Was cruising the web and came across the Ocean Rodeo LEI 2 meter trainer kite and looks intereseting to say the least.

As a mater of fact, I was looking at that as a next step prior to taking kiteboarding lessions and was wondering if anybody has any experiences with this kite.

Thank you ,
Regards,
Cranky

I don't know if It would do much good. Judgeing by your sig you have lots of kiteing experiance so you don't need another trainer. About all you could use it for is learning to body drag, but a small arc or flysurfer could be used for that and it would become your high wind kite. I've never flown a tube so let others chime in before you take the plunge on this.

It's a great tool to teach....but I'd say you're well aware of kite-piloting based on your sig. I would not expect you personally to get a lot of benefit out of it.

Ozone makes a 2m LEI trainer it's called the UNO, and I've seen a both BEST and Airush 3m LEI's as trainers...
It's a trainer kite! That you can crash into the water!

That's kind of it....they are built to the same standards as the full size kites, so they are very durable, but it's kind of one of those solutions in search of a problem....would only recommend these tiny LEI's for teaching utter noobs in water....

But hey, when it's really blowin you can still kitesurf with it.




I think a 5-6m LEI would still be a very effective teaching tool but more useful as a high-wind wing.

It would be a new addition to your existing quiver - a depower kite, but you'd need a harness to go along with it. With your existing experience, you will easily pick up on the differences from bridled kites and depowered kites.

Another thing to consider though is that these little kites are pretty quick (at least in my experiences.) You really have to be on your toes when the wind picks up and that may or may not be a good thing depending on how you like to kite.

Keep in mind that there's a huge difference from flying powerful stunt kites on the beach and being strapped to a depower kite in the water. Getting lessons is a wise decision on your part.

Another option, though, is to contact John at Powerzone Kitesports and look into his HQ Kites Hydra modification into a depower kite. With this setup, you'd still need a harness, but since it's a foil, you won't have to worry about pumping and the issues relating to leaking bladders. Since you can water launch and body drag with the hydra, you can get a jump on lessons in the meantime.

-joedy