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dusta said...
So i took a 13m edge out for a demo yesterday on the river courtesy of westoz .

holy f$ck is all i will say .

Such an awesome kite i'll be replcing my quiver . Now to decide on 8m cat,11 and 15 edge

or 8cat 10m edge and 13edge .

Yeh had same reaction dusta! When I moved from foils to LEI back to foils and back to LEI's over the years, the one thing I missed was the apparent wind build up of the foils and how big and how long you could go. Didn't miss the rest though..., but comprimised this to go to the LEI's. Those who have never ridden foils for a length of time wouldnt understand what Im talking about.

The edge gives you that plus the advantages of LEI's. It was like, Finnally! After all those demos, stupid kite purchases...etc. Then I got depressed thinking about the time I wasted on other inferior wings. Damn!

heck move on eppo....anyhow how much you weigh mate? What board you using?

Me I'm a advocate for close kite sizes that cover 90 percent of your riding, done the spacing of kites thing for years and I reckon you just find yourself not in the sweet spot too often. Also your smaller kites sit in your shed gathering dust and depreciating...my 9m and 11m have been ridden probably 50/50 so far. If I had a 7m, would have been 90/10.

Anyhow if I was going to get the ultimate edge size taking in what I've learnt from the 11 and 9 and demoing the 13m extensively, the 10M would be such a sweet edge size...the best for free riding anyhow!

At the bottom end, I'd go a 14m Cat unless you just want to cruise and do speed runs or race. If you want to then you must get a more efficient board than a TT, otherwise you are wasting what the edge can do.

(for instance at 75kg) I can go upwind on a crazy fly skim in 10/11 knots on a 11m edge! On a 13...the mind boggles.

The 17m edge only had marginally more power the other day back to back with a 14m cat on a normal TT - even a big ass plank. Put in the race board or skim and the gap widdens considerably. Apparent wind.

Top end...8M cat for sure. 7m flies to fast from what I can gather in the edge design...but some just love this!

Dusta depends on what ya looking to do hey.

Then again the 9m is insane in 25 knots plus...and 11m is wicked awesome in the waves 15 to 20. I know that sounds weird but it is for my mutant style...not on a SB...forget the edge surfing on a SB, go the cat then and if ya serious the reo. 11m has that incredible glide, 9m doesnt have this but more than most other kites per say. But 9m wicked fun for looping, transitions etc..

10m on fast setting would just be ideal I reckon is ya gonna just get one for that 18 to 25 sweet wind range. oooooh 10m in 25 knots, wow!

95% of my time is spent on my sector and when i want to have a blat around the twinnie

so thats why i /jason suggested 11 /15m in the edge for more racing purposes and 8m cat for high wind days .

100kg / sector

Personally I find the cat a bit disappointing , if your a bigger bloke and like to really lean into your ride it is no where near as good as the edges, which simply just sit there allowing you to lock into your stance, the cats may allow this if your riding less aggressive or a lightweight but i have found they give in even in very solid winds.

Yep...that makes sense now. With a sector even at 100kg, wouldnt need a 17m really unless you want to get out in stupidly low winds, 11m a decent gap as those sectors can actually hold down a fair degree of wind (owned one for a while - V3), and yep on a TT in crazy winds 8M cat awesome....

at 100kg you could take that 11m on ya TT pretty high man...would be sweet.

yep you got it hey...anyhow I doubt jasons advice all the time, then I come back a couple months with my tail between my legs asking for the same thing he suggested a while back.

I wish sometimes he was more forceful...his kind of ...maybe this, maybe that! LOL



Yeh I thought that about the cats until I got on the 14m in stupidly light winds and watched jason scream upwind on nothing on a skim board...we both agreed it had as much or more power than the C4...until you unhook then the C4 kills it. I'm talking about 2013. The cat in high winds would be awesome and more controllable than a small edge...but when I do the dash up to dongara might ask nicely to have a go on cauncies 7m..plus he'll probbaly be on his 11m when I'm thinking 7, cause he's a mid westerner animal!

8m cat gives me big grins (82 pies). i have done the most insane and completely controlled boosts in 35 knots. heaps of fun. stupid gusts. who cares.

that is what the cat is for stupid conditions. sub 30 is ok but not mind blowing. wave riding is good tho. so its a nice boost and wave ride option 25-30.

Though i desparately want to hook into a 7m edge in 35-40 knots and see what sort of insane world record breaking top speed I could do on the landboard.

Mick, Steve and Eppo,

Thanks for all your input. I got out today to try the set-up and tuning you suggested. I spent three hours in 24 kt average wind on my 9 m 2013 Edge.
Altona, Apex Park end.

The kite has not had a lot of use. I'm only a lightweight 70 kg.
I checked the line lengths (ok as expected) and left them standard on the 2nd knot under the floats. I set to the lower bar pressure / minus setting on the wingtip tags.

From my observation it didn't seem to me that the steering lines needed any shortening so I didn't try it.
The amount of bar pressure reduction was undetectable and the looping didn't seem any different. If there is a difference it's to subtle for me.

Great session, fantastic kite but no different to standard settings.

24 knots for a 70kg guy you'd be pretty lit. Try it again in lighter winds, you'll definitely notice it loops and turns quicker. In those winds at your weight the kite would be developing a fair amount of apparent wind that would somewhat hide the change. Get it out in lighter winds then you'll also notice it in those kinds of wind.

Q lines
You can buy them from Kite power.
They make a very big difference to the feel of the kite, regardless of rider weight. Much more direct feel on the kite even for a light weight. But if you a bit heavier then they dont stretch like standard lines and require adjusting or tuning.

The kite turns faster and responds quicker. The difference is more noticable as you go up in size of kite.
You have to cut to length and tie yourself pm me if you want more info got to tie 2 knots on each end, bit of a job but not that hard. easy to make extensions aswell so you can easily set up fot different line lengths. Big kites on short lines in big winds......
....the tricky bit is getting the safety to operate as normal...( mine doesn"t but i perfer it that way. (Normally you would have a stopper ball about 1 leading edge length up one line to stop the bar going all the way to the kite.... mine only goes about 1m)) However i do have a standard set of lines for other people to try my gear on.
they are noisy ...they whistle, but its kinda like a rev counter when they start to whistle.... its boost time.
Hope this helps.

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eppo said...
24 knots for a 70kg guy you'd be pretty lit. Try it again in lighter winds, you'll definitely notice it loops and turns quicker. In those winds at your weight the kite would be developing a fair amount of apparent wind that would somewhat hide the change. Get it out in lighter winds then you'll also notice it in those kinds of wind.

Yes. 3/4 to full depower pulled. Well lit.
Have left both 9m and 11m set up on the minus tag.
No downside and potential upside in more suitable conditions

so going to bite the bullet and get the 8cat , 11 and 15 edge end of the month .

11 and 15 with race bar and 25m lines

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dusta said...
so going to bite the bullet and get the 8cat , 11 and 15 edge end of the month .

11 and 15 with race bar and 25m lines

Be sure you want the race bar, its definitely not a good idea if you plan on doing any jumping or tricks. That long depower lines has the potential to tangle, whip you in the eye, etc.

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Rob S said...

eppo said...
24 knots for a 70kg guy you'd be pretty lit. Try it again in lighter winds, you'll definitely notice it loops and turns quicker. In those winds at your weight the kite would be developing a fair amount of apparent wind that would somewhat hide the change. Get it out in lighter winds then you'll also notice it in those kinds of wind.

Yes. 3/4 to full depower pulled. Well lit.
Have left both 9m and 11m set up on the minus tag.
No downside and potential upside in more suitable conditions

Yeh rob you wouldnt notice any difference on any kite in the world if fully lit with 3/4 depower. Eventually you wont touch the depower, even in those conditions, just control speed, see ramp and touch the sky...bang!

Kites aren't designed to operate with this much depower, most other kites would just fly horrible with this...the edge not so bad, but still would be flying to fast to forward all the time.

The depower for me is just provides ever so slight adjustment to counter the gustiness of the winds and/or current and/or swell, but ultimately its full throttle, that's what a kite likes. If I need to depower more than this...time go harder or come in.

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Kitepower Australia said...

dusta said...
so going to bite the bullet and get the 8cat , 11 and 15 edge end of the month .

11 and 15 with race bar and 25m lines

Be sure you want the race bar, its definitely not a good idea if you plan on doing any jumping or tricks. That long depower lines has the potential to tangle, whip you in the eye, etc.

He's got a point...you did say you want some TT work on the Cat, not just on your sector all the time?

yer sorry cat i am getting a seperate bar , race bar for the 11 and 15 and sector . If i am on the cat then i'll be on the tt not sector .

ozone have released a 10m and a 19m edge .... now available in Australia
10m will be sick......cant wait to fly one of those in a decent wind .....woohoo
19m has been testing in 5knots with a race board......

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rusty7 said...
Hi Eppo
Rotata cuff slowed me down a bit mate.....
Q LInes are (and i copied the hype below) but bacically lines with zero stretch ....
i have been using them for the last 4 years and would never go back to standard lines...

Hype follows... from the kite power web site:....
New Q-PowerLine Pro represents the latest advancement in KiteSurfing line technology from Active People Sports. The latest generation of Q-PowerLine, Pro utilizes a new thinner, stronger Spectra fiber to further improve on the time-proven, superior features of Q-PowerLine.

Pro is now 30% thinner than standard Q-PowerLine for even lower drag, more resistant to stretch with stronger impact strength, a smoother “hand” makes it much more “kink” resistant, and it features a new surface treatment for a slipperier finish allowing more wraps without binding.

The new Pro version still features; 10 times the resistance to tangles, a tight Spectra overbraid to keep out damaging sand particles, a linear core for the lowest stretch possible, much longer life than braided lines, no requirement for sleeving, a round cross-section for lower drag than “thinner” flat braided lines, high-visibility safety coating, and 100% pure spectra construction for floatation.

Hey rusty so how long does a set of these made up lines last for? You anyhow

good question
my current set is 3 seasons old........
its worth undoing the knots and redoing them each season .

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rusty7 said...
good question
my current set is 3 seasons old........
its worth undoing the knots and redoing them each season .

Looking forward to the pictures...

heres how ya tie em
you need to buy a set of pigtails as well

Ta rusty. Hope that shoulder works itself out.

i thought when you bought kites there was supposed to be ****all wind. woohoo time to crack out the 11

Definitely go the q power - make sure it is the pro edition which is thinner and less noisy/tangles etc. I have two bars and same sets for the past 5 years now - absolutely awesome. Any other kite lines feel like rubber bands.
Riding the 11/13/17 edges myself and swapping out the 11 for the 10 next week.
Also selling the 17 as I have a light wind board now as well.
Also run 55cm bars on all kites and 24m line sets.
I also use my own custom depower setup with a cobra cleat to give full range of the kite between oversheeted and and can't turn it scenario. No need to worry about any knots or tuning etc - one knot any conditions.
Agree the kites are fantastic.
Prices are shocking and people are just taking advantage imo.

Kurtz let us know how the 10 goes compared to the 11 please.

Also any chance you could post a picture of your custom depower setup.

Cheers

Eppo