Rider: Advanced
Style: Racing
Weather: 19-33knots
Build Quality: 10/10
Satisfaction: 10/10
Disclosure: Kitepower/Ozone Team Rider (and 75kg, 2012 Cabrinha 183 Raceboard)

Yes it was windy.

I noticed quite a few changes to the 2013 model, as I generally ride 2012 Edges.

The first thing I noticed was a significant weight reduction in the kite. The Dacron reinforcing is still present but there is a little less on the 2013 and it is only where you need it. Also the strut protectors along the top of the kite are now made from Dacron and not from the webbing type material of previous years. Very thin racing bridals are now also standard with the kite. These little weight savings really made a big difference to the weight of the kite, and I could really feel it even pumping up and moving the kite around on the beach. If you for some reason crash this kite regularly and hard, and I mean really regularly and hard in the waves, I would think that more dacron would be better, BUT for general use especially racing, it is built to stand the test of time, and its pretty damn hard to crash this kite.

The second thing I noticed was that the shape has been slightly redefined to be even more high aspect than the previous years. Sitting on the beach it is a very long thin kite, even more so than previous years. I really do think this helped in holding down the kite in the seriously gusty westerly. The kite of choice was in the 6-9m range for most riders, yes I would say I was overpowered, but generally I was holding ground with another racer on a 7m 2012 Edge and a big raceboard.

I was very impressed with how the kite handled fully depowered on the race bar. Even at full depower I had full control at all times, tacks and gybes were surprisingly easy. To my surprise I was able to do 3 or 4 downloop gybes. It was incredibly stable at full depower, even right at the edge of the window. I diddn't get to completely test out the turning speed vs the 2012 Edge because that should be done when it isn't depowered fully, but I will report back on a lighter wind day. As with the Edge tradition it still sits right forward in the window and I thought the 2013 was even better, as my angles upwind seemed better than usual.

If you don't believe it was windy here is the graph of the day, I was kiting from 1pm-4pm.

I will report back when I test it under normal conditions!

Christ, you are 75kg and on a race board. That's good kiting man you must have been rocketing upwind.

madness. 33knot on a 13m?... wtf.

do you send it for a jump at any stage? that would have been spectacular.

He was doing jumps on his Raceboard last weekend at Dolls Point in similar winds. Funny s**t!!

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nugs said...

He was doing jumps on his Raceboard last weekend at Dolls Point in similar winds. Funny s**t!!

That was on a 10m c4 in slightly less wind . I wish I could call them jumps... I would call it learning about my boards capabilities.

@Plummet
Occasionally during the tack bringing the kite to 12 lead to some nice lifts if a gust hit at the wrong time, but generally ok due to the "super high aspectness" of the kite, which leads to super high depower.

A bit of advice after kiting personally for 13 years + - Living in WA where we get real 30knots+ a lot every summer for 5 months -

Be careful you will get people KILLED telling them they can ride new 13m kites in these strong winds - even WORSE gusty winter frontal winds.... these high aspect kites are super easy to ride - but on the front of a big gust an inexperienced kiter can LOFTED into oblivion...

Race boards can handle extreme high winds on big kites as they point high into wind and then handle rippping almost straight down wind - the transition between the top high mark to go down wind is where you will get slaughtered and lofted on race board if you are not careful if way over powered - I can easily ride my 17m in up to 20knots while others are fully powered on twin tips on 13/12m kites.

JohnnoKeys

yeh good balance to the argument Johno'...newbies, be aware, this guy obviously knows hos Sh1t, and you don't.

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JohnnoKeys said...

A bit of advice after kiting personally for 13 years + - Living in WA where we get real 30knots+ a lot every summer for 5 months -


JohnnoKeys

yeah cause 30 knots in wa is way stronger tham 30 knots eleswhere aye johnno

I do agree with your other comments though

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JohnnoKeys said...

A bit of advice after kiting personally for 13 years + - Living in WA where we get real 30knots+ a lot every summer for 5 months -

Be careful you will get people KILLED telling them they can ride new 13m kites in these strong winds - even WORSE gusty winter frontal winds.... these high aspect kites are super easy to ride - but on the front of a big gust an inexperienced kiter can LOFTED into oblivion...

Race boards can handle extreme high winds on big kites as they point high into wind and then handle rippping almost straight down wind - the transition between the top high mark to go down wind is where you will get slaughtered and lofted on race board if you are not careful if way over powered - I can easily ride my 17m in up to 20knots while others are fully powered on twin tips on 13/12m kites.

JohnnoKeys

Johnno I completely agree with what you are saying, thankyou for your input.

I would also like to clarify that I am not reccomending this kite to be ridden in strong wind, in fact I am yet to test the low end and I expect it to be very good. I am purely providing a recount and a review of my experiences with this kite with my skill level and the given conditions.

Hey just a comment for kiters who may be new to sport and thought 30 knots on a 13m may be funnnnnnnnn

See ya in Melbourne Jordan.

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jordangirdis said...

Rider: Advanced
Style: Racing
Weather: 19-33knots
Build Quality: 10/10
Satisfaction: 10/10
Disclosure: Kitepower/Ozone Team Rider (and 75kg, 2012 Cabrinha 183 Raceboard)

And this kids is how you fill out a template

yeah the only time i'm going to be riding my 13m edge (2010 model) is when the wind builds stupidly during the session. Quite frankley that size kite in that wind range is very dangerous no matter who you are. 30 knots i'm either on 8m cat or 6m reo.

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JohnnoKeys said...

A bit of advice after kiting personally for 13 years + - Living in WA where we get real 30knots+ a lot every summer for 5 months -

Be careful you will get people KILLED telling them they can ride new 13m kites in these strong winds - even WORSE gusty winter frontal winds.... these high aspect kites are super easy to ride - but on the front of a big gust an inexperienced kiter can LOFTED into oblivion...

Race boards can handle extreme high winds on big kites as they point high into wind and then handle rippping almost straight down wind - the transition between the top high mark to go down wind is where you will get slaughtered and lofted on race board if you are not careful if way over powered - I can easily ride my 17m in up to 20knots while others are fully powered on twin tips on 13/12m kites.

JohnnoKeys

very true Johnno. You have to be careful riding these super overpowered, lots of pull to your harness ;)

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bennie said...

JohnnoKeys said...

A bit of advice after kiting personally for 13 years + - Living in WA where we get real 30knots+ a lot every summer for 5 months -


JohnnoKeys

yeah cause 30 knots in wa is way stronger tham 30 knots eleswhere aye johnno

I do agree with your other comments though

Just quietly FYI 30 knots is not always the same 30 knots. I believe it has something to do with air temperature and air density. So 30 knots in warm tropical air will have less kick in your kite than 30 knots of cold arctic air.

I have never read any rock solid info on this but it is something that i have come across a few times. If anyone has a solid explanation i would love to hear it.


So yeah 30 knots in WA CAN be way stronger than 30 knots in other places.

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Damo said...

bennie said...

JohnnoKeys said...

A bit of advice after kiting personally for 13 years + - Living in WA where we get real 30knots+ a lot every summer for 5 months -


JohnnoKeys

yeah cause 30 knots in wa is way stronger tham 30 knots eleswhere aye johnno

I do agree with your other comments though

Just quietly FYI 30 knots is not always the same 30 knots. I believe it has something to do with air temperature and air density. So 30 knots in warm tropical air will have less kick in your kite than 30 knots of cold arctic air.

I have never read any rock solid info on this but it is something that i have come across a few times. If anyone has a solid explanation i would love to hear it.


So yeah 30 knots in WA CAN be way stronger than 30 knots in other places.

Maybe next time I write a review I will include the temperature. So for the record it was about 16 degrees!

Woh johhny 16 degrees, way too much punch, too dense, what were you thinking...lol! Hey i'd rather know what it can do if you are an experienced rider. I think we have established Johnno is this and newbies and intermediates don't take this out in 30 knots, end of story. Good review.

No one is suggesting that air temp needs to be included in reviews.

I only made that last post as a lot of people are completely unaware of this affect and as all of the Perth kite racers found out in Townsville this year at the nationals it does make a big difference. We saw people there struggling to keep their kites in the air in wind speeds that we would be comfortable riding in here in Perth.

Here is some info i found for anyone that might be interested:

Air density also decreases with temperature. Warm air is less dense than cold air because there are fewer air molecules in a given volume of warm air than in the same volume of cooler air. As a result, on a hot day, an airplane will require more runway to take off, will have a poor rate of climb and a faster approach and will experience a longer landing roll.

In combination, high and hot, a situation exists that can well be disastrous for an unsuspecting, or more accurately, an uninformed pilot. The combination of high temperature and high elevation produces a situation that aerodynamically reduces drastically the performance of the airplane. The horsepower out-put of the engines decrease because its fuel-air mixture is reduced. The propeller develops less thrust because the blades, as airfoils, are less efficient in the thin air. The wings develop less lift because the thin air exerts less force on the airfoils. As a result, the take-off distance is substantially increased, climb performance is substantially reduced and may, in extreme situations, be non-existent.

I was out that day on my 9m C4 and I was overpowered! This was from 10am to 12pm and it was a punchy 30-35kts.
I did see Jordon head out on the 13m just before I left.
He is a good kiter but I couldn't believe it when I saw him head out with a race board! For the brief time I watched, you were flying the kite pretty high. Figured you went out for a bit of a laugh.
Would be good to see how this kite goes in lighter winds. I'm considering one to add on to my 9 & 12m C4s. I have a 15m Sport, but in light winds (under 14kts) I can't hold my ground.

A bit more info - just to keep Jordans thread & excellent review alive and kicking -

In 2009 I was kiting at Scabrough beach in winter WA 30+ knots, and I reckon 18 degrees C, LOL. I had done this hundreds of times before over previous 8 years in straight West onshore winds - 2m waves - on a surfboard & 9m kite and got lofted on front of a gust just as I jumped over a wave 3-4 m from the beach - as I got lofted 10m in air a line on my kite bridle snapped( I was trying out a brand new kite new out of bag - never been flown before - I will never do that again ) as bridle snapped the kite went into crazy loops and I got smashed into top of beach from 10m up in air at full kite loop speed taking full impact on right shouder up side down ( by the way I'm 98kg, lucky I spun head out of way as I hit beach or a broken neck would have been result. I got lofted 2 more times on beach until one of my mates ran up beach and dived on kite 50m up beach. Yes I did shed a tear or 2 and yellped like a baby for 45minutes on beach until ambulance arrived. I totally destroyed my right shoulder - my shoulder joint ended up in my chest below my neck & ripped every tendon & muscle off the bone, 10 pins in shoulder & 2 years of super painful rehab & 3 operations later I'm back on water 100% - Luckly I only lost 50% of useage of movement in that shoulder as I had major nerve damage to shoulder muscles.

Hence my post to the young and super keen, or old and stupid - be careful in high winds - gear failure - other kiters - brain fade can get ya. The latest kites are super safe and depower amazinly as Jordon has stated, but 1 small mistake when 110% over powered can really FARK you over. And in my case it was my fault 100% so no one to blame just that dude looking at me in the bathroom mirror - Yes 16 degrees - thats pretty rad stuff.

P.S If you would like to check out my shoulder just ask anytime - but it may put you off your kiting or dinner for a few days ....

P.P.S I'm over 40 so LOL means - Lots of Love

JOhnnoKeys

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JohnnoKeys said...

A bit more info - just to keep Jordans thread & excellent review alive and kicking -

In 2009 I was kiting at Scabrough beach in winter WA 30+ knots, and I reckon 18 degrees C, LOL. I had done this hundreds of times before over previous 8 years in straight West onshore winds - 2m waves - on a surfboard & 9m kite and got lofted on front of a gust just as I jumped over a wave 3-4 m from the beach - as I got lofted 10m in air a line on my kite bridle snapped( I was trying out a brand new kite new out of bag - never been flown before - I will never do that again ) as bridle snapped the kite went into crazy loops and I got smashed into top of beach from 10m up in air at full kite loop speed taking full impact on right shouder up side down ( by the way I'm 98kg, lucky I spun head out of way as I hit beach or a broken neck would have been result. I got lofted 2 more times on beach until one of my mates ran up beach and dived on kite 50m up beach. Yes I did shed a tear or 2 and yellped like a baby for 45minutes on beach until ambulance arrived. I totally destroyed my right shoulder - my shoulder joint ended up in my chest below my neck & ripped every tendon & muscle off the bone, 10 pins in shoulder & 2 years of super painful rehab & 3 operations later I'm back on water 100% - Luckly I only lost 50% of useage of movement in that shoulder as I had major nerve damage to shoulder muscles.

Hence my post to young and super keen - be careful in high winds - gear failure - other kiters - brain fade can get ya. The latest kites are super safe and depower amazinly as Jordon has stated but 1 small mistake when 110% over powered can really FARK you over. And in my case it was my fault 100% so no one to blame just that dude looking at me in the bathroom mirror - Yes 16 degrees - thats pretty rad stuff.

P.S If you would like to check out my shoulder just ask anytime - but it may put you off your kiting or dinner for a few days ....

P.P.S I'm over 40 so LOL means - Lots of Love

JOhnnoKeys

Sounds like a pretty gnarly crash and a real eye opener. Good to see you are ripping again.

@Nuking, It did take me a while to build confidence to get the kite lower! Also consider the 15 and 17 Edge, see the other review for the 17m, that's a special kite :)

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Damo said...

bennie said...

JohnnoKeys said...

A bit of advice after kiting personally for 13 years + - Living in WA where we get real 30knots+ a lot every summer for 5 months -


JohnnoKeys

yeah cause 30 knots in wa is way stronger tham 30 knots eleswhere aye johnno

I do agree with your other comments though

Just quietly FYI 30 knots is not always the same 30 knots. I believe it has something to do with air temperature and air density. So 30 knots in warm tropical air will have less kick in your kite than 30 knots of cold arctic air.

I have never read any rock solid info on this but it is something that i have come across a few times. If anyone has a solid explanation i would love to hear it.


So yeah 30 knots in WA CAN be way stronger than 30 knots in other places.

There is so much misinformation around wind speed, wind speed is measured as the velocity of the air as measured by an instrument made for that purpose. The most common instrument is a vane driven anenometer, like a Kaindl or similar hand held propellor type anenometer. These instruments are simple and quite accurate and measure independent of air density. This means that 30 knots measured by this instrument in Perth in winter at 16C is the same as 30 knots measured in summer in Sydney in 32C, or the South Pole at 0C!

30 Knots somewhere = 30 knots anywhere, lets stop the nonsense once and for all!

There are many articles on the internet about this, here is one that will help en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_%28physics%29
There are many other sources of information about this subject.

Dude that injury sounds farqin awful, sh1t man! Good to hear ya back on the water!

I am more than happy to be proven wrong on this Steve but there is nothing in your link that i can see that is even relevant let alone backs up your argument that i am talking "nonsense"

I'm not saying that 30knots in the tropics is moving SLOWER than 30 knots in the arctic. What i am saying is that the amount of power that your kite can generate in 30 knots in the tropics is less than the amount of power your kite will generate in 30 knots in the arctic.

I'm not pretending to know everything on the subject so if someone can find something more relevant than some over complicated intellectual ramblings on wikipedia I'm happy to be corrected as this is something that has interested me for awhile now and as Steve says there is so much misinformation out there.

Here is another wikipedia link that i found to be more relevant en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Density_altitude

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JohnnoKeys said...

A bit more info - just to keep Jordans thread & excellent review alive and kicking -

In 2009 I was kiting at Scabrough beach in winter WA 30+ knots, and I reckon 18 degrees C, LOL. I had done this hundreds of times before over previous 8 years in straight West onshore winds - 2m waves - on a surfboard & 9m kite and got lofted on front of a gust just as I jumped over a wave 3-4 m from the beach - as I got lofted 10m in air a line on my kite bridle snapped( I was trying out a brand new kite new out of bag - never been flown before - I will never do that again ) as bridle snapped the kite went into crazy loops and I got smashed into top of beach from 10m up in air at full kite loop speed taking full impact on right shouder up side down ( by the way I'm 98kg, lucky I spun head out of way as I hit beach or a broken neck would have been result. I got lofted 2 more times on beach until one of my mates ran up beach and dived on kite 50m up beach. Yes I did shed a tear or 2 and yellped like a baby for 45minutes on beach until ambulance arrived. I totally destroyed my right shoulder - my shoulder joint ended up in my chest below my neck & ripped every tendon & muscle off the bone, 10 pins in shoulder & 2 years of super painful rehab & 3 operations later I'm back on water 100% - Luckly I only lost 50% of useage of movement in that shoulder as I had major nerve damage to shoulder muscles.

Hence my post to the young and super keen, or old and stupid - be careful in high winds - gear failure - other kiters - brain fade can get ya. The latest kites are super safe and depower amazinly as Jordon has stated, but 1 small mistake when 110% over powered can really FARK you over. And in my case it was my fault 100% so no one to blame just that dude looking at me in the bathroom mirror - Yes 16 degrees - thats pretty rad stuff.

P.S If you would like to check out my shoulder just ask anytime - but it may put you off your kiting or dinner for a few days ....

P.P.S I'm over 40 so LOL means - Lots of Love

JOhnnoKeys

Good to hear you have recovered. Thanks for sharing your experience. Reading your account, your accident, re-affirms my belief that things can go 'pear shape' for even the best of us. Experience is not immune to the vagaries of the weather, mother nature, or time and chance.

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Kitepower Australia said...

Damo said...

bennie said...

JohnnoKeys said...

A bit of advice after kiting personally for 13 years + - Living in WA where we get real 30knots+ a lot every summer for 5 months -


JohnnoKeys

yeah cause 30 knots in wa is way stronger tham 30 knots eleswhere aye johnno

I do agree with your other comments though

Just quietly FYI 30 knots is not always the same 30 knots. I believe it has something to do with air temperature and air density. So 30 knots in warm tropical air will have less kick in your kite than 30 knots of cold arctic air.

I have never read any rock solid info on this but it is something that i have come across a few times. If anyone has a solid explanation i would love to hear it.


So yeah 30 knots in WA CAN be way stronger than 30 knots in other places.

There is so much misinformation around wind speed, wind speed is measured as the velocity of the air as measured by an instrument made for that purpose. The most common instrument is a vane driven anenometer, like a Kaindl or similar hand held propellor type anenometer. These instruments are simple and quite accurate and measure independent of air density. This means that 30 knots measured by this instrument in Perth in winter at 16C is the same as 30 knots measured in summer in Sydney in 32C, or the South Pole at 0C!

30 Knots somewhere = 30 knots anywhere, lets stop the nonsense once and for all!

There are many articles on the internet about this, here is one that will help en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_%28physics%29
There are many other sources of information about this subject.

i would like to add that , engines also run better in the cold due to denser air .
i believe cold wind is stronger . it is air pressure psi not speed . imho

Always great sense & knowledge Damo .... fastest racing for 2012/ 2013 dude ....

although both at the same speed a cold wind has more punch than a warm wind due to its density, bksa constantly warn riders about this during the winter season in the uk, although youd think that warm thermal wind would be stronger

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cauncy said...

although both at the same speed a cold wind has more punch than a warm wind due to its density, bksa constantly warn riders about this during the winter season in the uk, although youd think that warm thermal wind would be stronger

Right

Warm air is less dense, this is pure physics. Same speed, same fill, cold wind will be more dense hence give you more push. Find this even if I kite down esperance way as opposed to say lancelin or exmouth and that is only a slight difference.

Colder winds equals more pressure, our rather denser air..

you notice the effect because the difference of pressure on one side of the kite to the other is greater

Okay get a balloon, pump it up to a certain volume outside in the cold..assume it a sphere (it isn't), then go inside with the fire cranked up and see what happens to the balloon...if you must have evidence.