Had a good session on the new Naish Raven Yesterday. Comditions were shit, but the kite definately performed above expectations.
A very similar feel and concept to the X4, but much smoother and more managable. I found flying it on the backward positioned pigtails on the front lines really lightened up the sheeting and steering, I will be running them all on this setting. Power was excellent, great bottom end. equal to that of the X4, but much better top end, more stable and easier to get forward in the window. Turning speed is faster too. Flying speed is easier to control, the raven flies over sheeted nicely, so power and depth can be obtained with ease, but when sheeted out flies super fast. Leading edge and strut diametre are greatly reduced, making the kite lighter and faster. The octapus system rocks, for those of you that have used it in the torch, it really shows it's worth in a seven strut kite!
Bar and lines came straight out of the bag ready to ride, technically no adjustment needed (I shortened the chicken loop by half, because I don't like long loops).
Total package rocks! smashed it!

JB

How about your experiences with jumping and hang time?

JB,

Thanks for that-you're in Australia, right? Are they in the shops yet?
How much are they retailing for?

Which size were you riding and what kind of conditions?

PKA

please i wouò buy a shift bar for my 2 raven 16 and 12. 27 line leght.
What do you suggest? 22" or 20"? only a bar for 2 kites

Did somebody here tried the X4 with the shift system ? I can almost say what you say with the raven with an X4 upgraded with the shift ...

I'm a Kiwi and have been riding a Raven 18 for two months. It only fires on 27m lines and needs the 22" bar. Doesn't like to be oversheeted either. Sweet ride, real smooth and even. Never feel overpowered. Have ridden up to 20 knots on 158 Fusion directional and 142 FLX. When I came in, others were rigging older 12-14s. Am 85kg.

JBKITE: How did you tune the kite with the additional settings after shortening the depower?

BTW I agree with you on your comments and would add that I find it to jump as high as the X4 but dropping a little faster (only been on it one session).


Rex

Hi Rex,

Sorry - I didn't have the time to hit the water today.

With the Naish 5th it's easy to trim the lines due to a stopperball in the y section, the "three" front lines will stay the same length which is important. Then it is just a matter of shorting the depowerstrap and also the backlines with the same length. I have done the same with my Type ZH - If i fix all five lines to tha samt point and sheet the bar in, the back lines are aprox 0,5 cm shorter that the frontlines resulting in full on power. I got the idea from "47" after he lend me a bar on the beach.

Se you
Mads

Does shortening the chicken loop throw off the fifth line? What do you do with the excess of the fifth line?

I've tried Raven 16 for 1 hour here in Gouna.
If you like to work it, you need a bigger bar than I used with approx. 46-48cm. From what I had read about Raven 14 in terms of turning speed in german kitemag, I had expected a quicker turning kite. Primadonna 16 is much quicker, so Raven should better suit those "park and ride" mates.
It's very smooth in ride and developes power absolutely linear. Immediately dialed in.