quote:
Originally posted by harks98
This one is for Em / JB or any other 08 rebel riders.
I've been reading a few mixed reports re the 08 Rebel being easily chocked. Have any of you experienced this?
I've just ordered a 9 / 12 combo, but after reading stuff like this it makes me a little hesitant to jump of my 06 Vegas's which awesome kites.
Your thoughts please.
matt
Sorry Matt, we've been flat out and I only saw you post now...
Hm.... Can't relate to what you're talking about... Been riding my 12m for a month now, it's my light wind kite as well (wasn't the case with last year's model but I can now take my Rebel 08 12m in light wind too), it flies great, light, medium, strong wind, but dazza5172 explained it all very nicely: the only time it might "chocke" (is that how you spell it?) is when the wind just isn't strong enough... And remember, kites need wind to fly, so no matter what kite is being put up below 10 knots, it won't quite fly properly...
The Rebel 08, as a 5 line kite with high depower, does need to "breathe" tho. Some people do tend to pull too much on the bar when the kite actually needs to be given a bit of back lines slack to catch the wind properly, and in light conditions especially, people should remember not to suffocate their kite. But that's with any kite in light wind, and people don't experience this in other conditions simply because they usually can't "fight" (try to pull that bar in) in stronger wind (or the kite tells them right away it's not happy!). What you read could as well have to do with people not listening to what their kite is telling them in light breeze. A lot of beginers and intermediary riders feel safer going out on light wind, but we all know it's the most technical wind to handle. We've all started this sport and on light wind days, we used to angrily pull on the bar, not understanding why there wasn't any juice, watching our kite dangerously dropping in our powerzone...
I think we've all done it. Experience and understanding of kites behaviour since grew and a lot of us have since learnt how to steer and power up a kite in light wind, but some people are lucky enough to very rarely get light wind days -and will expect their kite to require the same bar input than on stronger days-, some others are beginners (and we've all started at some point), every rider is different and I believe there are a lot of things a kite can do when badly manipulated in light wind that could be blamed on the kite, when it's all in the rider who's flying it...
Generally speaking, regardless of the brand, I believe nowadays a very high percentage of kites released on the market are very good products. I mean, it's been a decade now, "we" know how to stitch some canopy along some struts so that the whole thing beautifully stays up in the air... Past this simple fact, kites do perform differently, offer different features, and brands have their home-made touch which distinct them from one to another and allow a wider market of kitesurfers to find a product that suits them personally. But I believe we will all agree (Could it be??? Wow. Big allegation! LOL. I do like living dangerously, don't I?
) that by now, designers and manufacturers know how to build a kite that flies...
Aware of this, if I do try a kite these days and feel funny about the way it moves, I tend to question the way I've manipulated it rather than the kite performance itself. Kites behave differently from one to another. It's the rider who flies the kite. Give a bow/sle to a C-kiter, he will tell you the kite flies crap (and the other way around), when it's just a different way to fly it. We know the story. We just all tend to like what we're used... The truth is, they ALL fly just fine, Bow's, Sle's, C's, Hybrid's, Sigma's and God knows what next (this is such a wonderful world), and we're all spoiled to have access to the technology we do, we are more and more demanding towards those magnificent toys and now expect them to somewhat fly for us...
And I can't blame anyone cause I'm the first one to have huge expectations, sometimes forgetting about the 2 line kite I originally learnt on...
I'm so sorry I go carried away, my point is, I wouldn't worry whatsoever about your 9m and 12m purchase: you're going to love them!!!
Truly happy with my 12m (in light and medium wind: haven't quite played with that depower yet, really curious to find out what's my top end with it! ). I really find the biggest improvement is in light wind: yesterday again, I was the last one planing when everybody else was packing up cause it was dropping off... This kite, if you work it and let it breathe on light wind (and you will be surprised how fast it still moves in those conditions) will do wonders...
I've found myself riding those 5 first flyable knots I had banned for the past years... Sticking to my last year's mojo: the Rebel rocks...
