Testing the last tube prototype

Living in the Southern hemisphere and with a super flexible job, I look forward every year to a a trip to the north during our winter. A good excuse to break up the lethargy of hibernation and catch up with the swallows.

Work allowing, I get to spend time in places with wind near the beach and catch up with a lot of friends.

With a whole lot of exciting new Peter Lynn products to be launched, I dedicated some time to testing some of these on my travels.

My first stop was in Holland where after attending the Kiteboarding Open, I went down to the beach for a day and tested a variety of new prototypes.

With a nice breeze, I was able to test a few of the kites in different stages of development, and on first impact had a great smile on my face… There were 3 different inflatable kites with very different characteristics. The C model in the pipeline was still needing some work, but felt very exciting to me. (Being used to the C shaped charger). The other kites (high aspect ratio and low aspect ratio) felt comfortable and easy to use and closer to the finished product. I mostly rode the 9m size of all models. Both had Great depower and stability. On that day I also got to try the Charger 2 12m, the latest twinskin prototype, which seems to be heading to an even more stable platform with it’s great turning ability.

Of course, in one day in a spot that is not familiar, it is difficult to really pass judgement on kites, but there wasn’t one kite that totally disappointed. Of course each model had it’s obvious particularities… I was looking forward to the following month with the higher aspect ratio SLE with me to test and getting my teeth sunk into these new toys. And so i went of with the tube in tow.

My next session was in Sardegna (see other post) with a 7m tue in extremely gusty conditions dealing with 20 to 40 knots on a 7m. Unfortunatly I was with a new bar set up with 20 m lines, and it was difficult to get the ultimate trim settings in such conditions. However even if the bar set up was not ideal, the kite handled everything the gusty westerly wind threw at it. The depower was very effective, and the kite was stable in the air even totally depowered. I did throw a couple of kite loops, and noticed that the kite had nicer pull through the loop than the other 9m SLE I had tried in Holland. but I guess any kite would pull in those conditions! Of course loops feel different from the super looping charger. But that was to be expected from a different kite shape.

The next Session was with the 9m tube where I was on flat water. even though the tube is not a pure freestyle kite, I was still able to throw some freestyle moves and found the kite nice and easy to handle in unhooked mode. No sign of back tall and nice pop. During that session I also changed the line lengths adding 3m extensions and was amazed at the difference it made. The kite became slightly less responsive but with much more hangtime, more power. It will be a matter of taste of how you want to set up your kite. The extra 3 meters gave the kite a much better glide and therefore more float. It did a lose a little on directness, as expected, but definitely gained more power.

The next few sessions I had, I messed around with various settings on the back line attachments giving the kite a softer or harder bar pressure, I found the 11 m to be going with around 11 knots (and a large board), The kites really seem to have a nice comfortable usable wind range. Back on the mainland in Italy I got to ride the 11m mostly and found it to be nice for the low wind conditions I came across. (I weigh 70kg and had 2 boards with me a 134 X 40 and a 128 X 39) .

Back in Rome, on a particular low wind session (somewhere between 10 and 13 knots), I found myself to be the only one successfully staying upwind and throwing some tricks whilst everyone else out there was doing the walk of shame. There were kites from 10 to 14 m and some of them on directionals. I was really surprised. The 11m really seems to have some serious low end pull!

Overall, I noticed really good upwind performance and really think the kite will be one to watch in races, however, it doesn’t turn like a high aspect ratio, it’s turning radius and speed is surprisingly good and the relaunch really easy which would make it very accessible to the “everyday” kiter. I cannot wait to test the 7 in waves as I suspect it may be adequate for that too.

My overall impression of the kite is one of easy usage, good performance overall in all aspects.

One thing is for sure, these new nearly production ready proto type kites have definitely put a smile on my dial!

Ced