Mikael wrote:funny you mentioned, but I tried the 12m One the other day and it turned way slower then my 16m torchII. weird stuff.
The thing that has to be realized with
ALL of these Bow kites is that due to their flatter profile they are much more effected by the trim settings than any of the traditional C shaped kites. Specifically, the One from Ocean Rodeo is quite likely the flattest of these new flat kites and as such is the most effected by your trim settings.
I suspect that Mikael, after calling us to ask why the kite would not climb and being told to de-power the kite to allow it to climb, likely trimmed in too much and as such was flying almost completely off his front lines. This will, of course, effect the steering response of the kite as it will make any input very delayed, if effective at all! (Your back lines steer the kite!)
It is incredibly important when you fly this new generation of kites that you monitor your line lengths and are active in trimming and tuning the kite as you fly. With your trim strap fully extended, or at full power, your line lengths should all be the same length. Check this by pegging the lines off with an object in the ground and pulling back on the bar. Look for line sag, most likely on the front lines. If there is sag you can use the various knot locations on the line leaders to adjust your relative lengths of your lines and get them all back to equal.
With a bow style kite you should be doing this every 3rd session!!!
So many riders tell us how they love to ride fully powered up against the stopper, often with a pulley bar. If this is your style buy a Diablo or similar C shaped kite as you are not ever going to appreciate the benefits of the sheeting and trim control offered by the new flat kites.
(That being said, the new generation of C shaped kites such as the Diablo do offer some incredible de-power ability too!) If you are a rider who hopes to be able to ride powered through gusts and lulls, de-power on a wave face, work the kite in the window while generating consistent pull from the kite then you should choose the One or a similar flat style of kite as you are ready and willing to be active with the bar and trim settings of the kite.
Ocean Rodeo intends to release shortly a
"Tech Talk" section where we have our head designer
Ross Harrington walk through critical technical issues to help you become a better rider. The first installment of this section should be online in the next week as a video link on our web site. The first topic of discussion will be trim settings and how they relate to the performance of traditional and flat kite set-ups.
This was not meant to be a sales pitch, rather an educational posting that relates to all the different brand's kites and performance thereof.