Currently I ride a Rebel 11m and SS RPM 8m. I have never flown a C-kite, but enjoy the grunt of the Rebel and speed of RPM and now want more. I seek a Melbourne Bay flat-water specific 11m kite and thought I would stick with my current brands. Without bias, what can you experienced C's suggest ?

I do want to hit the water during gusty winters and like wind range in a kite;
I am often required to self launch/ land;
I really want high pop, plus more looping and unhooking.
I can accommodate depower position (above/ below bar) and number of lines, but:

first question, should I progress to a C kite at all ?
thanks for any help

Yes you should.
I have not tried the Fuel. But I have tried the Torch and find the bar pressure to high for my elbows over time - and the Fuel should have more. Bar pressure on vegas is more like you're used to.
The Vegas is sweet, but as I have not tried the Fuel, my only input is that you really need to test if the bar pressure is for you.....

Thanks Steen. I am now also thinking about the Ozone C4. M

out of those 3 the C4 wins hands down.

its got the predictable consistant grunt of a C kite, is well behaved unhooked, stable as all hell and super smooth with real nice consistant depower.

If you want to broaden your search though i would definitely not look past the LF Hifi comp, LF kites were weak and crappy way back in the day but since 08 they have really stepped their game up and this years hifi is frikking amazing.

I ride for / work for two shops that stock every one of the kites you asked about apart from the fuels.

if you were to ask about vegas and fuel i would of told you fuel straight out is the best kite for solid loops and unhooking as well as massive pop.

after throwing in the C4 i would say go the C4 because it has that same big pop and loop ability but is smoother.

and then with my suggestion of the Hifi, it is quite versatile, if you set the front lines on the furthest forward setting it loops like crazy, then you can tone it down slightly by moving the lines back a little if it is to gnarly then on the 'wakestyle' settings its got a nice smooth loop.
it unhooks and pops massive and on the front settings on 'freestyle' it gives more than adequate slack to pass the bar or land blind etc.


to be honest its a hard choice between the c4 and the hifi comp, but for me i sacrifice that smoothness of the C4 for the balls and grunt of the hifi.

I tried the C4 9m, but was to underpowered to really tell. But it did fell very C.
With regards to Hifi Comp. Guess I goota try it again. Really didn't do it for me, and I know others that also feel it is over-hyped.
But a lot of people rave about them.

I did ride the Hadlow Pro 11m for 3-4 hours the other day. Very nice kite, but don't expect much depower

I used to ride '05 Slingy Fuels but have swapped over to an '09 Torch.
Depower throw is huge, useful range is good, both pop and grunt are ok/good on the '09/10 Torch but the '05 Fuel was better... BUT in anything other than perfect conditions the Torch wins hands down.

I ended up selling my 11m '05 Fuel after buying the '09 Torch 12m as i found the Torch far easier to get a good session out of. When the wind was a perfect 17-18kn with minimal gusts then i'd without a doubt take the Fuel, but given we rarely get perfect conditions i'd end up taking the Torch out.

Hadlow Pro's are very different to Fuel, Vegas & Torch. Definitely need to demo one as i can only try and explain them by saying that they don't have a depower throw of sorts, so much as a turning speed adjuster. ;)

Vegas's are alright but not my thing. They're a similar feel to the Torch but with less depower. Can't comment on the more recent Fuel's as i haven't flown one since they swapped back to 4-line.

C4's... well i still haven't ridden one. They seem to split the crowd in that there's some people who think they're the best thing around, and then there's those that just say they're trying to be too many things to too many people. The best comment i've heard about them is that they're a great kite 'but they aint no hardcore C'. A fair few local riders have jumped ship to the C4's and absolutely love them... but they don't seem to be riding as well as they used to on their previous quivers. A very subjective observation, but that's how i see it.

... for me, everything gets compared to that '05 Fuel 11m. It's my yard stick on what makes an awesome kite.

Naish torch all day long! C-kite performance with enough depower that you could even teach on them.

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Steen2000 said...

I tried the C4 9m, but was to underpowered to really tell. But it did fell very C.
With regards to Hifi Comp. Guess I goota try it again. Really didn't do it for me, and I know others that also feel it is over-hyped.
But a lot of people rave about them.

I did ride the Hadlow Pro 11m for 3-4 hours the other day. Very nice kite, but don't expect much depower

yer depending on what size you were riding, the 5th line came out a tiny bit too tight which was a let down, once that is slacked off by half an inch or so it transforms the kite... you also need to pull a touch of depower in so that the poky thingy isnt standing up like a red rocket.

also those front line connectors make a huge difference.. but i do have to admit its not cool that i had to re tune the kite after it came out of the bag, would of hoped for them to be set perfectly out of the bag.

its all different strokes for different blokes though so the best is to go out and try them all, my top list i would suggest trying would be fuel, c4, hifi comp.

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koma said...



... for me, everything gets compared to that '05 Fuel 11m. It's my yard stick on what makes an awesome kite.

I agree and I kept two of them both 05's and both 11m......cannot part with them..... when the conditions are right ie: constant, they are awesome.

^^^^ oops I've just checked they are 07's

but still awesome

Thanks for everyones advice. Since starting this thread I have done my knee and am awaiting MRI results - either way I will not be on a kite for a while.
Final question on the Fuel. What are the improvements on the 2010 vs 2009, is it mainly bar design or also kite handling?

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morandi said...

Thanks for everyones advice. Since starting this thread I have done my knee and am awaiting MRI results - either way I will not be on a kite for a while.
Final question on the Fuel. What are the improvements on the 2010 vs 2009, is it mainly bar design or also kite handling?

kite sits deeper in wind window, much better bar, less kite flutter when depowerd and catches you quicker in kiteloops (on the bigger sizes)