Review 12M Flexifoil Atom 08

[Steve]

KITE - 12M Flexifoil Atom 08

Wind - 18/20 knots - 20/26 knots, gusty, system, North Easterly

Location - Dolls Point at close to high tide, and Towra Pt due to run in tide at Dolls

Date 10/9/07

Board used - 1.32 x 39 Underground 2007 FLX

Rider weight - 75kgs

Experience - experienced

Duration of test - 2.5 hrs approx

Conclusion :- I put this first on this review this time, because thats what I have in my mind 24 hrs after riding the kite and enjoying it. I think this will be a good all round kite for the majority of riders. It relaunches quite easily, jumps high, and is extremely well made.

Bar and lines, 50cm bar, thin diamter with aggressive grip and soft ends with built in winders and line retainers, coloured red/black and blue/black. I like the bar feel, but it is an aggressive grip and will cause water blisters and sores for sure. But as Chopper would say harder the f--k up!

Lines are 20M + 5M extensions, 300kg, coloured, sewn sleeved ends. Line extensions will really help begginers and are excellent when a rider wants to kite in waves.

I rode the kite on 25M. Depower system is a pull/pull strap, with built in back up strap, safety is "mini fifth line", which depowers the kite by releasing all pressure on the rears by approx 2M, the mini 5th line attaches to the front line swivel (swivel works well).

Chicken loop release is a Euro standard push away system, which we added tape to to make the release take a bit more effort. The red release collar has slots on the sides that press on the sides of the release tongue creating a bit more friction, and we just use black electrical tape, so it is obviously taped.

The bar has no o'shits on either side so it is not easy to self land. It would be easy to modify the bar to accomodate them, but in my opinion its an oversight.

I tested the safety system, and the kite drops and depowers quickly, tending to hit the deck LE up or TE down, whichever way you look at it? There is some residual pull, but the kite does not take off. I think it would be possible to reconnect the chicken loop easily while holding the 5th line and then feed the 5th back out and relaunch hooked in. The relaunches we tried were hooked in and only required a pull on the centre lines and the kite quickly moved to the edge and relaunched.

In flight the kite is a medium to fast forward flight kite, and it tip turns well, really nice pivot to it actually. It has plenty of power in the turns and does a wider radius turn that the Slingy Rev 11M, but similar to the Naish Helix 12M. Due to quick and responsive turns it was easy to get good height jumps. Float or hangtime was not as extensive or extended like the Ozone Edge (amazing) or the Slingy Rev or SB3's, but still exciting to jump, and quite easy.

The depower on the kite is long, by that I mean it is a 1:1 kite with no pulleys on the rear lines and only 1 pulley in the bridle, so it has a very direct feel, which I really like. However all the 1:1 kites tend to take more distance, (move the bar further away from rider, sheet out) than the 2:1 kites like the CB3 and Contra, or Helix in 2:1 mode. The sheeting distance was not a problem for me in the winds I used the kite in although on several occasions when transitioning the bar was pulled to the trim strap as I swept the kite through the centre of the wind window. When I was hit by gusts it was easy to edge a bit harder and get depower by forcing the kite forward in the wind window. In general the kite sits back in the window a bit more than SB3/Rev/Helix, and it felt like it would be good for unhooked moves although I did not attempt any unhooked stuff. Another rider before me did and said it behaved well unhooked, only needing a bit of trim strap and then it was easy to unhook and had good power and crisp turning.

I don't think it would be an ideal wave riders kite, but it could still be used in waves.

Steering and bar pressure is light, the kite can be steered easily with one hand and it is easy to ride with one hand on the bar in the middle, toeside or heelside.

The sail has 3 battens, all removeable, spaced evenly along the trailing edge between the tip and the first strut. Kite packs up easily by folding in half, just like the Rev, and the bag has a gusset under the zipper which hold the bar, and prevents the kite canopy material from getting caught in the zipper.

[toeside]

new demo atom sitting on my kitchen bench reminding me each morning im closer to the weekend.

toeside