Derek Rides

Hey Aren't you two jerks from Wales?

My many kiting buddies over here tell me the only good thing to come out of Wales...

Is the road to England.

Or is that too facetious? (That's how you spell it by the way - damn how bout that? A yank teaching a limey how to spell, how bad does that make you feel?

Sounds like your board might to small if your crashing all the time.

The key at this stage of your game, is as much time planing as possible to settle in, then to learn to twist the top half of your body, dig your back leg in and climb upwind.

Where you are right now, you dive the kite, it pulls you up and toward the board which is in a downwind direction which then depowers the kite, you sink back in.

So its concentrating on edging and planing sideways to the kite, keeping your ground upwind which helps keep the power on. A bit of a bigger board makes this easier in the early stages, it also by planing earlier brings more apparent wind, which adds to the power to keep you planing and so on..

Its fun learning though, we all did it and the rewards for each step are great, good luck with it.

Oh and while I'm at it

What are those silly tricycle things called that you ride.

Now you can't tell me they are cool.

Or is it a Paraplegic thing?

You guys never heard of kook proof connectors?

You should, most of your kites are fitted with them these days..

Anyhow not knowing what it means kind of confirms the reality..

Its a mild description of a fool who shouldn't really be kitesurfing.

Best Introduced loads of em back home sounds like they're also working their magic over here, well certainly in the North of the country, I don't see so many in the South.

Here's a question.

Are English people in the North more stupid than those in the South?

Or is it just a money thing?

I haven't heard yet, am waiting to find out myself and have also come to the same choice, Rev or Ion2 am waiting to try them, I also want to try the Gaastra Jekyll, heard some good stuff about it from a Guy I met over at Minnis Bay.

Lots of great kites, spoilt for choice this year, saw a guy absolutley nailing it on a 7m Rev today, i couldn't get out was working. They are in stores already.

Helmet? Depends on the weather and if there are kooks about. 20kts + definitely, I also wear a Dakine Matrix vest and before that had another impact vest, I like the new one because its light and i can still move around.

Haven't read about the Aussi guy, heard a story about the guy who hooked his safety through both the eye and one of the lines with a gate shackle that got killed when it failed to activate.

I'm working here in England, most folk are cool, just a high percentage of kooks on this board, I'm sure they're not all as stupid as they sound. Best are certainly working them here and we all know how bright Best riders are :-)

How do you like your atom? Its cool to find a flexi rider in this sea of Best affiliates.

A guy once told me very early on, Kitesurfing is like flying, always do your pre-flight and always be aware of the weather and watch for a change in it.

Solid advice.

hey,

 

but am wondering how I might prevent myself from becoming unstuck.

 

You come unstuck at the moment you least expect it.

It happens when you have just become totally confident, think you know it all.

There are a lot of candidates on this forum that will eventually come unstuck.

It can be from a sudden gust, a change in wind direction when you least expect it, a line snapped and a kiteloop as a result.

It can be someone else blundering into you.

Whatever, when it happens you have no time to react, you're already on the way to the first bounce. If you survive it conscious have rehearsed your exit routine and all the release mechanisms work you'll survive your first session unstuck. The key? Practise your get out clause before every ride..

Amazing limey black humour.. Laughing at accidents resulting in death.

The beach i came across that "we dont land anyone with best" is a small place between Brighton and Hayling island, Worthing or Lancing i think it was at.

My work takes me around a bit, never quite sure what the locations are called.

As to the abrasive and condescending bit, sorry if it came across that way, maybe I got a bit irritated reading wrong stuff said perhaps more to push one kite over another, it does happen a lot. Usually from one source, a shame really Best open the doors for lots of people who might otherwise not get to kite, but it has the unfortunate sid e effect of bringing along a sort of brand facism on forums like this when really if any brand fascination should be present here surely it should be toward Flexi who host and pay for this.

It seems really rude.

Anyone who cracks on about kites "inverting" really has no idea.

Any kite can be made to invert. Certainly the Best Waroo isn't less likely than say the North Rebel. I'm not a great fan of either, but if money were not an option then personally go with the Rebel, but check the bladders, they've had issues this year, but at least if anything goes wrong there are folk to fix them whereas stories I've heard on some beaches folk dont even land flyers using Best kites. I dont condone it, nor subscribe to it, kiters are kiters to be assisted, but it happens, there's a lot of bad vibes towards Best, its a fact of life maybe more so in the south than the north but I hear it often as I move around..

As to forum chatter about inverts, it just marks you as inept, sounds like more lessons or using old kites or not enough time spent pumping up.

Or sheeting out at the wrong time, flying over powered or stalling by oversheeting in light airs, all ways to invert any kite.

Think about it a kite is a foil like a sail what happens to a sail when you go to tack? It luffs, that's what induces a kite invert. Riders invert kites bad riders invert them more often than good, you just never hear of riders on the south coast cracking on about inverts like you do this forum..

Talk about putting a new young guy off and feeding bad information to what end I wonder? More Best propaganda?

but i was far too busy blowing up my 9 mtr demo slingshot rev,

I heard someone had blagged a demo Rev from Mark at Whitstable, I was due to try it 1st time there was wind, and its windy today.. Thanks http://community.flexifoil.com/images/icons/bawling.gifhttp://community.flexifoil.com/images/icons/bawling.gif

Lance said it was an 11 and the Slingshot guy loaned it to him supposedly his own kite, I haven't found any 11's on demo anywhere. Have you got a nine as well, or are you the wrong Colin (They told me someone called Colin who posts on the internet has got it..)

It is all hype, if you fly it, you'll find it doesn't really do anything better than existing kites, it just looks different. In fact some have said it's not as good, certainly not as powerfull, slow and skittish are all comments that will be tough to be denied.

I like it, but enough to buy it, not sure it also makes you stand out on the water and I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet.

Its bad enough being a really good looking male model - posing for a living, not sure I want to do it on the water..

P.S. still pluggin slingshot i see. if ur affiliated to someone its not a bad idea to be upfront - its usually pretty obvious in the end anyways.

Where exactly am I plugging Slingshot?

I offered three kite names.

From 3 different brands

All with good new kites.

Have you got a problem with Slingshot then?

As I see it they've got a good new kite out. But so have F1 and Gaastra, Gaastra is a brand with Dutch roots, if anything I might end up with a Gaastra and like I've said before on the Best thread.

I'm not here to plug anything, unlike you folk on affiliate programmes from Best.

Dont read your own wrong intentions into mine.

I was over in Holland at the weekend.

Apparently they tested the Helix against 8 other kites.

It came last!

What's that all about? I know its pretty gutless, but didn't think it was that bad.

Now this is just heresay from a mate, but I'd like to know who tested it which magazine, the Helix was one on my list for next season.

By the Sound of the Dutch test, the Bandit, Jekyll & Rev are all way better kites.

But it lead to here which has got a download or a you tube link.

Camber?

No I ride there sometimes.

In a southerly you need to be round the corner, join the crowds at Greatstone or get away from them at Litttlestone or Dymchurch St Marys (Pirates is good in a Southerly.

But from Milton Keynes it more like a 4 hour drive than 3 if the traffic sucks.

What about over Southend way, I dont know it, but that coast would be nearer.

11mtr 2007 maybe a better choice???

 

Dan

I was going to say the same, surely that's the question.. what wind can you take an 11 m 07 Fuel out in..

I'm lighter than you (155lbs) I think if it was blowing 25 kts when I set out I'd use a 9, but I know you can hang on to an 11, the guys round here do all the time and a lot of them go for 13-9 quivers..

Not a fair comparison SLE v C size wise..

How heavy are you.

How big a sea are you going to ride in? Waves or Flat?

How big is the board.

Did you learn on 2 or 4 line (Can you place the kite in the right place in the sky, can you edge to depower?)

The 07 Fuel is massively grunty if you wind it up, its high aspect so a shorter foil, but cut deep it really is a better riders kite to be steered clear of if you dont know what you're doing although it does have 5 line safety and depower so if its a "get back in" when you're caught out over 25 knots.

25 knots is a figure often bandied about in chat rooms by guys who'd fill their pants if they got caught in it with a 13 Fuel.

Derek: what did and didn't you like about the waroo ?

 

same question for anyone else reading

 

its a bit easy to say there good/bad without an explanation

Good

its cheap

Didn't like.

The bar, its cheap and i got rope wear real quick but then maybe i should have waxed it.

I didn't like the tip distortion in kiteloops.

It seemed to rock back and forth a lot and unless I pumped it up real hard (which then blew the bladder and ripped the leading edge)it jellyfished, I had it on loan a couple of months and gave it back last year when i was working in the Gorge, there were a lot being handed out to pretty much anyone who would take them.

Its good that they are available cheap, but what i hate are all their pimps, dozens of whom seem to be working this site, constantly overstating their worth, which to me certainly doesn't seem to help Flexi who fully fund it as i recall and l know their dealers dont like it much either, but like i said who really cares...

No they dont snap, they are mini Robichaud battens, it was North Battens that had problems they were mini plastic tubes that snapped if you looked at them harshly. The only issue I heard was the cloth wearing alongside the batten where it had dragged over the beach, this was in the Gorge, its pretty rocky and I was thinking this was a pre owned deal, its not I now see, so go ahead you'll love it.

I can help, have flown an Octane 12, at the time it felt smaller than kites that were around back then, it needs to be flown fast, and has loads of range, comparable with SLE depower.

It has battens that you need to be careful of when landing and launching I have heard stories of guys ripping the cloth near the battens on the wing tip.

Its a very stable easy kite, has lots of boost massive range of A of A, they came out wih some bull about hidden power or secret power of some such marketing hype, all it means is as a fast foil it develops power later in the curve, kind of like a high revving bike engine that only kicks in at 8000 RPM.

The other benefit you can ride lit in high winds and go up forever..

5 Line did they have a 5 line mod I forget, its new so I guess it'll be alright try the slingshot site they may have a manual you can download or check with the U.K. guys maybe they have something..

Guys that kept them swear by them and moan like crazy at SLingshot for dropping it, but the whole bow craze kicked in about the same time and they lost momentum I guess, anyhow its a good kite.

Laugh it up clowns

But without guys like Bush Snr

Y'all would be speaking German right now.

So there you go, you're welcome on this forum which I mistakenly thought was a forum of Flexi riders (a clue why I joined it) only to find its been hi-jacked by Best affiliates.

But its alright I can "rub along with them" as long as I dont speak badly about Best - is that it? Not I might ad that I've spoken badly about best, all I've done is point out the truth, they're o.k. kites and they're cheap, but there are other much better kites from other manufacturers including Flexi and in particular the Ion and Ion2 both of which knock a waroo into a cocked hat.

So anyway as far as the Best Zeolots are concerned its kinda nice to flush em all out in one thread.

Thanks for that.

Idiots

Hey do you see me telling you to buy anything?

Its exactly that that has me ******.

Best and its zealots screw up just about every forum on the planet, these things used to be about genuine questions and answers about kite stuff, I've owned and flown waroo's but they aint as good as all you Best teamriders pro's sponsored kooks say they are all the time, that's my beef.

What I ride? None of your business, I pay for it is all you need to know and it aint Best. Nor is it Gaasta, I just heard they were looking for riders I wont buy unless I try, I might buy a Helix or I might buy a Rev I might even check out the OR if you can get them over here, I'm stuck on your rainy little Island for some time yet, just take it that I'm one of loads of guys who think Best Evangelists are fools who neither know nor care about their fellow kiters as long as they can sell them something anything with a penis with wings on it.

Well that there will be a Waroo 08 goes without saying, and that there will also be loads of "affiliates" on a deal trying to convince the unwary to buy them, but as many affiliates as there may be, there are equal experienced kiters of a few year standing that know the truth, which is that there are dozens of better kites in the real world, even though in the virtual world of internet forums, best reign supreme even with the professional discourtesy of abusing other manufacturers forums like this.

I've flown them, they really are not that good and anyone who tells you different has a financial reason to do so imo. I can't believe the moderators of this forum allow it to happen. Anyway what do i care, I certainly wont be buying one, i heard from the mag guy that Gaastra are looking for riders to assist them re -enter the market, and the Jekyll isn't a bad kite, or so Steve from S2AS says (and he raves about the Gaastra vision kite board) so I'm going to see what deals are on offer there..

 

ROFPMPL.

 

So it's wrong to go around saying a kite's great and suggesting people should buy one... unless it's Steve from S2AS?

 

In other words, people who 'listen to talk and are influenced by it' are 'unwary', but if you listen to a guy say Gaastra want riders, and you can get a deal with them, then that's OK eh?

 

Get a life.

 

Transparent as water dude.

 

Go get a Gaastra, and I hope you're as stoked with it as every person flying Best kites this year.

 

Just leave the Best bashing for another day eh?

Hey twirly girly, I've got a life, no-one jerking my string..

I equally might not, but you..

I see you're nailed to Best.

Get your rack out for them do you?

Cute shots of your tush in a thong?

You're the one that needs to spot the exploitation.

I'm just a male model.