Has anyone ridden these kites? does the sheeting out mech work? are you pushing the bar away to far and losing position/edge, when trying to control the power? And can they be used for simple cruising, aswell or are they a purely wave only kite.


I hope someone can help with this ignorance

Padraic

i have riddenthe type wave and yes the sheeting out mech does work perfectly and no you donthave too push the bar away nearly as much as what you think so it is not a prob. it is a fantastic cruising kite if you like a nice light fast kite that will cranck up wind turn faster and depower like no other.

get one they rock

Padraic

First of all let me declare myself as an RRD sponsored rider.

I will however talk abouth the 'RRD wave' warts and all as I believe no one is naive neough to read the glowing reports you see in brochures, that would have you believe your kite does everything [including packing itself back in its bag and jumping in the back of the car at the end of a session].

The wave to my mind offers a real step forward in Kite design. The 5th line-depower loop-pulley is not just a little addition to a kite that would othrewise perform well enough, it is in fact intrinsic to the entire design. The whole shape of the kite is designed around that 5th line and bridle set-up.

The kite has the best advantages of a fat [low aspect ratio] kite; that is good powered, flowing turning [as against pivotal, depowered turning], good bottom-end power and good stability of foil shape in the air. Without the usual disadvantage [poor top end,poor depowerability, slower speed, poor upwind ability] because the 5th line stabilses and controls the front edge allowing more depower despite a very convex leading edge and very broad tips [which further helps turning].

Compared to my previous high aspect 4 line kites the RRD wave is incredibly responsive to turning with the only down side being a sense of the kite just looking for any excuse to turn with the slightest bar pressure. In the 8m the kite is so fast and turny its almost ridiculous and takes a litte getting used to. The 15 turns like a conventional 10m and this means that 12 kts is heaps of fun in the waves on a big twin-tip or surfboard shape, with the kite not tending to stall through the turns.

The full depower means that in onshore winnds you can depower the kite to drive the board back up onto the wave face for a vertical off the lip.

Conversely in cross-off you can depower to maintain control and not get sucked out the back or sent screaming out of control down the face in a straight-line.

On the downside..........

The pulley system does need a little getting used to because initially you will not be tuned to physically pushing the bar away to achieve full depower. Also full depower means just that and can make the kite feel jerky if the bar is overworked.

The pulley also increases friction a little over conventional chicken loop set ups and can feel stiff.

There are morelines to setup on the beach with more potential to get it wrong. The bridle can make self launching and self landing more difficult. [Although the 2006 model overcomes this by using a bridle that rides on the front line]. I dont think the zips contribute much as it seems too gutless when zipped out and they are being removed from the 2006 model I believe.

Overall i love mine and would not go back to 4 lines.

Had my 1st go on the 8m Wave yesterday in about 18-25 knots. The kite was unbelievable, a real adrenaline rush. Incredibly quick and a little startling at first but after a while lots of fun.
I love the massive almost total depower that made the gusty conditions very easy to handle.
The kite is made for surfing (obviously)- with it's speed and depowerability. There is almost no lag - you can put the kite anywhere in the window almost instantly, great for setting up bottom turn/re-entry combos.
While I don't think most wake stylers will get into these kites, those with a surfing background will love them.
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i had a go on the 8M at avalon, hloy **** what a kite! its faster than a squirill on acid! its like youy only have to think where you want the kite and its allready there asking where you want it to go next. it got me by surprise because i have never seen an inflatable kite move so fast. it even feels faster than my 2.5m stunt kite! the speed combined with the full depower and the anti 5th line wrap bridle makes the RRD wave type by far the sickest wave kite ever to hit the market.
it realy pisses me off seeing all this over hype on **** products lately in Australia and you dont hear anything on real ground breaking development in the sport like the type wave.

watch out for this years RRD range its sick!! and no gimmiky bull**** marketing

i agree with the no-gimmicks, but who wants a super fast kite?
u gotta think too much for that.

quote:

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but who wants a super fast kite?
u gotta think too much for that.

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ummm me! i want a super fast kite

Me too!

Put me down.

Just got back from a trip OS where I got to use the 06 10 & 12m and the 05 8m Type Wave. All unreal kites, the 10 is probably my favorite. The 06 kites have a number of slight changes and are much easier to re-launch.
Bring on summer!
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Hey ADS, good to have you back...your OS trip sounds like it was tough. I look forward to swapping kites soon...I'll let you play with mine if you let me play with yours.

Hey Nick
Did'nt think you were that way inclined... no worries haven't riden a flat kite yet,look forward to it. Looks like monday could be on at woodies West side. See you there!
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