North Vegas 16...

[Wetstuff]

I fell in love with this kite on the second sine. It's wonderfully fast! ...probably half again as fast as my Rhino2-16. I can fly it straight up and down with my hands at the ends of an old 82cm North bar. I'll make a second set of rear pigtails, and use a shorter bar for windy days, so I can slow it down.

It's appears its draft is deeper than the R2, and there's many upgraded quality details. I especially like their adding the larger, second main bladder valve toward the end rather than the center - this way I can roll the kite in only one direction. It's already got the 5th attachment..

My first go was in 6-10kt winds and I didn't have my directional, so I lost a bit of gound on each tack. (I'm 85 kilos) ..but the kite was fast enough that I could get my AW up and park it in the 10kt gusts. (gusts indeed...)

I could do without the sleezy Vegas association, but it's a helluva kite.

Jim

[Guest]

Wetstuff,

Glad to hear you like it! Any chance you've flown the Vegas 18 also? Thoughts?

Thanks!
-H

[Wetstuff]

Hech: No such luck. I wait for the gods to align the planets so I find a deal I cannot pass up - only the V16 came up recently. This is the only Vegas in my local crew.

Actually, I got a Takoon Skoop 14.5 a couple of weeks ago for $375. - that's another interesting kite, but not the balanced kite this V16 seems to be. ...besides I still have an R2-20, so the 18 would be a real indulgence. (what kites are not, eh?)

I got suckered into the last breath of wind for a couple of days and went out in falling winds of 6-7kts on a 7-3 Mini-Malibu. DUMB - waste of time..

The only thing worth reporting is that it's a very easy relaunch... I cannot wait for some wind.

Jim

[Westkite]

Sounds like your getting pretty good low end on the v16. how do you compare it to your r2 16? I got great low end out of the r2 16, but my vegas 18 just doesn't really have much grunt under 12 mphs. I wonder if the v16 isn't the more powerful of the two. the 18 moves really fast but in the lite stuff it doesn't develop much power.

Wes

[Wetstuff]

Wes: The R2-16 is the better low end kite between the R2-20 and the R2-16..."for me" - because it seems the most grunty of all my 14-20 kites, and unlike the 20 - I can make it fly reasonably fast with that big bar. "IF" I can get it to zenith without walking backwards on the water - I can kite. The big thrill comes when you zoom it thru the powerzone on a rising horizontal - buckle up!!

I've only flown the V-16 twice for about three hours in really crappy condtions and I didn't take Jeeves away from making afternoon tea to blow up another kite...so, the V-16 maaaay not have the pure bottom end of the R2-16 but my feeling is that I'll be out with the Windwings, etc. when the wind fills in - instead of feeling like I'm back on a foil.

Three knots today and Sunday...and Winter's coming! C'monnn!

Jim