Go to get mine today.....Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee its blue.
Thats all i know for now..

Will there be wind to play today is the big question

can you tell dave.... that they are so much better than the old 07's so i can buy it from him . o.k 07's are still good

imagine if after receiving it there was no wind for six weeks to fly it in...

you would want to slit ya wrists or at least someone else's .

what size you get mr relly?

are they on the market (what happened to the pre market hype everyone loves) or your more special than I though you to be and scored it from something like active industries?

anyhow looking forward to a review.

I got a 12, just need to create some time to go to the shop.

No kiting today i dont think....its rain rain rain and my luck is new gear....no wind.
...And Yes Mr Cwamit, i am special, my mum told me so.

Just been to my shop and picked her up.
Cant pump her tho as house is too small and its persisting outside.

Kite in general looks very similar to 07 but the leading edge is a lot more "rounded" and graphics are different.
There is also a bungee style pigtail attached to the back lines that run along and meet the LE behind the front lines.
This apparently assists relaunch.

There are still the unbreakable breakable canopy batons and the sturdy end batons.

I will post more soon

My front room smells of new kite....

im really interested in what the new bar looks like? and cleat? could you possibly post photos?

thanks

New bars dont come out until August so havent got mine yet still on the 07 bar

For those who would like to make up their own mind about the Rebel 08, we have a brand new 12m on our demo shelf!
As mentioned in the post, the 08 bar hasn't arrived yet, so it's with the 07 bar for the time being (till mid august).
Come by to have a play with it!

Windy regards

windsurf N snow

mr relly what do you mean by more rounded leading edge...sounds more c shape than more flat..or you mean the leading edge looks fatter than its predecessor.. would be neat to fly the 07 and 08 12 meters side by side to "feel" the differences... better to compare for starters!

Mr Cwamit, Yeah i have both, but due to a mysterious swelling ankle syndrome i am house bound this weekend.
As soon as the wind mellows and my ankle is good i am out there will have a full review then of how the 12 07 compares to 12 08 to Eclipse Thruster....

I have finally got it reviewed, check out the review and heaps of photos of the new 2008 North Rebel

see: www.southcentralkiteboarders.com/rebel08.html
or go to www.southcentralkiteboarders.com and click on the link to 2008 Rebel Review

Dazza

neat review Dazza....looking forward already to trimming tips! Though sounds very much more plug n play than last seasons

Pretty much Dazza summed it up but have to add my input,be not that i have ridden Crossbows fro 2 years,so the comparison is not a rebel to a rebel.

The bar I used was a Rhino 07 bar as there are no new Rebel bars out yet

* Certinley miss the one pump or even a rhino 2pump would be nice

* I let the bar out to the last knot on the leader lines,as it was 23kts I had the depower fully cleated in.

* I tried 3 water relaunches with not much success,the kite sat as it would on the fifth but when you go to pull one back line it would not come around to the side fo the window as i would expect, I tried nearly everything. Having said that, if you crashed it while still hooked in you could pull a back line as you would with a bow relaunch and it came up very easily.

* I also contacted the wholesaler, because I had noticed the centre line(5th line) from the kite was short and yet on the bar the line lengths were even, I was used to the older Norths where you ran the front lines down as well as the 5th line it should make a 'D', which it didn't. They informed me that that is how they are designed and just fly it like that,which i did. The kite flew well but during my day on Sat I lengthend the 5th line by about 3 inches which I felt still kept its shape but seemed to give it a bit more grunt (my opinion).

* I feel on the upstroke on the lighter winds(say 18kts) was a little slow,but generally not too bad

* Hang time was no where near that of a crossbow,th boost (height) you get may be close

Anyway thats what I found but I'm not comparing apples to apples

Paul

Thanks for the comments paulio

Just some remarks as a Rebel Rider (by choice) which may help, or no? No criticism of your report bro just adding some Rebel time to the comments if that's ok?

I feel the line set up you had may not have been tuned correctly theory is that the new Rebel is slightly flatter than the 07 which means somewhere along the deisgn the bars and line lengths are possibly different. Certainly the 07 Rebels needed shorter steering lines which was easy to do by shortening the knots.

It also sounds like if you had the steering lines out and the depower cleat in you might have had the kite fully tilted forward, the better flying position is shorter steering lines and more power in the cleat (let it out) then the Rebel flies like a dream. there is so much depower in the Rebel that this set up is essentially all depower and no power, 23 knots on a Rebel 10 is light wind so give that conopy some wind.
Also the small effect of line length and tuning would mean a vast effect on hang

Understand the desire for quicker pump, however I have said it before and will say it again, you need 10 psi in the strutts and 6 - 7 in the LE, you just can't get that with one pump, strutts in the Rebel need more pressure, I am not saying other kites can't be designed with this and work, but the super flying characteristics of the Rebel are inherent in the tuning of pressure more in the stutts and less in the LE. I am very happy they did not go one pump. 2 pump maybe but the more parts the more problems.

The turning speed of the kite is radically changed with the pigtail choice, this was also the great thing about the 07 Rebel.

Can't compare the crossbow so won't, however in comparison to many other kites the boost and hangtime of the Rebel 07 was exceptional and perhaps more than one testing day?? I could not test the 08 boost on this initial report as I did not have enough wind, however in decent wind even the 7m 07 Rebel has good hang, so I will report on this once I get in into some power.

Poor Relative I will know about the tuning as soon as I get it into some stronger wind, it seems with an 07 bar one knot in on steering is all that is needed and worked well, I had plenty of depower to play with if the wind picked up.

Dazza

hey reli whats you opinion on the bungys for relaunch, and could they be retro fitted to the 07 kites.

not sure how these bungys would work, i guess they pull the tip round more enabling it to catch the wind.

Wouldnt fit to an 07...

up.

This post should be above all those lower forms of kites in the review section.

In fact this should be a sticky topic.

Leighton yeaterday. Head high swell, 17-20kn WWNW wind
Only kited for a short time and kited like a ***** cause my ankle is fkd again. Great

Kite feels very different to last year. There is more grunt, feels more responsive, relaunch is better/quicker, the boost is beefier.
When i get recovered i will give it a good work out.
First impressions though are positive, yet to unhook or land the kite on its back

mr relly ...more responsive? ...so is there same bar pressure or it's different from the 07? .... not that I would complain with more bar pressure. I figure there would be more though due to the flatter profile which I would have thought equated to more on off power also.

just got the new 08 rebel 14mtr same deal, waiting on the new bar & lines am looking forward to trying it out with 07 bar as soon as i get a good day. If you are in the NOOSA area come and have a go, but i get to go first.

There is slightly more bar pressure, however it is not problematic ie giving you kiters elbow. I thought the bar pressure on the 07 was nothing anyway.
I would describe the increase as from nothing to a little.

I want to see how it works unhooked and relaunching after being released to the 5th.

If interested I got to try the Rebel 08 out in some decent wind and some small surf on the weekend, got a few more photos and one really nice one of the kite profile.

This kite really is very nice to ride and it is where you want it to be. I really like this 10m size for my wieght of 68 kg the kite almost is all wind kite with large and small boards.

www.southcentralkiteboarders.com/rebel082.html

Dazza

hi guys used the 08 rebel in noosa mouth yesterday. I tried the 14 because i found the 14 07 a bit slow.IM happy to say the 08 rebel seems to be much better it sits in the window good but still moves well seems good up wind and plenty of grunt. Hopping to get out in the surf with it soon

Kitesurf Oz - sounds good I haven't got my mits on the 14m yet, tell us more about the session.

for those interested I have another update on the Rebel 08 - 10m

Daz

www.southcentralkiteboarders.com/rebel082.html

scroll down for the updates

Bungee Cord Explained

I finally totally sussed out the bungee cord. it is really this simple. when the kite lands in the water and the tension is off the lines the kite risks turning over or around so that the line end up where you don't want them. The bungee simple pulls the rear (steering) pigtail in towards the centre of the kite so that when you tension the lines they are in the best position to keep the lines where they should be and allow for better relaunch, easy

Dazza

Hi Dazza

Have since lent it out to a friend who rode the 12m rebel 07 last year and has now ordered his own 14mtr 08 which he should be getting with the new bar system in the next few weeks. He was blown away with it too. Still waiting on good win & new bar to really give a good run. You guys must be flogging all the good wind down south.

12m again at leighton.
nothing more to add except its a shweet ride

Will the 10 keep me going in Perth Seabreezes?

Depends on how fat you are....whats your weight>?

saw a rebel at leighton today. the rider made it look very ordinary. In fact he made it look quite homosexual. and then the guy showed me his bare ass, it looked firm!

Wanna see some more??