quote:
Originally posted by Saffer
How much money you want to put on it Steve?
The comment was only meant in jest, I just found it strange that you would bet on the North, with such conviction. I have not seen you post that you have ridden both kites?
Its quite possible that some people will say the Rebble turns faster, but from watching Em ride down here and at Kurnell I would say the 12's will be close, but the Rebble seems to turn tighter, and seems to have less power in the turn. Its a completely different kite. Some will like it in waves, some will not, but I reckon most real wave riders will love the Revolver in surf.
Anyway, I have now ridden the Revolver 11M, and it is a sweet kite, probably the most well balanced and stable hybrid LEI I have flown.
It turns fast enough, to feel like I could put it anywhere I needed to if I was riding waves, the style of turn is a tight sweep turn - as in it turns on a point close to its tip.
I flew it in 1:1 A and 1:1 AB, yep this kite actually has 3 x 1:1 settings.!!
In 1:1 A, it is light on the bar with good rear line feel, there is only one pulley on the rear lines in this config, and none on the front, so the feel is very direct. I am sure the kite could be rigged without a pulley at all, by someone with reasonable rope skills!!
In 1:1 AB, it was easy to initiate some back stall, which might be a feature that some wave riders would like to have? It was only slightly lighter on the bar. I did not ride it in this mode for long enough though as the wind was dropping.
I rode towards the kite full tilt several times, and it just floats and drifts back downwind, when I tensioned the lines again it did not suddenly power back on. It was easy to modulate the power delivery just by sheeting the bar.
I was riding on flat water, in increasing light rain, wind was approx 16/17 knots on average, with some tide assist (not much) see here for wind readings.
www.bom.gov.au/products/IDN60901/IDN60901.94767.shtmlI was riding a 1.52x44 FLX, could ride anywhere I wanted to upind at very high angles.
I dropped the Revolver in the water in a lull and it was easy to relaunch from nose down in quite light winds. I did reach up and grab the overide and hold it then just pulled on one rear leader, kite went to the edge and lifted off easily, even though it was raining and the kite was wet and heavy.
The kite has very good lift, but not an aggressive feel like some other high lift kites (SS REV and Best Waroo 08), so its great for upwind and jumping too.
I also tested the 08 Best Waroo, back to back with the Revolver, wind dropped off so I packed it in as all my other gear was getting saturated (I had intended to test the Naish Alliance 12M and the 10 Flysurfer Speed2 as well).
Cya and
Goodwinds
Steve