Luke from kiteaction lent me his 12m helix today at caloundra, wind was 8-15 knots, 63kg rider on 126cm twintip.
Overall i quite liked the kite, it certainly turns very well and didn't struggle as much as i thought it would in the very light conditions and lulls. For me, the best things about the kite are the turning speed and reactivity and the speed around the window.
I was very surprised at how good the bottom end was as well, there were just two of us out when the wind died right off, a young bloke on an ion2 12.5 and myself, i wasn't exactly powered up but was cruising and jumping fine.
For anyone who demos one of these, it is important to note that you can oversheet it quite easily in light wind, and it likes to be ridden fast. I fly sonics, and i reckon this kite is very similar to the sonics in almost every flying characteristic. It thrives on apparent wind and needs to be ridden at speed in marginal conditions.
You can choke the kite out and stall it with too much back line pressure in sub 15 knot conditions. In low winds, it is easier to depower the strap about 1/3 way to avoid oversheeting. For a newbie this might take a bit of getting used to but my sonics are exactly the same (probably worse actually) and this kite was a sinch to fly once you figure that out. I have no doubt that with any wind over 15 knots you could then power the kite back up fully and it wouldn't stall.
I parked the kite in the water a couple of times and it relaunched easy as, even in very light conditions. If you're having trouble getting it to turn up in 10 knots or less, try reverse launching (pull both back lines and fly it backwards) and it will get up without a problem.
The only thing i would change on the kite is the bar setup. I would ditch the trim strap and lengthen the centre line throw so that you could depower the kite even more to extend the wind range. This is also useful if the kite is trailing edge down, directly downwind and you want to pull in some centre line to jump it back into the sky. I would go to a cleat and pulley setup for the bar, like on the sonic. I think if you're using it in 1:1 mode (no pulleys) you will want more depower throw to drop the AOA right out of it in higher winds. With the pulley bar i reckon it would be just fine.
For jumping i think this kite has the potential to go BIG. It took me about half an hour to figure out how to get the most height out of it, what you have to do is imagine it's a C-kite. Sit it at 45 degrees, send it back hard (sheet out a little as you turn it back) and hold onto your edge as long as you can. Sheet it in as you feel the pull and re-direct it forwards pretty quickly for a second lift. Good float and hangtime, would love to try it in 20 knots.
Overall a pretty damn nice kite, very easy to fly and with surprisingly good bottom end. I think most people will like these kites, they seem to offer a lot to almost every style of rider (possibly too gnarly and crazy unhooked, but if you're riding unhooked you should be using a C kite)
Cheers to Luke for the demo, see you on the water guys!
