Postby vinifonz » Tue Jun 18, 2013 7:33 pm
I was one of the lucky ones that had a chance to try this kite and a made simple review to try to explain how I felt, hope you like it and give it a try, you won't regreat!
Element v2 9m First try.
I went for the first time to 3rd Avenue spot at San Mateo, California, with the new Element v2 to try it also for the first time. The wind was 25 to 27 knots, and the water was very choppy and I mean do not escape Alcatraz, choppy.
I have been riding the Element v1 11m and 7m for a couple of years now and right from the launch, I could feel the kite differently, like you can really feel the kite and where it is and what it is doing, I was flying it in stock setting with a MjComp 135.
On the water the kite is such a toy, such a machine, I can’t possible begin to explain how happy was with the kite after a couple of minutes riding it. It feels so smooth, you feel connected to the kite in a way I never felt before, and the kite gives you a lot of confidence making you try push harder. Although I wasn’t really doing anything extreme, first coz I’m a bit rusty, haven’t been kitesurfing very often for a while now and the water was really choppy, making it very tricky to hold the edge hard enough on high speeds. Still the jumping was amazing, even when I messed up the launches, it flies very well, goes down very softly, and the hang time is fantastic, it feels like slow motion. You can go as fast as you can, pull the kite all the way back that in midair, you will be facing the opposite direction you were supposed to be facing during the jump and just before landing you pull it back it rolls beautifully in the sky all the way around to catch you and give the final lift before landing, like butter. The direct feel of this kite is something that really stands up, and the way it does everything just makes you feel like pushing harder and harder. It feels like I imagine being to drive a Nissan GRT or an Audi R8, a super sports car with intelligent traction and launch control. It gives you power when you want it to and it is very soft when you want it to be. The pop tricks does feel very good too, I couldn’t try it a lot or unhooking cause I was really struggling to find take off spots, which was the only thing holding me back. The bar pressure was very good for me, it is firm, but not heavy, and the depower works very well, When I entered the water, the kite was pulling very hard, with just an adjust on the depower I was cruising comfortably with the bar very close to me. The upwind was automatic, effortless.
To sum up, in a day that I usually wouldn’t have had much fun, especially because of the extreme chop, I had one of the funniest kite sessions of my life, just trying to go as big as I could and see if I could check that golf field on the top of the hill from above, which I eventually succeeded to do. The wind seemed to be quite gusty and stronger from outside, but I can’t really tell if it was gusty coz, I wasn’t feeling anything.
I’m sincerely very happy with this kite; the Switch development team has reached another level for the all-round kites. The construction and details on the kite and the bag will please lots of people, and just wait until everybody starts trying this kite, they will love it! WHAT A MACHIIIIIIIINE!!