As a matter of fact I received my 7 Waroo Yesterday,flew it on the beach that afternoon at 16kn and was amazed at the power the kite produced,I even thought I would have enough power to try sailing,however it was late in the afternoon and quite cold so I decided to go on sunday(the next day).
So the next day starts with a small snowstorm and I'm having serious doubts on trying the kite after all i'm doing this for fun you know,but with all the young guns up and shouting it was getting hard to stay at home so at 12 we were of .
First thing I saw at the beach was one of my mates sailing a 10 flow,him being a powerhouse I thought that is good news for the 7 Waroo.
20 Minutes later when I walk to the water I noticed 3guys on 12s 1 on a 9
and 1 on a 10 ,a later check of the statistics showed about 18-20kn. I'm 75kg and use a 139-40 medium rockered custom and was able to sail upwind very effortless,the trick is as stated by other bow users,sine the kite to pick up boardspeed parc, sheet out as far as you can while still keeping your boardsppeed(you can keep your board comparatively flat as
there is virtually no sideward drag)and just glide upwind,its very effective.
Jumping in the lower range of the kite is fun you get decent lift and height
if you use a wave or speed not staggering of course at these windspeeds
but definately high enough for all wakestyle tricks,she doesn't drop you either as long as you stay sheeted in,I have felt otherwise with an 8m C-kite when underpowered,of course when you see the kite in the air she doesn't seem small.
After about an hour the wind picked up 20-24kn and the kite came into its own its just a fun toy to use its lightningquick and very direct every steering impulse is directly transferred to the kite quite scary if your not used to that ,but addictive to cause you want it always that quick ,the big bonus of course is tha you don'tget punished even after big steering errors
because if you sheet out a couple of cm.the power just dissapears and you've got time to adjust the direction of your board and just follow the little bugger werever she goes.
Jumping in higher wind is great,recovering after a jump is so quick you can just hop along without any effort,boosting high takes a little setup of course as the wind still wasn't extraordinary the guys on the 12's were just getting overpowered(still manageable).
Today on the water I didn't unhook it was cold and I'm not that familiar with the kite yet but yesterday onthe beach I tried some unhooked jumps and it struck me how steady the kite flew powered with both your hands on either side of the centreline this is of cours so with any kite if you unhook it's just the change in flyspeed that is stunning and good of course
for unhooking.
I'm very happy with my new toy and am going to order a second 7 to complement the 9 that is on its way as I am sure my wife who is 13kg lighter than me will put this kite to good use .
Well greets from Holland where my new season just had a grand opening(a tad cold with 4C air and 4,5Cwater temperature)
Koos.