New Airush Razor 2011 Review got me hooked on kiting again

[constantly]

Today I became a kitesurfer AGAIN. It’s been four years since I got back from living abroad for almost 10 years and in that time I was most fortunate to have met some of the best kiters in the world and work long side some of the best in the industry in terms of knowledge and engineering.
Coming back to Cape Town I thought I would kite non stop everyday of my live and be happy that is was finally back home in a country where the wind doesn’t stop.
Turns out though, that running your own Kitesurfing school is more about running a business than actually enjoying the sport you fell in love with to begin with, and so my dedication to kitesurfing turned to teaching where I am most happy in the sport.
The day is Thursday October 7th and I’m about to ride a C shape kite for the first time in four years and leave the beach totally passionate about kitesurfing all over again. For most of you that passion was watching the wind blowing outside your office window waiting for the 5:30pm end of day bell to go.
For some it was about getting the classic dead man posses off the lip of a wave somewhere off the Tarifa coastline or even Cape Town for that matter, or maybe it was that great feeling you got from unwrapping a new kite or board.
For me it was the feeling of the first time I went up wind on my brand new Airush Trio 12 meter kite off the coast of Cyprus in 2003 with my 145CM Airush Switch, which if I think back now looked more like a wakeboard than a kite board. Most that have ridden this little beach outside of Limassol will know that back then there where maybe a hand full of kiter’s on the beach standing under the one tree that was there for shade all debating weather the wind was strong enough to get up and going.
To me it didn’t matter, I was kiting and even if I didn’t come up I was still trying, and when the afternoon wind kicked in around 4 o’clock. I was up and riding, No training, no help, just a manual and a couple of Maui kitboarding movies featuring Flash Austen and Adam Koch and that was all I needed to know.
But why’ll everything was perfect, and I was up and kiting, I never gave thought to the equipment I was riding, or why it put the same smile on my face the way it did today. It’s taken me years to truly understand kiting performance and the effect it can have on a days kiting or the effect it can have on the session your about to have. A good kite not only says a lot about the kind of rider you are but the kind of rider you want to be. I’ve been so fortunate to ride so many kites as I have over the years, and today I’m happy to say I’ve ridden a kite that transported me right back to the first day I went up wind in Limassol.
The Airush Razor has brought that same smile back from all those years ago. As dark as and as rainy as my session was today, I may as well have been right back on that Limassol beach, with my Trio and 145 Switch trying and trying again and again to come up. The Razor took my right back to the time I remember the most, my first day of kitingboarding.

It delivered performance that out matched most kites I have ridden over the years even on this gustiest of days. Its versatility to me was so unmatched; if I put it there it stayed there, when I need the power it was there, when I asked for pop, I got it. It performed like every good C shape kite should and it did it with class and a grace that any C shape ride would look for in his or her kite.
Even being on a wave left me questioning, damn where’s my wave board now.
Why’ll the performance had me mesmerized in mega loops, S bends and cutbacks it was only when I stopped to look at the kite, I saw how much had gone into the Airush Razor. The new bar is everything and more with is new quick release and 5th line and suicide connection system.
The quick release when activated as simple to put back together and the 5th line activated with not problems at all.
There where no power up and depower lines in your way and the bar felt totally free of all obstacles and lines. Just simple simple great engineering.
I never need the play with the extensions on the side but I’m quite sure this will impress when they do have to extend out or in. Even so it would only enhance the turning performance on the kite should you want a much quicker turn out of your small kites. Lord knows you don’t need it though. The kite turns on a dime and why’ll I know I was on a 7 meter I knew the 9 meter which would be more my size kite would give me an even greater day out.
Looking at the kite itself, gave me a good idea of just how much time had gone into it in order to make it fly as well as it did.
It’s clean lines really gave me the feeling of a no nonsense kite that would deliver every bit of performance it gave me in the water. In short it for filled its promise before I had even asked. “If I can say that”

Every part of this kite has been pulled apart and put back together to deliver a product that will leave you speechless.
I can’t wait to get on one again and look forward to it in the biggest way possible.
Thank you Airush International. You guys have made my day. I’m looking forward to putting Airunsh in school and cannot wait to own my own set of Razors.
Yours truly,
Wesley Fourie
Chief instructor
www.constantlykiting.com

[twah]

[Schmidy]