KiteDemon
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Hier een wat uitgebreider review. Klinkt in ieder geval al veel belovend....lijkt wel of ze het over een Naishkite hebben..... (grinnik_kitesmiley)
Because a friend is unfortunately off the water after a knee op, he was kind enough to lend me a pre-production Rhino 2006 to try. After a good few hours on the water, here are my first impressions.
Out of the bag, I immidiately noticed the battens that run the whole length of the leading edge. They're only short, and very flexi and didn't really get in the way of rolling/unrolling the kite. Pumping it up, you notice that the 5 struts (note: 5 not 7) are completely different from anything I've seen before - they kinda have a sharp 30 degree bend in them about a foot away from the leading edge. Other than that, the 5th line attachment point looks redesigned, and the tip battens are firmly velcro'ed to the tips of the leading edge.
No changes to the pigtails - to options at the leading edge, three at the trailing edge - but the 5th line attachment has 2 knots, presumably for different windspeeds, but I only used the standard settings - outermost on everything.
With the kite launched, I immidiately noticed the difference compared to the '05 kite. The 2005 Rhino was quite prone to overflying, and needed constant attention in the air, the 2006 kite just sits where you put it, literally, just sits at the edge of the window not surging forward in the gusts, not dropping back, requiring practically zero bar input. Impressive stuff in the gustiness of Poole Harbour.
I was a bit dubious about whether I'd have enough power or not - a friend was pumping up his 18m Rhino2, and another friend was out on an 18.5m Firestorm - but as soon as I dived the kite, it was clear that it had quite a lot more low-end grunt than last year's kite. I was impressed by how 'connected' it feels - every gust is immidiately translated into a smooth surge in speed. Another side to the 'connected' feeling is knowing where the kite is much more, from slightly increased bar pressure.
Turning the kite, it holds its shape very nicely, and continues to provide a good constant pull. I was able to carry good speed through heelside to toeside turns, which I've never really been able to do before, as there is usually a lull in the power at the critical moment. In fact, I quickly became so comfortable with its predictable power delivery, I was chucking it around like an 8 or 10 metre kite!!
When I sent the kite for my first jump, it was a much smoother lift than I'm used to. Often, when I send the kite agressively, I don't get the best pop, as the lift arrives suddenly and yanks me off the water. This time I felt like I could time the pop to the perfect moment, and the lift was odd... it's like you take the same time going up as you do going down. I definitely remember thinking "blimey, I'm still going up".
Hanging under the kite, I felt quite comfortable that I knew where the kite was, and getting the timing right was easy. Some 'pro' kites need to be kept moving at all times, otherwise you'll swing under them, but this one had the nice floaty relaxing hangtime I prefer. Just tweak the bar to redirect as you come in to land, and ride away - have had too many sketchy landings with slack lines with other kites, either because of swing-under, or because you've gotta pull like hell on the bar to redirect.
One of the most impressive things for me with this kite was how easy I found it to do decent jumps without loosing loads of ground downwind. It's like BANG straight up, and then you come down slighly downwind, rather than floating off miles downwind.
You can tell the windrange of this kite is going to be impressive. I didn't touch the depower strap once, and the wind was anything from 10 to 20mph, up and down, and with gusts. It's weird, I didn't really do much sheeting in and out... I'd just go faster and more upwind in the gusts, without having to change the rail pressure on the board.
All in all, I can't find fault in the kite. I reckon it only goes upwind marginally better than my 2005 kite, and it might not jump any higher (but I suspect it does, because it's easier to get good pop) but the stability of the kite blew me away - it really is an extremely user-friendly kite. It gives an inspiring level of feedback and control, but at the same time has top-rate performance.
I'm sure I'll think of some other stuff to add that I've forgotten, but that'll do for now!
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