either by going "under" the kite or by "breaking/stalling" ). Are you stearing it to keep it down wind of you or can you park it and use sheeting control?

Tom

Kolahi
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Postby Kolahi » Tue Apr 13, 2004 6:15 pm

the kite doesnt want to pierce to the edge of the window as do the Garcs, thats what makes it such a brilliant wave kite. So down wind is very good , its especially good if you use the backlines to stall it in front of you in the middle of the power zone.

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Postby Ocean Lover » Tue Apr 13, 2004 10:13 pm

Hey Kolahi,

Enjoyed your review. Makes me want to run out and buy it and then run out and kite waves!

Anyway, my question to you is what bar system do you use and what line lenght have you found best for wave riding?

thanks!

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Postby Guest » Mon Apr 19, 2004 8:23 pm

im currently using a guerilla bar(50cm) on 27m lines, but im actually going to switch to 20m lines asap.

zim
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Postby zim » Fri Apr 30, 2004 6:48 pm

To get a good idea of the wind conditions there were a lot of 4.0m kites up and a couple fat guys on 6.0's, range of tubes was 4-6.0(more in the 4.0 and 5.0 range than the 6), started out in the light stuff when there were 8-10.0's up.
what? i weigh 100 lbs and i use a 7.5 in 20 to 30mph


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