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Rider: 65, Intermediate foil - advanced surf
Style: Foil, Surf,
Weather: 8-18 knots
Build Quality: 8/10
Satisfaction: 10/10 (for foiling)
Disclosure: pay for my gear (usually get a decent discount as I tend to renew every year)

My experience in light wind:

I usually ride the all rounder kites from the same brand but found them not ideal in sub 13-14kn, inconsistent wind. Until I got this 12 m, my biggest size was a 10 Notus rev which can get me going on the hydrofoil from 10kn. It does the job however in the the lulls the kite would struggle to reach the top of the wind window and eventually stall. Only way to recover was to yank on the bar, loop it and hope it generates enough power to get back to the power zone. In those lighter conditions my 10m would be a pain to relaunch and most of the time I would swim back to shore....

I picked up the Notus Air 12m back in July during a trip to France as my light wind kite (the seabreeze there is usually between 12 and 18kn). It is a one strut design, arch shape (bit like a C) kite.

The kite was supplied with 8m extensions.


Out of the bag:

The bag is quite big so you could easily fit 2 kites in it. Canopy material is a good quality double rip stop from Teijin.
The high flow valve looks similar to the Ozone one.
Don't look for a bomb proof kite here, this one strut kite has very little dacron, it was built with lightness in mind.

Pumped up and sitting on the beach, the canopy flaps.... a lot. It makes sense since there is nothing to hold the kite's shape (i.e the space between the only central strut and wing tips is big).
I am kind of worried since we all now that leaving a flapping kite will wear out quicker.

This is the kind of kite that you don't leave inflated on the beach unless you put a ton of sand on it...

In the surf:

I had my first 6 sessions in 14-18kn cross onshore wind with 1 to 1,5m swell. I am definitely not used to ride big kites in the surf. In fact when I am WA, anything below 15kn would be a foil session.
I rigged my kite with 24m lines and headed out on a surfboard.

I was riding with a friend of similar level who was flying a Bandit of the same size. I could ride upwind better than him but my lighter kite was certainly not giving me extra power. We got hit a few times by stronger gust (20-22) where I had to trim the kite and noticed it was flapping a fair bit.

Turning speed is very good and the kite is very stable.

On one occasion I dropped it and a (very) small wave hit the kite. The canopy filled with water, preventing me from relaunching the kite. No way it would have happened with my 3 struts Notus rev or the bandit that my friend was riding.

At this stage no need to say I was not 100% convinced with my choice.


On the hydrofoil:

Since I came back to Perth I had about 8 sessions exclusively on my foil with wind between 8 and 15kn, usually averaging 12kn. These are the conditions I had in mind when I bought the kite.

In each instances, I rigged the kite with 28m lines.

What a revelation!!!

The kite is so light that its stability is amazing. Most of the time it would be the foil racers on their 15m or 17m foil kites and myself on this one strut 12m. I am not claiming I can keep up with them, far from that but I am having fun freeriding on my own.

Just to be clear, it does not have more power than a classic 12m like a Neo, Bandit, XR4 or others but the fact that it is so stable in (very) light wind plus the combination of longer lines, will give you that extra power to get up on your foil on the first power stroke (your window being bigger, the kite will travel longer). I am just using my factory Zeeko bar with the 8m extensions supplied with the kite but it would be interesting to fly it with the thinner/lighter race lines that member CBulota mentioned in post earlier this year.


Prior buying this kite I was very tempted to buy an Ozone Chrono 2 11m for the lighter days however I was a bit concerned it would be risky to take it in the surf at Coronation in sub 12kn with its slow turning speed.

It seems the one strut design (or the no struts like the BRMs) is the answer for the foilers who have no interest in racing.

I haven't tried any of the other one struts designs so I cannot compare but it would be interesting to see what is out there.

A "game changer" for freeride/surf foiling IMO. The team at Zeeko really got this Notus Air right.

Hi Livit,

Good review, thanks. Do you kite up at Pinnaroo with cbulota ? I'd love to see this kite in person - looks like a really interesting concept. I usually ride flysurfer foils at Pinnaroo with CB.

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jamesperth said..
Hi Livit,

Good review, thanks. Do you kite up at Pinnaroo with cbulota ? I'd love to see this kite in person - looks like a really interesting concept. I usually ride flysurfer foils at Pinnaroo with CB.

Hi James,

I usually stay south of the river. Melville, Leighton and woodies/coogee for foiling. PM me if you'd like to try/borrow the kite.

i will. I get down to Coogee reasonably often for the Perth Kite Racing meets, will chase you up for sure.