Sometimes you go to an event and have expectations, I went to the Pismo with none and came back with a new thought process. For the first time I rode a 16m with the turning speed of an 11m. This kite was the Eclipse thruster 16m. I am from San Diego, the light wind capital of the world, where the 16 is your weapon of choice. I currently own a couple of turbo diesels, and trust me am starting to look like a body builder from the bar pressure. So I was interested in experimenting with the different kites there. On Sunday, I got to the event early so I could ride a 16m. It was funny how things went, but the first person I met was Dimitre. This is one of the best kiters in the world, and here he was taking time to explain the bar set up, how the sixteen would ride, some adjustments and suggestions, and he even launched me. I quickly noticed the very light bar pressure and quick speed of the kite. I was instanly excited. Then, there was the boost; it had an incredible amount of pop and top end power, it was quick and responsive. I was stoked. After about 25 minutes I was totally overpowered due to the wind picking up, but there still ample amount of depower to walk me in back to launching area. And who was there? Dimitre! Smile on his face asking me how it rode, and a bunch of other questions about the kite. I thought to myself, the guys got some passion. The kite works great and even more the owner of the company is right there....he's got your back. This is what I'll be riding this summer, whipping a 16 like an 11 finally.

rocket528 Wrote:

That's awesome... You gotta love that guy.. Dimitri your a Rockstar man..
Way to go..

I ride his boards the 130 and 135 light wind Skywalkers great boards too.
135 get me out in th lowest winds possible... Really happy with these boards.

X

wow rocket....thats a low post count you have there....

Pismo was a great event !

the vibe made it the place to be. we had industy pioneers, drastically improved gear, media people and young pros all in one spot last weekend.

it would be cool to have a chance to vote for best in show.

my vote would go to the Eclipse Thurster hands down!

the eclipse product really was the rock star among the brands. if you can get a quiver of these kites consider yourself 2 years ahead of the curve.

good times

Agreed, Thrusters worked great, I rode the 12 and the 10. Plus, the professional attitudes from the company founders was really evident and surely appreciated by all who flew their products.

I tried the Thruster 14 and 10 last WE and also the Chamelon 13m.
All great kites.
The Thruster is amazing as it turns soooooooooo fast.

See my extended review from a few days ago

Frank

I am new to the game of blogging, been kiting for 5 years and really had nothing to say until now. It is what it is...just got a good stoke from a new product in person instead of reading about it...the entire pismo event was off the hook but the eclpise guys just stood out in my mind...Rocketquote="joff"]wow rocket....thats a low post count you have there....[/quote]

I know that as a new company, Eclipse was especially stoked to gets its kites over to the West Coast for people to try. Dimitri, Chris and their crew have a lot of passion for the sport:-) You can listen to their podcast to find out more about Eclispe and their plans at http://www.asnewswire.com/podcasts/podcast75.mp3 or listen to it on autoplay at http://www.thekiteboarder.com and http://www.asnews.net

All the mfgs in fact were really psyched and the vibe was great. Besides Dmitri, the Richman boyz came over from Maui for Cabrinha, Billy Parker from Flexifoil got to taste California for the first time, and Andy Hurdman from Best was stoked to get some wave kiting in. A special thanks to all the manufacturers who supported this year's KiteXpo 2007 including:
Best Kiteboarding
Cabrinha
Caution
Eclipse
Fone
Flexifoil
Liquid Force
Ozone
Ocean Rodeo
Peter Lynn

Special thanks to BEST, LIQUID FORCE, PETER LYNN AND OCEAN RODEO for donating the top raffle prizes;
1st Prize: 9m Best Yarga SLE Hybrid Complete
2nd Prize: 5'8" Liquid Force Surf Kiteboard
3rd Prize: Best Golf Travel Bag
4th Prize: Peter Lynn Waist harness with Swivel Bar
5th Prize: Ocean Rodeo Sessions Harness
Plus great swag from FCS (tie down straps, wetsuit bag, bumper guards0, Wind Cult Kiteboarding,(t-shirts) Best (t-shirts), Caution (t-shirts), Eclipse(t-shirts), Flexifoil (t-shirts), Ocean Rodeo (the infamous hats!), Peter Lynn (Cool Beenies and hoody), and Slingshot (hoodys).

Thanks to all kiters who made the trek to SLO for this year's KiteXpo! For those of you that have never made it down this way except for the Expo, now you know why we love our area and why Pismo is a perfect venue for the event! I think we scared the rangers a bit with all the kites in the air but everybody got along beautifully and I don't believe there were any tangles, etc. which is great! You made us look good:-)

A special thanks should also go out to Xtreme Big Air and Kinsley's wife Jamie (newlyweds since September!) for running registration, Ed for setting up the perimeter, Art and Brian for their overall support, Peter for bringing the wood for the bonfire, and our raffle slut Steve Davies!

Mark your calendars for next year for the weekend after Mother's Day:-) And thanks again everybody for helping to make KiteXpo 2007 a great event!

Marina
Publisher
The Kiteboarder Magazine/Asnews.net

well, i realize my post count is lower than most but i was also at pismo and here is my opinion on the eclipse kites.

dimitri was there and was very approachable and helpful, let me try his personal board and a 10 thruster. unfortunately, it was later in the afternoon and the wind died down quite a bit so i didn't have enough kite for my 200 lb butt.

i thought the thruster was really nice, super super smooth and fast. i really want to try one that is enough kite for the conditions next time.

i tried almost every kite there and although it is not a true test to use a kite for only about 30 minutes, my first impressions were:

if i buy a bow kite, it would be the td2, although it wore my arms out from the bar pressure (which i hoped would be less). crossbow2 is almost the same kite, although td2 seemed faster. actually, they are so similiar to me i would buy whichever i could get a deal on. i sort of like cabrinhas safety a little better (first impressions could change).

the hybrids- instinct sport, ion 2, and the thruster (if the thruster is a hybrid) were all my favorites. i had my best session on a 11 instinct sport.

didn't try a c, not sure if there was one pumped up there.

it was a great event and i apologize to all the "good" kiters for not getting out of the way fast enough.

I had a similar experience myself on Sunday. It was extremely windy and gusty, and my new PL Scorpion 13 was flying with some instability in the 30mph gusts. After about 20 minutes it tip-collapsed in the impact zone (you've gotta know Arcs to understand this) and I ended up having to swim in.

As I was coming ashore who should come running down the beach to help but Peter Lynn Jr. himself? "That kite's not tuned right, mate" he tells me. Very quickly he re-tuned my adjuster straps and VPC bridle and explained to me what was causing the instability. My twitchy kite which required much more input and attention than previous Arcs now behaves itself even in crazy gusty/shifty winds!

I don't mean to take away from the Eclipse thread, but that Scorpion is one heck of a kite for advanced riders. I've never seen a kite before that actually changes its projected area profile in such a way. When you depower, it takes a "C" shape, and when you power-up, the tips flare out and it projects way more area. This makes for insane jumping potential. And, all of this on a four line kite with no LE bridles to get tangled. As I've mentioned before, the Scorpion is the ultimate kite for "people who love to fly kites."

Cheers,

Gideon