All going well and the weather is up to forcast we will have some new 2006 gear available for demo this weekend (Sat 15th and Sun 16th).

We will hopefully have the much awaited Globerider GKSonic 11mt, the new 2006 Liquid Force M80 and some of Force Australia's range of boards.

So if you feel like a drive down to Shoalwater Bay Rockingham for some kiting and beers afterwards please join us.

We will have instructors on hand for any questions from the newbies.

If you have any questions please contact me on 0411 510 514 or [email protected]

We will kick off as soon as the wind is up.

Hope to see you there
Jason.

GK Sonics have arrived

We will also have a Takoon Nova available to check out.

We will be setting up at the Penguin Island Cafe car park on Arcadia Dve Shoalwater.

i bags first go of the sonic.
heard some great things bout these puppies...

SM - You have gotta be THE MOST negative personality on the forum [}:)]
But Im gonna ask anyway - which size Sonic RU saying couldnt match it upwind with ur 11m fuel. A tad (lets say lots) more detail might make ur post a tad more valuable & believable.
This is a serious If youve got the real gen then lets hear about it. Im seriously keen to suss out how much of the XBows depower ability comes from the very clever but heavy loading x2 pulley system & how much is due to the flat kite minus the pulleys.
Com'n SM if I can get serious & objective anyone can - even YOU

Well first of all there is no 12m sonic, theres an 11m.

I took it out today in 15-20knots, at melville.

Its not a perfect kite, not by a long shot.

Things that irked me.

Valves were way tight and hard. Hard to get plugs in, valves are of different size requiring the need to change pump hose end.

Pulley is a pos. It doesn't rotate the line just slides on it most of the time, could just have had a ring as the pulley is useless.

Kite came with about 18in of rope hanging out of the cleat. Have nfi what it is for because the kite had too much backline even with this amount of rope, Jason already told me It had to much backline out of the bag. Maybe if you didn't know this and had it trimmed like a LEI, you could have some troubles with performance. Extra line Is getting removed tommorow anyway.

Kite is fairly hard to trim. Can almost kill all the power with a little too much backline. Not like a regular LEI where it will just pull like a truck downwind. I found I really had to sacrifice turning speed in order to get the kite trimmed to fly well on the bumper.

The stopper is useless I couldn't get it to jam no matter how ****en hard I tryed. Maybe it needs to bed in? atm I can't rest the bar on it no matter how softly I place it.

Kite won't sit on the beach properly, does what the nova does.

Few other little tidbits, that I will remember later.

Self launch was as hard as with a crossbow, I needed someone to help me in the end.

Things I liked.

Construction is good!, Strut to leading edge is the best I have seen. Valves on the end of the LE is a nice touch.

Bar is freakin awesome, thickness in the middle is so comfortable when riding one handed

Low end is good. Poor relie was on a 12m crossbow, I can't really comment on how powered he was, but I think we were about even in terms of power. He might have had a little more, I was having troubles with the tuning early when the wind was light.

Solid boosting in 18knots. Was hard to time though, or maybe not timing but hard to judge where the kite needed to be sheeted to. I felt maybe I was stalling the kite. I adjusted the line a bit and went out again, it was alot better but couldn't get the same turning speed. Kite doesn't need good speed for boosting, I felt it wanted to be riden slower but edged harder then normal LEI when loading for a boost.

Bar is super light, most of the day I was riding one handed with my hand in the middle of the bar, just slighty turning the kite with just my wrist.

Relaunch, as good as the crossbow I reckon.

Depower? Never really needed it wind was 15-20knots steady. The power is so easy to edge out, which was a bit annoying in 15knots, as I was edging hard to get upwind but this just killed the power. I got the technique in the end, LET THE KITE DO IT FOR YOU!!, sheet out a little and its like there is a sweet spot of power thats at about 30% depower on a usual LEI kite, the kite flys faster you go faster and you shoot upwind (same with LEI, but you usually slow down if not well powered).


Spacemonkey I think whoever was flying it probably had it setup wrong or was a complete idiot.

yeah carbine the guy wasnt exactly what u would call a pro :)
he can do backrolls and other easy tricks like that tho so he should be able to fly it well.

I would definately say the crossbow looks to fly better in the air although i havent flown a sonic for myself.

as for Thomo i don't like bows cuz they
-have bridles
-complicated bar setup
-can they have 5th line?
-slow turning, heavy bar pressure
-relaunch is a worry especially in the light winds
-and they look funny :) almost like doona kites (arcs)

quote:

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Originally posted by Spacemonkey!

yeah carbine the guy wasnt exactly what u would call a pro :)
he can do backrolls and other easy tricks like that tho so he should be able to fly it well.

I would definately say the crossbow looks to fly better in the air although i havent flown a sonic for myself.

as for Thomo i don't like bows cuz they
-have bridleswhats wrong with that, can't figure out how to connect the lines properly?
-complicated bar setupsonic has the simplest bar setup of any 4 line kite
-can they have 5th line?Why?, add complication, add rigging time, and add the possibility for a torn kite, LOL!
-slow turning, heavy bar pressureAs fast as any 11m LEI, and no bar pressure
-relaunch is a worry especially in the light windsPack the kite up and go home coz your not going to be doing any kiting, we're talking less than 10knots then you might have troubles
-and they look funny :) almost like doona kites (arcs)its how it flys that matters

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^^,

The bar stopper is dodge. I couldnt get it to work yesterday when it was new, but today it was a little better. I think the plastic hose inside just has to soften up a bit. I think it will get better with time. But why do u need it, bar pressure is so light you can just ride one handed so easily even without a stopper.

with the cleat, you have to put your hand above the bar and grab on the front lines, then you can increase power both up and down.