Rider: 70kg, 11 years experience, average to good skill level
Style: Surf + old school jumps and rolls
Weather: est. 16-19kn, mushy shore breaks of 1-1.5m
Disclosure: never been associated with any brand or shop
Hi, I demoed the kite yesterday. I rode a 5.6 North WHIP bamboo tech board in mushy Perth shore break and chop.
First impressions when taking the kite from the shop: it was rather light. I even suspected they forgot to put the bar in. They didn't. The kite was really very light.
The bar is simple with minimal metal parts, very easy sliding trim line covered by plastic tube.
The QR is activated towards the body It is simple design with no possible rusting or corroding parts.
The trim loop is above the bar about 65cm from it. In a wipe-out, when the waist harness slides up to the chest, it may be out of reach for someone with shorter arms.
There is no stopper on the trim line, and no "O'Sh!t" loop at flying lines.
The safety line slides very easily in the holes, not showing signs of catching or blocking. The bungee on the safety line looks thick and strong.
The bar is on the thicker side of the scale, and felt comfortable.
The kite has three struts and minimal reinforcements at the wings and leading edge. It seems the design wanted to keep the weight minimal. IMHO it's a good thing. Every 10 gram count on a wave kite. It may make the difference between a drifting and a falling kite.
One pump system with large pump/deflate entry. Quick to in/deflate. The bag is simple and functional.
Very clean and confident design. Only one attachment knot for the lines. Kind of "we did our homework, this is the optimal setting". Self launch and land is easy as expected from a modern kite.
It has three steering line attachment points for bar pressure. Using the medium or the heavy settings for a whole 2-3 hours session may be tiring without a stopper on the trim line. On the light bar pressure setting (the only one I used), the bar pressure was comfortable. After 2 hour solid ride I had no fatigue (I am no Swarzenegger). However, I missed the hand free upwind ride.
I flew the kite fully powered, and I needed to half de-power it only few occasions, when the wind picked up. The power of the kite is perhaps a bit less than I expected from a 10m, but it is delivered very smoothly.
The kite is very responsive, and turns fast even when de-powered. It delivers moderate power on the turn in a smooth, jerk-less manner. It de-powers evenly with relatively short bar movement.
The kite drifted extremely well. The tension in the lines was maintained no matter how I tried to ride towards the kite.
In spite of the (only) 3 struts, the kite kept its shape without flutter on the canopy as long as there was some tension in the back lines.
I expected this kite to excel on the surf, and it did not disappoint.
However, the greatest surprise was how well the kite jumped. It had significant hang time, and most importantly landed like a big kite, floating me softly.
The kite comes in sizes with 2m increments. I find it difficult to work out a proper quiver, since there may be just too much gap between the 6 and the 10, while too much overlap between the 8 and the 10. It is only an assumption, since I flew the 10 only.
As far as workmanship is concerned, I found no faults or weaknesses.
Overall impression: an excellent easy to use wave kite, which also jumps well with good hang time.
Had my first run on my new 10m today in sub 15kn winds and can relate to most of your points there.
Kite felt quick and looped nicely. Best feature so far is it flies great unhooked. Even in light wind it didn't want to bog backwards and go into a stall.
Totally agree that they should've added a stopper ball, they are so handy.
Does you pump feel like it does weird things? Mine seems to pump on only one stroke, then every few it will kick in to double stroke pumping.
And how did you find the kite when it was a say 2, and you let go of the bar. Mine seems to pretty much fall out of the sky (angling down to the edge of the window). Just wondering if its cause the wind was quite light, or its just a Reo thing.
I went the 10m and the 6m as well. Can't wait to try the 6m when its BITO. Yew.
.....only a wind junky would understand.
I never unhook, so I could not test this with the Reo, and I demo-ed the kite, so I used my own pump.
When I let the bar go the kite de-powers, and unless there is apparent wind (the kite is in motion), it falls. It is supposed to do that. For me, it is about what way it falls. Is it turning onto the LE to crash, or drifting back in the wind window first giving time to recover. I did this, and the Reo was behaving nicely. I believe, apart from the low weight of the kite, it needs a design to do this.
One thing, I forgot to write down, and it is still positive, is that in spite of the only 3 relatively thin struts, the kite kept its shape without flutter as long as there was some tension in the back lines. I found in some of my old kites, that they need considerable power to keep their shape.
Yeah clean ya pump you dirty boy!
If its a brand new pump return it and I'll swap it for another that has not been handled by a dirty boy.
Yeah I reckon the power loss over the depower throw will be a good thing, I was just wondering if it was more evident cause it wasn't very windy. Really looking forward to some decent wind.
Pump is a brand newwy, I will give it a few mores goes.
Cheers Steve.
