On 2002-08-02 09:38, Toby wrote:
I heard a rumor saying there is a new Skoop (12.5) out and it rocks in light winds as hell?
Since it is very light it also breaks easy.
Can anyone confirm this?
I can almost confirm this for you. I honestly feel that this kite is one of the best light wind performers on the market today. That is, in the inflatable lineup anyway. Why this is appears to be very simple and logical. It weighs nothing! On the down side of this, it lacks durability to a point. If you took another kite brand, like slingshot for instance(just as example, not out of bias), which is loaded down with reinforcements, a heavy duty leading edge, and some other reinforcements that are exclusive to this brand, and removed them all, then slingshot too would be/could be a very light weight kite and then too may perform better than it does already in light winds as well. If you were to take a Skoop kite and a Slingshot or North kite of all equal sizes, fold them up and put them all in different but matching bags and weighed them, you'll see what I mean about the weight. Take an inflated Skoop and lift it up into launch position for someone and you will feel like you are handling a feather, or a kite made of paper becasue of how light it feels in your hands. Not that this is a bad thing, it's just a different thing.
I cannot really comment much on this kites durability. What I do know about it is that I have seen one brand new one explode on the leading edge once while it was just setting on the beach; note that this was a brand new kite and had never been flown before, and on another instance of this brand but with a different kite, I seen where someone was able to pick some of the stitching out with just his fingers(at least I noticed no hidden pocketknife or blade concealed in his hand). Takoon informed me and assured me that this was a problem local to and present only in their first batch of kites and mainly on just one particular size. That is their skoop on that Skoop anyway. In all fairness to them, I have yet to see either of these problems re-occur. I myself cannot see how these could be durable kites considering their very light construction. This is only an opinion though.
I do ride with someone who is hardcore into Takoon's, and this rider is very happy with his kites. He admits though that they seem very fragile to him and that it wouldn't be his kite of choice in a very harsh environment; rocks, shallow lieing coral reefs, wave breaks, high gusty winds, etc. The actual TRUTH about them has yet to be told and I am currently in no position to give you any further facts on this brand. We are however currently putting this brand through the paces we have put the other through that I have mentioned here and I will soon have more detailed information about them for you.
In short, Skoops seem like pretty high performance kites when they are in the right hands. It's definately not the right kite choice for a beginner. In my opinion, a beginner would not only have a harder time with this kite, but would also more than likely destroy it in a short time.
I hope this helps, and if I have led you astray, I would hope that someone here that does KNOW more will step up and point this out for us.
TRUTH