San Diego has proved itself as the lightwind capital of the world and to be the ideal location for The Kiteboarder Magazine’s Take the Tech Out Light Wind Kite Test!
14 manufacturers sent 22 kites for 8 riders to test over a three day period. Day one provided light wind in the 5-10 knot range and Day 2 gave us wind in the 8-17knot range. Day three is looks promising with wind expected to be in the 10 knot range. The conditions have allowed riders to test from the low to top end of the wind ranges helping to ensure more accurate feeback from the testers. The results will be released in the next issue of The Kiteboarder Magazine and here on Kite Forum. The print version is far better than the electronic version, but for those of you who have not seen The Kiteboarder. Check out the FREE download available in our archive library at
http://www.kbmag.com. View the last five issue of The Kiteboarder FREE.
Thanks to the local San Diego kiters for their support and test participants including Litewave Dave/Globerider, Slingshot, Flysurfer, Best, Naish, North, Cabrinha, Liquid Force, Caution, RRD, Wipika, Flexifoil, Gaastra and Spleene Boards. We would especially like to thank Armin Harich from Flysurfer and Rainer Kauper from Spleene Boards for traveling all the way from Germany to support the test! Please rest assured we have made this testing as politics-free as possible. The testers are average Joes and Janes who buy kites, as well as shops that represent many brands.
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Just got back from Silver Strand Beach today where most ALL of the kiteboarders and new kites were there....LEI's,(countless names) Peter Lynn ARC's.... Flysurfers Speed and Phsyco II's were on demo display.
Armin and Ted (US importer) were both damned "ANIMALS" on the water, another one of the cadre was some cool dude named Lino or something and he jumps like he's on a trampoline with all the kick ass moves. Ted better watch out, he's going to have Air Traffic Control problems if an airport is nearby, he "HANGS" in the air for minutes it seems, so smooooth ! AND he's a big boy too, (220lbs of steel) he ripped on a 17M Speed. The Flysurfers were stealing the show, by all means. Second place went to the Peter Lynn Venoms, (16M) they did impressively well.
Armin is a gem of a person, he spent time with me and personally demonstrated all the safety features and re-launch capabilities of his kites. It was more than spectactular. I was a "true believer" at that point. He is so damned knowledgeable in the kites, he's very impressive. The kites are typical German, precision man !!!
I (was) a LEI weenie.... NOW im a foil dude in a big, BIG way. All the BS I was told about foils was exactly that, BS ! Its hands down, and head and shoulders above any LEI. The kites were so easy to set up Ted, set one up (Psyhco 17M) from in the bag to freaking flying in 1:30 seconds !!!
All the LEI were face down on the beach, and the Flysurfers were shredding the waves up and down wind, with maybe 10 knots of wind consistently
It was at times 8-12 knots and kinda lumpy, then 175 lbs. Lino (spelling?) took off on a 13 M Speed with a 140cm board and ripped it up in the surf !! a spectsactular display !! im sure it was much to the dismay of the LEI's who could barely get out of the breakers and minimal upwind boarding, if they could be launched at all. Lino is a foil stud of the highest order.
The Hellfish was there also...Yaaaawn...... Nothing bad to say about it and nothing good to say about it either, its another LEI but it wont stay shaped when in the launch position cuz the LE tube is so narrow. It was a 21M or there abouts, but it wasnt any better than the Cabrinha 25 monster kite being expertly flown also. Hellfish seems to be in my humble opinion, a lot of marketing hype, I wasnt impressed with what I saw in a light wind condition.
My most vivid memory of today was the Flysurfer crew out doing bitchin jumps and hauling ass all over the place and all the LEI's either face down in the sand parked or leading edge down in the surf with no hope of re-launches in that light of wind. I'll never forget it.
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