Eree, I think you are yery wrong.

I fly the Dyno 18...a lightwind race kite as North claims.
I have 93 kg, about 200lbs ?

My upwind is amazing in light wind! I have a 128x38 board!
Staying upwind in average 9 knots!

Flying it to gusts of 25 knots! Jumping high and long, doing triple rotations boardoffs in 12 knots etc!

I didn't try other newer bigger kites so I cannot compare, but I am sure the Turbine performs similar, since companies do compare their kites with other kites on the market...

Toby, do you fly your Dyno 18 all the time? My buddies were wondering what you flew most of the time to pull your tricks. Weren't you riding on big Vegas kites a while back?

"Great to see the resurgence of interest in low wind kites"

yeah i got back into riding a 14m because of la nina and i am so glad i bought one - so many sessions. i once swore i wouldn't ever ride over an 11m kite!

90% of my time, yes.
And I don't want to fly anything else...so I choose my locations accordingly to not have 30+ knots.

I had the Vegas 2006 16, Vegas 2008 16, Rebel 2010 16 (still fly it) + Dyno 18

Love that word! AIRSTYLE,

Gunna get some mileage out of that one.

from an Italian forum http://kiteforum.it/phpbb/viewtopic.php ... f7c14ceef0

the 2011 weights 4,5 kg

the 2012 4,0 kg

seems to me a good result

my thoughts as the UK rep and having ridden it a fair bit, i rode last years lots as well.


its still only three struts and has a simple NO pulley bridle with direct attachment for the rear lines, from putting it on the scales they have chopped HALF A KILO out of the kite through a narrower diameter LE and lighter LE bladder removal of pulleys and simplification of the bridle while still keeping the same grade of canopy and LE material and the same kevlar scuff guards on the LE , it is still Split strut as well which definitely aids its stiffness and rigidity.

The 2011 Turbine was a weapon in light air, very very solid as soon as it was flying well balanced and it felt incredibly powerful even when parked at the zenith, the lower aspect ration and the deeper camber to the canopy and the large LE all helped in this regard, so for the heavy guys who wanted a park and ride kite that would pull very hard it was perfect. Whilst it was capable upwind on a race/light wind board it could overdo it slightly if you were on a twin tip with a small surface area to channel the power through, you sometimes felt that you were always fighting upwind as soon as there was a gust.

The 2012 version feels slightly more flighty and mobile in light air and needs a little more active flying to start with but as soon as you move the kite and the airspeed increases over it you are back to the same impressive grunt as before but the difference being that it pushes much further forward without the effort through your legs to get it there, you don't need to haul in all the de-power to get it to sit forward, as soon as its moving it feels lighter on the bar and more nimble to position and any canopy flutter behind the LE has been reduced partly to a shallower entry to the foil so that it is less effected when sheeted out completely, translating into a smoother feel through the bar, it flies on a 23" bar with 27m lines as standard, if you want to really push the light wind side of things then some 3-5m extensions are a good addition to have. Because of the flatter arc to the kite it is not ever going to be a kite looping freestyle weapon, its a big old turn when she goes round, last years could be pivoted pretty fast coming out of a transition for example. the up side for the twin tip guys is that there is much more boost and glide when you do jump and because it isn't constantly trying to tear you off your edge you can build some decent line tension and get up there now.

windrange is a tricky one, it feels more comfortable than before and easier and you don't get the death run scenario you had with the 2011 if it picked up that little bit too much, so far the lightest i have been out on it on a race board with 27m lines at 87kg has been 6-7kts and planing upwind and down, highest so far was maybe 16-17 at the Clacton race event, upwind was still good confirming that it does push forward well and the wingtips do spill excess power when needed.

Half a kilo almost 10% over all reduction in weight is pretty good! wish I'd bugged Seigo for a ride the other day now...

Turbine compared to the Crossbow 18.

Great video!



Race kites are higher aspect (long and skinny) with more struts like Edge, Dyno, Crossbow LW. Although I think the Edge only has 5 struts.

Delta shaped lightwind kites with 3 struts like Infinity, Fat Lady, and Turbine seem to have better relaunch as mentioned in the video above. That's the same experience I had riding my Dyno (similar in shape to the high aspect crossbow) next to a Turbine and next to Infinities. The thinner swept back wing tips seem to allow those kites to relaunch easier.

I don't know if either style is necessarily the best for lightwind riding on a twin tip. The race kites boost huge jumps and really build a lot of power when you are moving fast on a raceboard. The delta style kites seem to turn faster.

Of all these kites I've only flown the Dyno, but have ridden along side most of them.