Dude, last year was same as you are now - was just getting into the sport, had my lesson went to shop after a second hand and was shown the bow kites, didn’t hear anything about them previously – didn’t even know they existed (never been to the seabreeze forums) told about depower and the wind range so instead of getting a c I bought the switchblade1 9 meter, is a fantastic kite to learn on although the new sb2 is considered a totally new design reports so far say its well behaved like the previous one but with improvements and benefits.

Never had face plants or birds nests in the lines, actually didn’t have any inversions during my learning stage but now in waves inversions can and do happen, but also now I am going out in 25 plus knots wave riding with the best of them just one season down the track. You will progress fast on any depowerable kite just a matter of picking which one you want. As for size you must be a big boy or have fairly light winds as a 14 is a fairly large kite, if your 75 to 85 kilos look to go for a twelve, under 75 and you could get a 10 (I think they make one that size too) as 8 might be a bit too small. What are your average winds speeds where you are, and what size kites do the local crew (your weight) fly 80 percent of the time as 06 or earliar c kites then take two meters off for a bow and thats your kite.

I dont own a shop, get deals or am mates with anyone that does, but I do like cabrinha gear even if it seems pricey its got the little things that are important to me on their kites.

riding demo's is fine of you can get on a board and at least go up and back with competency, but rather hard to choose what’s good till you can do that let alone whats suitable, after saying that its a good point to make, if your able to ride - demo demo demo!!!

Hi Guys,

Pretty hard to demo gear before you know what you are doing. Get a couple of lessons and look for a Hybrid style kite, avoid the bows. You will have less problems and learn faster on a Hybrid kite ("C" kite with a bridle for depower range).

The Hybrids have the best of both worlds and none of the nasty habits of either.The Airush Flow SLE, the Cabrinha SB2 etc is the way to go for learning. sincs Unless you are a heavy boy, you wont need a 14m Hybrid, they have the bottom end of a 16m, thats a big kite!

Good winds,

Thanks guys all helpful info I actually have a Flow 15.5 that a mate has lent me to try with the option to buy it along with a 165 LF board. And just so you know I am a big boy 105kgs so I reckon a bigger kite is required. Thanks for the info very usefull
Sincs

Fair play Tom, but in reality you use a kite for 1 season only or make a decision to keep it forever due to the bad re-sell value. Go Monkey kite and you loose 90% of the second hand buyers market and therefor get just about nothing back. Brands like Cabrinha, North etc keep re-sell value better than most and you are far more likely to sell for less of a loss. This way you can keep up with the latest and spend overall less to upgrade to the next years model..

Cheers!

hang on, more like buy a good brand name kite for $1800 and sell it a season later (six months) for $1400, in good condition... but I think you missed the point, you will sit on a lesser brand name trying to sell it for much longer than a more popular brand name..

here they go again... battle of brands!

adding fuel to the fire, why not a Peter Lynn... no bladders means they don't wear out like the bows or C's so lasts heaps of seasons... hence dont need to update next year and worry about depreciation at all!

and dont understand what the fuss is about... I (like heaps of others) learnt on a 2 line kite without ANY depower.... so just goes to show that learning on a 4 line (no matter how old or the design)really is NOT a big deal... I suggest you ignor the ego's and brand bull****

i say good on monkey kites.... awesome value for money!!! great quality etc... name brand means nothing... go for performance and value for money.

ps I have no affiliation with PL or Monkey

We have to avoid the BS and brand pimps, and Cinosaur lovers
I sell and use most brands on the market, have done for a long time now.

PL kites, lots of advantages over inflatables, like no punctures, longer lasting (generally), auto zenith, stable, etc
Disadvantages, pretty much the same safety as a C kite, only way to stop the pull is release to one line. Auto zenith was a feature that the designer wanted so that he could launch his kite catamarans single handed. Its a design feature that assists when getting on a board for sure, but the latest versions do it less. Very stable, but auto zenith makes the kite steer up slightly or a lot depending on the model and where it is in the sky. Its a feature thats easy to live with for the majority of riders. Relaunch can be tricky, gets easier with practice, and the kite is harder to crash in the first place.
+ make excellent land traction kites, whereas inflatos dont!

C shaped kites, are the dinosaurs of kiting, their time is coming to an end, many brands are not even making them anymore.
Certain riders who have gotten "good" using them do not want to
re-learn their trick list on bows or high depower kites. These people tend to slag them off as gay at every opportunity, some children like to play on the freeway, thats life!

Bows, hmmm, some brands are trying sound as if their kite is a C type others are promoting bow type and still others are promoting kite bisexuality.

I think we can call all the BOWS, HYBRIDS, AND SLE'S, high depower kites. Some that are claimed to be hybrids are bows and vice versa, some claim to be pure c and are really high depower SLE, etc, etc.

The key feature that the vast majority of new kiters and seasoned vets want is drop the bar 95% depower!! There have been a lot of versions of high depower kites that still retain a lot of power when the bar is dropped, these are bad for the sport, because they are being promoted as if they have the 95% depower feature.

I watched a rider yesterday crash badly after a mistimed unhooked attempt at something, he pendulumed right under the 10M Cab SB2 and it fell out of the sky, lines completely loose. Kite landed on the water, almost level with the kiter!!
It rolled around as it blew/drifted downwind of the rider, through its lines, inside out (inverted), then sort of wine glassed (half inverted/half right way out) for a bit, rider just kept jiggling and working the lines, and eventually after approx 4-5 mins the kite relaunched, but with twists in the lines because it had rollled through itself twice.
Rider dragged to the beach, put the kite down on the beach on a tip, held the centre lines where they join the trim strap and make a V with one hand, then unhooked his safety, and unhooked, and passed the bar through the lines to get rid of the twists. He did all this before anyone could offer assistance!
Bows with the full rainBOW bridle are super stable and depower 95% when only the front lines are tensioned.

The latest 07 bows based on the Legainoux patent and refined continuosly by Bruno (who then releases that info periodically to the licence holders), are the safest of the new high depower kites in my experience and observations.

None of the new high depower kites can match the fully bridled bows for relaunch either, if there is at least 5-6 knots of wind even a 17M contra will relaunch easily with no swimming, from the usual LE down and downwind of the rider position.

This is all from my personal experience over the last 15 years of observing power kiting and kite surfing developments. I sell all the main brands, there are good things about all of the brands we carry, but I personally prefer the proper bows, and I think they suit the majority of riders more than any other kite style, and they are a more sustainable, safer, kite for the future of the sport.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve McCormack

Hi Guys

I've been kite boarding for going on eight years and have tried or owned most types and brands in that time. At present I'm using Best Waroos (bow kite) and Peter Lynn Vennom II's depending on what I'm doing or how I feel. All the new kites are pretty good so trying a few to find what suits you is a must.

I think the Bow kites definitely are the best for depower and they tend to relaunch well too, BUT when they fully depower they tend to start to fall out of the sky and its very easy to lose control which can create a whole lot of other problems (luckily they relaunch well).

The Peter Lynn "twin skin" style kite also depowers well and if you let the handle go the kite tends to end up at the zenith depowered so you can easily get re-composed. Its for that reason I like to use it to try new tricks. They are a great all round kite and users tend to have a quick learning curve.

Regard
Morgs

Hi Sincs

You have pretty much answered your own questions, if you are turned on to the switchblade go for it they are a very good-quality kite.

I have known Steve since he first got started in kites and I agree with almost everything he has said. The only thing that I disagree with is the statement.
(Disadvantages, pretty much the same safety as a C kite, only way to stop the pull is release to one line.) Referring to Peter Lynn venoms.
The venom II without any doubt has double the wind range of any inflatable C kite. Therefore more safety, For instance today I was using my 13 in upto 32 knots, I also use the same kite down to a bottom end of 16 knots. I could be chugging along in a little bit less, but at 16 knots I am enjoying the kite. Today at 30 knots I didn't feel unsafe in any way. There was a visiting kiter from Sydney who was out on a 7 m Yaga, when I assisted him landing the kite, he said he was getting absolutely smashed. So I think it is very easy to say that the venom has a much wider wind range than conventional Tube kites which in turn translates to safety.
Ha Steve maybe you should come up to Coffs for a holiday and have a go at the new hyper venom, it's been over a year since our adventure into the wilderness, you know there's always somewhere to crash up here.

Bob Dawson

Steve Do you know if anyones been killed on a bow kite yet?...........enough said.

Had my new X-Bow2 fully invert yesterday in super gusty winds whilst doing a miss-timed transition jump.
It was flying upside down, pulled on 1 outside line kite spun around and I was leading edge down ready for a relaunch.
I was next to a guy with a C with 5th line with his kite in the water....Even with my supposed Kitemare I was up and going before he could relaunch.
Inversions rarely happen but are safe,and easy to rectify if you know what your doing. If you dont have a play, pull on an outside line now and then and youll work out whats going on pretty quickly. Never give up and swim in. Its safer to fix in the water

having tried bows and sle's
dont enjoy the heavy bar pressure or ponderous turning or treacherous self launching experiences and have seen some pretty concerning stuff with tangled bridles caught on tips etc

tried torch3 yesterday(as an example of c kite now available vegas7 etc the same) light steering, agile all the depower and more that i would like, several redundant safety systems in use qr chicken loop, surefire spreader bar etc

its personal preference the way i see it, not gay v non gay or other lame arguements

each to their own,

quote:

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Originally posted by Kitepower Australia

You know what I said is true.

---

Which kite ?
lol
This is a question only a fully certified kite-pimp can answer impartially.
hahaha

PR, I've never said that bows depower 100% by letting go of the bar.
I know they don't, but they do depower a lot I reckon around 90-95%, Ive been caught out in a squall on a 12M CB, wind got to low 30's (knots), then another rider took the kite off me and went and rode it for another 30 mins jumping to the moon!

I would not call hanging off a 16M SB, TD or CB (real bows) riding in 40 knots, and I really don't think it is possible.

No kite depowers 100%, it seems pointless to keep saying that. However even saying a kite depowers 90+% when the bar is not held could be misleading for some begginners, so kites should not be promoted that way.

We had customer come in with a bent sonic during the week, he got caugh out alone in fairly onshore conditions when the wind picked up to 25+ knots (said he had time to put it down, but thought he could survive the wind because he had sonic), he said the kite did not depower properly, but what we discovered (not the whole story) was that he kept trying to self land it using the pull a front line method, and got spanked every time he touched the bar to try. He was very lucky to survive uninjured.

Many other issues with this incident and user who is very inexperienced with kites, but who is or was slightly overconfident because of windsurfing experience (I thought we had seen the last of them).

It is the responsibility of the user to make sure that they use the kite in suitable locations and conditions, within their ability.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve

Well you were going to get the last word and them Mum called from heaven, and said look out for Andrew he is sneaking up on you.

Of couse people have fun on C kites, people have fun on single line kids kites, sport kites, foil kites, bows, SLE's, Hybrids, Venoms, etc, etc, etc.
I don't like to use C kites anymore unless is is dead flat water, same goes for Venoms, mainly because of the strong steady pull, and the strain that puts on my knees.
Thats a personal opinion ok? Everything else I said was a wind up for the Cinosaur lovers, who always hang it on bows or high depower kite riders.

The best kite is the one YOU are having fun with, and we still stock C kites, but a few brands don't make any, anymore, ok?

Mum said I should shut up now.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve