Just a few notes on using the 10m 12m and 14m in Fiji.
Sometimes it's nice to hear how a kite behaves when you need to use them outside the normal comfort zones.
In Fiji it's all about Boat support and Boat launches. You can find excellent kiting spots at any tide but also need to respect the Coral.
Boat launches are critical and kite simplicity is a big plus, as you have to set lines on shore, then take a 30-45min boat ride to your selected spot, jump in with only one shot at a launch. tangled lines mean a slow boat ride back watching the others have fun.
There are some brilliant kiting spots that get better the closer you run to the reef. So a kite that reacts positively and predictably is an asset. Conditions over the course of a session change from dead flat water to swell and short duration waves. A kite comfortable in downwind riding is also a plus, as is a snappy high boosting and good hangtime kite( when doing speed runs 110 degrees off the wind along the reef line at low tide, it's handy to get a quick response boost with the hangtime to carry you over the reef you misjudged).
The 14m was my favourite, for predictability and hangtime, the 12m for range and snappy boost, the 10m for the upper wind range and fun flicking it around. surprisingly the wind ranges of the 3 kites were fairly similar, except the 10m top end was a lot more. the 12m and 14m could give very similar results for a heavy rider and a light rider.
For me the low ends were very close, probably 2 kts between each kite
the kites were very easy to use in boat launches, very easy to setup on land and the bridle, being as compact as it is, was not prone to snagging itself. Remember on deep water boat launches there is little to no line tension on launch so tangles and twists only become apparent when kite is launched.
in short, I would say that the 12m is a very grunty kite most happy between 15 and 22kts, over this and it wants to pulse(only really apparent when you look at it) and takes on a mind of it's own for boosting you. over 22kts you want to really like huge boosting.
the 14m is a classic reminds me a lot of my Airblast10. it just stays feeling snappy and fun even as the wind drops, great for lazy jumping and very sweet soft landings, i would not bother kiting in wind less than the 14m can go in.
The 10m is just plain wicked and I struggled to time jumps, seemed to want to kiteloop all the time and in fact that's what it probably is best at. Looping all of them is incredibly controllable, I always backed off the bar pressure to much ending up with nothing pulling me and dropping faster than I wanted.
All in all they are great travelling kites that doing everything asked of them. just with waves they need a bit of care not to dive them too far into the window, which can stall them.
