Yes these guys are watching like hawks on what EPIC KITES is doing and they are not the only one. It is a small world and I have heard this from different team riders riding other kite brands. But that is what pushes this sport to become what we are today.
So in few words:
Competition is always good.
Any way few people have been asking me why this shape!!!! Well we have a lot of reasons why we are using this shape for the
SURF kite. But one of the reason is so the kite can
hydro plane when the tip is touching the water while you are surfing the wave with out paying attention to the kite, especially when you have the kite very low to the water, compare to other kites once they touch the water they will stop and roll over. Well not with the
SURF kite. This kite will keep on going with out rolling so you can get the time to redirect the kite and pull it out of the water with ease with out having to spend time to relaunch it. The other reason why we use this shape is so you can relaunch the kite out of the water in no time. It is a wave kite, so if it falls in the water you want to make sure the kite gets up in the air before a wave comes and eats it. And I am sure you know what I am talking about.
You will find bellow a sequence of photos taking from a video to show you what I am talking about. People who were watching on the beach were very impressed of the performance of the SURF kite such as:
.The turning speed
.The way the kite was drifting
.The way the kite was relaunching.
.The way the kite's wing tip was touching the water and Hydro Planning for a while until going up in the air again.
.The way the kite was responsive.
.How stable the kite was just seating in the window especially in gusty winds.
.And how fast it was turning on its access.
And all this was when I was using the SURF 12M. Can you imagine the 8M and the 5m!!!!