jumarcil wrote:
I think Cabrinha are optimistic with the lowend advertise on their charts. 13m starting at 11 knots (no way you can enjoy that kite in these range).
Cruising with the nomad in 11 knots:
The crossbow no problem but not the nomad.
Jumarcil, I presume you were still talking about the 2010 model in these above sentences and that's a very very important distinction to make cause the Nomad 2011 is a totally different machine from last year model in regard of low end and overall wind range, I can assure you!!!
I've been riding the Nomad 2011 for now 2½ months in sizes 9m and 7m and wow...
what powerfull kites they are!!! It totally blew me away!
Incidently I've had the chance many times in the past weeks to compare the Nomad 2011 9m with the Switchblade 2011 10m and really I've often came to the conclusion that they both had just about the very same low end, wich is for my weight (170 lbs) around 13 knots with a twintip on the water or with a snowboard in thick snow. Both kites were on the same setting (closest knot to the kite) when the comparisons were made.
So if I can ride my NM 9m in just 13 knots, you can certainly assume that the new 13m will work easily in 11 knots for an average weight rider (175 lbs)!
I was expecting the SB 10m to be quite advantaged low end wise because not only it's a meter bigger than my NM 9m but also the SB is a model that is traditionally knowned to be up and going quite easily in light winds.
Same surprise came up with the NM 7m, I can easily ride with it with good cruising speed with about only 15-16 knots of steady wind!
I even ended up once having great fun with this little 7m to practice flat3s on snow in just a little 12-13 knots of wind!!!
On the water with my preceeding "small kite", a Bandit3 8m, I needed 19-20 knots for my regular twintip, and I need a good 25 knots to just start riding easily with a Vari Condor 7m.
It's certainly quite amazing to go from 25 down to 15 knots of lowend in the 7m size.
But that said, the Vari has just a totally different windrange, with almost no highend limit(!)
(it stays easily manageable in 40-45 knots, something that maybe very few other 7m can achieve, if any...)
But back to the Nomad 2011, most of all, this "surf kite" is also a wicked freestyle and kitelooping machine!!!
More pop that the Switchblade, easier unhooked handling, and really more powerfull kiteloops!
In fact, the turning radius is much larger that of the SB, but since it travels faster in the window, it completes its loop in almost less time than the SB, even if the SB 2011 turns faster than last year.
So here you have it, the loops of the Nomad are pretty more powerfull than the SB's, and so much more exciting!
It brings you right back to those good old C-kite days with kick-ass kiteloops.
So certainly for 2011, you have to forget about what you heard about the Nomad of the past years, Cabrinha has done their homework and clearly succeed to fix maybe the only weakness of their previous Nomads, it now has an amazing low end.
I consider this kite to be a wonderful, great and powerfull machine, very fast, stable in high winds, fun to ride in all conditions and with all kind of boards (twintip, surfboard or snowboard) and is certainly worth giving a try!
By the way since you don't know me, I've been kiting for almost 10 years, I'm not tied in anyway to Cabrinha and in the past years I've been riding with Slingshot, Naish, Flysurfer, Cabrinha, North, Best, Vari and F-One kites, so you can at least assume that I know a little bit what I'm talking about...
Have a great spring season and if you can, try to get a hand on one of those Nomad 2011 for a test drive...
it just might help to make up your choice for your next kite!
P.S. And guess what? Spring is such a great time to buy a kite that has a... spring on it!
