Kites I have owned but moved them on pretty quickly

2007-08 Cab 7 strut crossbows or Contras,

2010 Cab 6-strut nomad (the Nomad was actually a fast-turning/looping kite with great drift before the whole kite drift-ability thing)

2010 Cab 4-strut convert

Slingshot rev c.2007 powerhouse but scary

Early F1 bandits, awesome kites but also dangerous, due to rear line easily catching around the bar or wingtip

nearly bought a rhino once thinking it was a good deal lol

Southernskip said..
One was a Cabrinha Switchblade III. Probably stretched to hell when i bought it. It tried to kill me every time took it out,

Secondly the 2022 Pivot 11m. beautifully made, great looking kite. Whenever I took it out I was getting out jumped and burned off by everyone around me and would turn my shoulders into mush in gusts. For a supposedly powerful kite I would accidently board edge it to a standstill in anything less than 20knts. I've flown the 12m and own the 9 and 7 and while these kites are great at what they do, I couldn't be aggressive with that particular size and it would make my blood boil.

So you're saying the Naish Pivots are too slow?

My Best Waroo think around 2009. Use to fold itself like a pram anytime you pulled on the bar!!

There is no richer prose than that used to bag a bad kite!!
Rob Augusta

The Best BFK 16 was probably the worst kite i have used. Had a window of usability from 13-14 knots, and was tough work either side of that. Did have some good times on it though.

Any kite pre 2005 or thereabouts- every single one was a death trap

My very first kites were Slingshot "Stealth" foil kites - 5.8m and 4.4m. I believe they were the first kites Slingshot made. Basically two line kites with a 3rd line to collapse the kite. Clearly SS had no idea what they were doing and the bridling made the kite fly quite deep in the window. In combination with no depower this made staying upwind impossible. I used them for a couple of years for snow kiting - even on the snow they were impossible to use as they pulled you violently downwind as soon as you picked up any speed. As I was new to kiting I didn't have any way of knowing how bad they were.

Following that I bought a Naish Sky Pirate AR 3.5. At 9m it wasn't powerful enough to get me going until the wind was so strong that I was overpowered.

That was followed by a PL ARC, which was somewhat better, but it wasn't until I bought a couple of Wipika Airblasts in 2001 that I started actually kiting with some measure of control.

I'm in the Slingshot Link camp here. I never had one, but recall the endless threads in local forums about it. As I recall there was some bridle update for it, but by then it was too late. I had a friend who had bought one to get in to kiting from windsurfing, I felt really bad for him. The Hellfish is also worth being on the list, but I don't think I ever saw one in the wild as Best pulled them pretty quickly as I recall. A short time later I bought a 2006 Best Waroo, and it was the most revolutionary kite I've ever ridden, I loved the 2006 an 2007 Waroos.

Windbot said..
I'm in the Slingshot Link camp here. I never had one, but recall the endless threads in local forums about it. As I recall there was some bridle update for it, but by then it was too late. I had a friend who had bought one to get in to kiting from windsurfing, I felt really bad for him. The Hellfish is also worth being on the list, but I don't think I ever saw one in the wild as Best pulled them pretty quickly as I recall. A short time later I bought a 2006 Best Waroo, and it was the most revolutionary kite I've ever ridden, I loved the 2006 an 2007 Waroos.

The best Waroo was a blatant copy of the GK Sonic.

Mark50 said..
Pansh foil kite. Waited months for it to arrive and it flew so badly.. Absolute rubbish!

You probably bought an older (pre 2010) version.

This looks pretty good to me.

My vote has to go to the Wipika Wip. Back in the days when windsurf shops sold kites but the staff working had no idea. I think they are still the highest aspect ratio kite made. zero depower, slow turn but so fast to the edge of the window. mind you all the kites were like that. back in the early 2000's (before a lot of the guys reading this were even born)

Went from the wipika wip to the Ozone Instinct, which was epic in comparison.