I was at Kailua and saw BullShit.com with the BatWing. That's definitely the highest that I've seen Levy (sp?) jump. He was way the hell up there and looked like he had almost too much time the air. Major hang time.

Bulls, what is your weight? What is weight of this guy Levy? I'm looking forward to trying them out this coming week. But am surprised that the 12 is too big for you.

Windrider, what dd Levy say? Did he also agree it was the highest he has jumped? Was t consistent or a lucky jump?[/url]

I think Levy's around 145lb or so.

He did say that it was a good kite for jumping and really good hang time. It was funny, I think he was using the BatWing when he did a board-off that he missed the re-connect with the board, but had enough hang time to recover, reposition it and make the landing with board-on. It was cool to see.

He was popping lots of really high jumps. He didn't say anything about getting particularly lucky in hitting good jumps. He did say that it felt a bit slow in turning for a 12, like a bigger kite. To me, that would kind of make sense. The kite looks much bigger than a 12m, even though it's actually smaller than a 12m. The dimensions of it give the impression of a 14m or a 16m.

Sorry, don't want to put out too much hearsay. A couple of other folks rode it too. I didn't catch what they thought of it.

The wind was blowing pretty well, in the 13mph-20mph range. I was on my 12m Waroo and having a good time. It was a reasonable 12m kind of day. Some of the gusts hit 20+, but the average was about 15-16 mph according to ikitesurf.com.

I had a really fun sess with the Bat yesterday
had it for about an hour and can say it's a great kite
has all the feel of a c type
just pull the bar and go
no waiting ,no oversheet no bs.
Windwing has put some serious juice on this design
even has some old time scrim on the trailing edge
like the old Windwing sails
a fast turner for a 12.0
so much more DEPENDABLE than my Waroo's as far as sheeting
no waiting, no trimming ,no wierd shit at all
just smooth power throughout the range
cannot comment on the low end as I was happy on my 9.0 Waroo and went to the 12.0 WW so probably too much kite but very stable
no flapping, no inverts ,nothing hinky at all
and it's better the more agressively you push it
this design IS a winner
imo

Wow! Can't wait to try the Bat this weekend. Blowhard, what's your weight?

Kirk, call the number we gave you on the PM. There will be some changes of location for demo this weekend. If you can make it out to Rio Vista today or Alameda tomorrow the team will be kiting there.

Okay WindWing. We all know I have issues aside from my kiting skills. Lets just focus on my kiting issues:...

On two separate occasions I have been out to sea, in lightwind conditions, and the 15.5 sorta wants to fall out of the sky. This happened for the second time today. I am perhaps doing something wrong, as my water relaunch skills have not been tested much until now, but I get the kite on the LE and then it just doesn't seem to want to scoot to the edge of the wind window and behave like a kite that wants to relaunch. I pulled on the TE line and nothing. After trying everything I could think of I just pulled on the LE lines, turned the kite upside-down and reeled her in before she became one with the shore-line fallen trees.

What could I have done wrong?
1. She wanted and did fall out of the sky.
2. She didn't want to relaunch.

My settings were set at factory settings and third knot on the TE.

Mul, difficult to assess, what was the windspeed? Here's a general tip:

All kites need to be actively flown in lightwind: i.e., kept gently (and sometimes aggressively) moving to generate more apparent wind.
Your inputs at the bar help give the kite more energy: a good way to keep the momentum up is to let gravity help: from 12 O'clock sheet-in & let the kite sweep down one side of the window as you sheet-out, but deeper in the powerzone than you would for high wind: Then use that energy to turn the kite back up towards 12 fast (sheet-in on turn, sheet-out on climb/fall) Think classic sining motion, but more in the powerzone... You'll be working the kite to juice it up.

The basic issue is that the power-window shrinks as windspeed falls... so keep it away from the edge of the window as their ain't any power there anymore... which might be why its falling like a stone.

However, the fact you can't relaunch it suggests you just didn't have enough wind for the kite in the first place ??? Try helping the kite by swimming to the side, so it gets to the edge of the window (relaunch position) quicker

good luck... you'll crack lightwind, just mess around in the shallows practising

thanks buddy...I thought I tried all that stuff.