Postby Wetstuff » Sun Jun 06, 2004 6:43 pm
...early June update: Ran over to catch an onshore 15-20+kt breeze.
However, I went bayside rather than ocean. It meant the dunes were breaking the wind into chunks, so I didn't get any of the clean 20's....
Fiddle farted around and found the Y-11 was too small for the lulls, and I got the same old treatment: 'fall out of the sky s___t', when the kite overflys. Given I wasn't going to have too productive of a day, I decided to do a test...
Same conditions, same lineset - I threw up a 2002 Black Tip 12 (I can't spell Cabrinnah and they gave it some silly number like a 9-3, but it's overall 12M and very similar in profile when you lay it under the Y-11, except the tips stick out farther.)
1. I love the Cabby primary valve, but oddly: it's harder to pump up? It get's my vote for quality detail - maybe it'd loose it if I had to replace one.
2. Two years older - it did not seem to give up much to a 2004 kite.
3. The BIG difference was in the air. The BT simply does not fall out in the same conditions. It rocked back on its lines in the lull...would do that rocking chair, stall-n dive off to the side if it really left off...but never overflew.
The BT was also a LOT slower. That's probably better for a newbie, as the kite needs less of your eyeball time. I like the stunt kite aspect to the Y-11 because I fly them harder than most, as I often go smaller before larger at the start of the day.
4. A suprise - the BT will relaunch better/easier. In previous, pretty solid winds the Y-11 came off easily, but the Cabby got into position faster and went to the edge quicker in these crappy conditions. Really, I was suprised.
For $500. the Y-11 is a good buy, but I got the BT from a friend for $350. (as a newbie he'd been taken on one too many scary rides...) If I didn't have a kite and got to test them like this before buying one - the BT would have won easily.
As good of a value the Y-11 is, "compared to 2003 suggested retail prices of major brands", it's not that great a value compared to a branded kite used. Given that there's about 500 kites at any given moment in the ikitesurf.com classifieds - and most retailers have 2003's at markdown; there's plenty of choice in the lowend.
Mind you, I'm glad I have the Y-11, but I'm more glad I have five other kites to pump up.
....and if you're ever in my neck of the woods: you're welcome to try either - as long as you're not a kite-crasher.
Jim