A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to try one of the new 2008 RRD Type 9 kites from the guys at SOS Surf, my size of choice being the 7m. I bailed work early that day and took the kite down to Melville where the polies normally go. The wind was a bit on and off, and I thought it might be too light for the 7. When it picked up little bit again I quickly setup and got a launch.
I took off, sined the kite back down, and oh crap, I almost crashed it into the water! The kite just flew across the window before I even realised. I took a couple of tacks to get a feel for it, then started with some basic jumps and front rolls.
It had been a while since I'd done any (intentional :P) kiteloops, a few hard spankings takes the fun out of it a bit. With this tight turning lil ripper, the confidence levels were up again. Get some speed, crank, load, pop, really crank it, whooosh yeaaahhhh!. splash. Did a few more, with cheering from the shore (weeeee!) and some with clean landings, this thing is a kiteloop machine. What a rush :)
Despite the jumps, kiteloops and average wind, I managed to stay upwind the whole time, which was pretty impressive for such a little kite. It ate up the gusty wind quite well and the power delivery in the turns/transitions was noticeably more constant compared to my other small kite, an 8m '06 GK Sonic.
The frigid weather and dropping wind cut the session short. While Ben had a go, me and Kat jumped up and down to maintain some feeling in our extremities. Afterwards Ben commented that it was the best kiting he'd seen me do, which was really just his way of saying 'about time you did some more big ballsy kiteloops'. Can't wait to give this kite another run.
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