Limited numbers; Location of the first demo Nobile kites

[elgordo]

To test the new Nobile kites at Ainsdale (should be here soon) you can contact me,details below:-
Chris
http://www.westcoastkiteboarding.co.uk
email - info@westcoastkiteboarding.co.uk
mobile- 07913017925

[Mike B]

went down the coast today to try the two 10's I have.

First picture is the weather on wednesday; no wind, freezing fog,

second pic is the weather today; 11 degrees and 40-50 knots cross off.

Tomorrow is the day... lol!

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[GORILLA]

U got some to demo at redcar tomorrow Mike ? U on the front or Paddies?

[Mike B]

absolutely,

will have the new vapor 2 10m, 10m nhp, 10m 666 and I believe Charlie is coming with the new ion3...

will be on the front, paddies is lame; might as well kite on the lake

Mike

[GORILLA]

Is it not off shore tomorrow ?? In a SW??

[Mike B]

Back from the beach after using the 7m 555 SLE.. was the only one out on a kite.

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Wind was 10-40kt (quite gusty ) temp around 11 degrees, water flat as a pancake, I weight 80kg.

Board was a 43 wide quad fin surfboard.

Thoughts;
I thought a bit on the way home about this kite, after a few runs in not ideal conditions there was not a lot I could say, which is actually quite a positive thing... yes the conditions were appalling - I was the only one to ride today, and the guy who went out after me did 5 runs and then sacked it.
The point is that for the first few runs I was concentrating on riding which is a good thing as the kite felt very much at home, straight out of the bag; that said this view is from my viewpoint so not all that relevant.

- Pretty stable above the head for such crappy conditions.

- Windrange was good (never hit the upper end even at 40k), kite did feel smaller than a Flow SLE or any of the really meaty SLE's.

- Turning was fast but very precise and linear, it had a very predictable and progressive feel.

- coped well with big gusts; most notably the this moved forwards in the window massively when a gust his, far more than any C kite, and if this doesn't spill the grunt a movement of the bar will... and the depower throw is tiny, yet not at all twitchy or high in bar pressure.

- kite felt very neutral under cruise.

- turns were very c kite like, even when I tried to make it pivot on it's axis it would not and kept a reasonable amount of power through the turn; and it was very quick when you want it to be.

- bar pressure was positive but not noticeable, very good for me personally.

- upwind was excellent,

- jumping ability, well this is a tricky one... hard to tell in such violently gusty winds, sometimes I would go up hard, but low and then drop like a stone, and occasionally I would go absolutely massive.... but it's too gusty to really tell with consistency.. certainly didn't disapoint, and once confidence grew you could redirect hard to halt any descent with ease.

Fot me the biggest plus was the way the kite never backflies or stalls... ever had it when you come into a lull, oversheet and then stop..? the 555 had really positive forward drive, which not only kept you going, but refused to stall, and I had the back lines as short as they could be and front line let right out...

Overall this kite is not an average 4 line pully kite, and I have tried nearly all of them. I got the feeling that it was a pretty special piece of kite; the sort of thing that numpties could get away with, but in all honesty it holds far more allure for the performance rider, they would notice the sharp handling, agility and top end possibilities of it.

It's not the sort of kite where you think, yeah, solid, safe and easy.. it is those things but the first thing that hits you is this thing has potential... looking forward to trying it in some more normal conditions; it is most definitely staying in the van.

for a 4 line pully kite (that I normally can't abide, bar a few select exceptions) it was very impressive, just hoping that the bigger ones will handle as well.

Having now committed to bring a lot of these into the country for the coming season I was nervous of how they would turn out. I'm a very happy lad after today; I'm certain they will do very well.

[ali]

no bad points then?

[ronnie]

The guy who did 5 runs and sacked it might have some? What does sacked it mean?
Anyway, I expect the kites will be good, but not geared to light winds.
Mike, you were going to tell me how the flagging works?

[Mike B]

The guy who did 5 runs and sacked it might have some? What does sacked it mean?
Anyway, I expect the kites will be good, but not geared to light winds.
Mike, you were going to tell me how the flagging works?

deal; if you tell me what flagging is, I'll tell you what sacked it means... lol

seriously I have never heard of flagging in the context of kiting! in the UK flagging means being tired as you are "flagging behind".

Sacked it off is a local colloquialism meaning "given up".. he retrimmed went back out and then gave up on a 9m rebel. He was dangerously overpowered in the gusts.

bad points.....
mmm... I think it might be a little quick for raw beginners and certified numpties, but they will soon lean not to pull the bar so hard... still the depower is there, and this is a 7m...

The kite didn't have explosive turning power during hard carves, mostly due to the fact it sits so for forward in the window I think, but again I need more time on the water to tell.. not a bad point, more of a characteristic.. yet the trade off was that it really went upwind and had a hard fast climb rate...

Had no niggles at all... it's different to the vapor in feel... and time will tell as I use it in more controlled conditions.

I liked the fact the leash went through the centre of the bar like a 5 line, so I was leashed to it but still able to spin the bar as well.

Light wind ability will have to wait for some light winds to test, it's all or nothing over here in the winter...

[ronnie]

Hi Mike,
A few posts ago you promised me photos, so you seemed to know what flagging was then. I mean releasing the kite to a leashed front line. In the days of 2-liners, it was more descriptive, because they would flatten out a lot, but bridled kites do not fit that description too well.
You know Mark is a contender for the title of 'least bulls***ty guy in the industry' so I don't think it is a big risk to go with his kites.

[GORILLA]

[quote="Mike B"]Back from the beach after using the 7m 555 SLE.. was the only one out on a kite.

[/quote]

I was out at 9 got till 11 and sacked it off myself - true wasn;t the best conditions and looking from that picture the kite does seem to of handled it v well.

What time did u get down there in the end ? Also i thought u didn't do paddies ....? ;-)

[M Shinn]

Yep it's true you seem to be busted Mr Birt.........
to quote
"paddies is lame"
Shinn

[Mike B]

doh!

lol.

indeed, paddy took one for the team yesterday

[Mike B]

What time did u get down there in the end ?

around 11.30 maybe.. i was waiting for some water to appear! kited till 1 and then went windsurfing on the front; there was some good swell by the end of the day.

that half sunk boat that covers over as the tide comes in looks a bit on the dodgy side!

I would not like to land arse first on one of those posts!

[GSter]

Hi Mike, can you give any wind ranges for the 12m and 14m 555 / NHP kites please?
Saw the 9m 555 at Walk on Water in Saundersfoot at the weekend (very nice indeed!) Interested to know the main differences between the 555/NHP for summer / low wind use?