All the talk here is mainly about crossbow, fair enough I suppose as the kiteshops are pushing them and the marketing is unprecedented in kiting history with all the hype. As a seasoned kiter and techo I understand that anything newly released on the market claiming to be revolutionary will contain many flaws that will be improved over time and by competitors. The one criticism im hearing is the shape of the flat kites can be compromised after a short period from stretching and therefore not fly as well, the same as a brand new surfboard, it will never go as fast as it did when it was brand new no matter how much sanding you do!

I have checked out Best's site and they claim the hellfish is the best kite ever with new Cuben Fibre technology super light weight, as they operate on a different business model than traditional surf shops they will not get the coverage the mainstream brands get, i.e Cabrinha, slingshot , Naish and North etc. So therefore my question is has anyone tried all 3 to compare? Or got a totally unbiased opinion? I have 3 2005 slingshots and love them, plus an 04 cabrinha 9m, i have never ridden a best before so I dont care if the consensus is they are no good.

cheers bowski

Bowski,
tried / owned all three. bought a hellfish - it was crapola - sent ot back - wouldnt fly. they honoured the buy back but i havent seen the "$100 extra even if the dog chewed it"
tried the crossbow 12m - about 4 hours in total - excellent!! bought a 12m and a 16m
kites now for sale - 17m cabrinah co2 12m cabrinah nitro 2nd favourite and my favourite 15m slingshot.
Crossbow has depower to 10% - safe as.

seeya Wazzee - central coast nsw

I notice Full Tilt are marketing the Nova's in WA. But dont know if they have any yet or if they have flown them yet?

thanks guys, spent the last week researching all the independent reviews. I have a mate who runs an online kite/surf/skate company from Hawaii. He is pretty keen on the Nova, most the reviews on the 12m crossbow are claiming they are pretty sluggish, however the 9m is meant to be perfect (http://www.ikiteboarding.com/article_detail.aspx?id=163) There is a good review of the Nova on (www.kiteboardinguk.com/takoon_nova_review.htm), my mate is substituting the velcro with the ss stopper ball which eliminates the worry with the kite totally depowering while jumping and thus falling like a stone.

Anyway looks like we will all be a lot safer this summer at the very least.

Bowski

hey bowski
what do you mean an old surfboard won't go as fast as a new one
this is clearly ****e

Hey Dun-king

What exactly does ****e, I was never that good at hang man. What I mean by an old board never goes as fast as a new board is that no matter how many times you wet and dry sand your board you never quite get the feeling of what it was like when it was brand new, from weathering, wax, small unfixed little dings or so forth. I have a mate who is one of the top dogs at the Curl and he sands his boards almost down to the foam trying to get that feel back, but you might have your own system that makes them faster, if so let me know.

By the way, been kiting heaps in the last 2 weeks in vic, the winds have been good, top end (25 knots plus), I hear slingshot is bringing out a a kite to compete with the crossbow (octane high performance & the turbo diesal bow kite), I have all the specs if anyone is interested, the vibe here now that the hype has settled down is that wait until next year to see what happens with obvious improvements that need to be made, nothing ever lives up to the hype.

Cheers Bowski

bowski

is that mate of yours jeff chan in hawaii by any chance??

Hey MC

Correct, a very good guy to know.

Bowski

hay bowski old boards can rip and how much speed you loose from those little imperfections is not noticable so... but i suppose under lab conditions yes the board my slow down a bit but that is not effecting those big airs and driving cutbacks if you get my drift. Slater can do it on anything[}:)]

the 12m crossbow is sluggish you really need to ride one man cause that is just not right. They turn really tight like really tight and they are fast. That statement that they are sluggish is just plain wrong. Where did you get that from anyway? check it out for future reference. I am really interested in the nova.

Oh yea has there been that much hype on the croosbow? they just arrived and they rip. Truth will be realised when North, Nash, Airrush ect ect all bring out their bow kites. It should be interesting and great for all of us. Crossbow has a few kinks but i have tried riding a c kite scince yuuckk no going back for me

full tilt have the novas, giv em a buzz