p8ntballsk8r - 19-2-2011 at 04:36 PM
I've been riding an 05 Ozone frenzy 12m foil kite for about a year and have loved it. The ease of setting up and taking it down by myself is great,
and the kite does a good job pulling hard. I also really like the safety system on it, where with the pull of a red knob, the kite stalls and falls
to the ground. And also a secondary safety system where I can release the chicken loop completely and let the kite fly away.
A lot of my friends have been switching over to LEI's and I wanted to know if you guys would recommend this. I mainly use the kite on snow, and
during the summer months on land with an ATB or Landboard.
How are the safety systems and self launch/land capabilities on an LEI? The only things that I don't like about my current foil are: gusty conditions
cause the kite to stall at times. Tip tuck, and the kite not holding a rigid shape, and finally the slow response time of the kite (I've seen LEI and
Peter Lynn users kiteloop while in the middle of a jump, and just the overall quick responsiveness of an LEI looks awesome). I don't want to go away
from self launching/landing because I think it's quite a pain to have to use another person.
in my current conditions, using snow to pile onto the kite is hardly an option, although i could use a weight of some sort
John Holgate - 19-2-2011 at 04:44 PM
Just in regard to turning speed - check out some of Ozone's latest videos of the 2011 models - I think you'll see they've increased the turning speed
considerably. My 2009 Access XC was a bit of a slug to turn but the 2010/11 XT's are very zippy by comparison. I believe the same is true of the
Frenzys.
Kamikuza - 19-2-2011 at 06:34 PM
The advantage and disadvantage of an LEI is it's rigid structure ... safety systems all work fine and self land/launch is just as easy (almost) as
arcs and foils.
Gusty conditions ... you can still mess up an LEI - I had my 16m Crossbow invert on me :ticking: and they fall out of the air much sooner in lulls and
then are impossible to relaunch.
Bladerunner - 19-2-2011 at 07:48 PM
I haven't had the opportunity to fly much from Oz' but I have to think that just like all other brands they have improved greatly from 05 ?
Even in 05 Chast was tossing kiteloops for Oz' ! Maybe you need to demo a Manta ?
I have to say, simple setup is worth a LOT. One thing I am missing with the arcs over my old Flysurfers.
p8ntballsk8r - 21-2-2011 at 10:56 PM
great input guys. I'm going to demo a 13m 08 Best (yaroo?) not sure of the brand but it's a Best something. Anyways I'll see how she flys and if I'm
able to get it out of the bag and up quick.
I fly with the UND snowkite club, and we get disgusting negative temps all the way down to -40 including wind chill. Can't be puttering around
setting up and taking down in that. Maybe I'll wait til summer.
I also wanna try kiteboarding on water, and know that a foil is a no no because If I happen to crash the kite I'd be pretty much SOL
AD72 - 21-2-2011 at 11:03 PM
A Flysurfer or PL Arc you won't be SOL on the water.
Kamikuza - 21-2-2011 at 11:38 PM
Ew Best ... I wouldn't touch them with a 10-foot barge pole, especially anything that isn't new or at least post 2009.
Open-cell foil is a no-no for water unless you're totally elite ... closed cell foils are great because they're small, light, pull like a young school
boy and easy to repair. Disadvantage is you gotta take a bit more care to not tangle them and require a little skill to untangle - but only a little.
The advantage though of LEI is that everyone has them and there's zero confusion on the beach. Modern ones are zero hassle when you mess up - my
Crossbows, you just let go the bar and they're depowered.