still a go for Saturday?

may have great winds with hanna on its way

The eye is going to be up in North Carolina by Saturday but right now there is lots of convection south of the eye. I'm getting afraid that there could still be significant rain on saturday. Also, the eye got organized overnight. Thoughts from you coastal types that go through this often?

NWS and TWC forecasts both show partly cloudy with 12mph winds at 0800 on Saturday. Storms moving at 20mph, just now passing the Cape, most of the rain is east and north of the circulation, yeah Saturday should be fine around 8/9ish. Angus your thoughts? OBTW, does anyone surf at JI/kite beach?

http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreation/boatandbeach/hourb...

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?...

Yeah 30% chance of rain (normal) and NOAA says West winds 10 kts. West is doable for the bug. I am causiously optimistic. West is not great for the Neo on the water though, :-(
No Don, not a lot of surfers, but ti would be good by the sand bar where the surf piles up.

BTW Bobby, your buggy was in JAX last night, should be here this AM, will keep posted.

alright time for roll call............who's attending?

so we've got Hannah and the new Montana....................... sorry had to got there................

i fully intend to go and i will be brings one person

all you guys be careful this weekend i wish i could be there but finances wont let me hope you all have a great and safe time keep an eye on the storms me being on the coast in fla i know how these storms can be but also they can bring some great winds lets hope you get the good wind god this weekend


steve pigeon

Quote:

Originally posted by tridude so we've got Hannah and the new Montana....................... sorry had to got there................

Don, you really should put together a standup routine!

Quote:

Originally posted by BeamerBob Quote: Originally posted by tridude so we've got Hannah and the new Montana....................... sorry had to got there................ Don, you really should put together a standup routine!

corny I know but what the heck......................it just started raining steady here as the storm is close to 32N. Winds and rain not all that bad. Keep in mind folks as the storm moves north it gets closer to the coast due to SC/NC shorelines. Georgia/JI should have faired well. It would have been an awesome 2.5/3.5m Profoil day. Im sure Angus will chime in but the forecast looks spot on at the moment.

I plan to be there. may try a water ride here in the AM, if the winds is good with no rain. gotta nice west wind spot on a rising tide.

see you there

Hey guys,

Just checked the weather online. Seems to be good after noon, thus we will be there.

See you all tomorrow.

Tim

its super nice in savannah right now i am on my way

My Sat - Mowing the lawn, trimming the plants and trying to dip up and ax a big old tree root...sure wish I was on JI!

Have fun guys!

It's nice here- not a cloud in the sky. Bobby just laoded up his brand new buggy at my place and we will all be out there in a bit. Winds are West at 9 mph at the moment and will likely build. I would prefer East but am grateful for what we have, considering.

turned out an awesome day as the wind finally kicked in about 3:30pm. Plenty of kites in the air---Neos. Montana 4s, Hydra, the new Apex (very sweet ask Dustin), Venom, Reactor, PKD Buster, Blade, and Bularoo...........

Angus will do an in depth on the Neo and M4 but I can tell you the Neo performance is not hype. It delivers in all categories to include safety. Anyone interseted in a land, snow, water closed cell should demo this one. Within 5 mins I was sold, nuff said.

Thanks to Angus and Team HQ for another great day at JI. Dustin nice meeting you and I think we have another depower convert now. BB, sweet bug and great to see you and your family again!

Thanks for the update Tridude - I'm looking forward to getting my Neo

DaVinch, I think you'll love the Neo and I'd love to hear your comments.

Yeah we started the day with lumpy west winds from 0-7mph and a tiny beach with high tide at 2pm. I told folks that the wind would build after the tide switched and that if the sun stayed hot, the Island would heat up and kick in a sea breaze. Luckily the Island di not make a fool of me, for at about 3:30 the wind swung southeast, off the water and built to about 8-10mph.

I'l have pics up on my website later but here is a quick and dirty on the gear....

With us from HQ Kites was Tim Baxmeyer of HQ USA, and Jan Hendrick Junker, Product Manager from HQ in Germany. Jan Hendrick brought over the Neo, the Hydra, the New Rush series, the Montana IV, and the Apex II.

The Neo
The Neo was the most anticipated and got the most attention and with good reason. This new closed cell twinskin inflatable is unique in many respects. It is a true cross-over de-power kite suitable for Water, snow and dry land.

First is the set-up and launch. Obviously there is no pump, but the great surprise was no pre-inflation as you would with a Peter Lynn ARC. It launches like any open cell foil and inflates itself on the way up to the zenith. In light winds, a couple of yanks on the center line will help insure that it fully inflated.

Then there's the low end that other inflatos don't have (except the more expensive Flysurfers). We launched the 8 sq, m Neo in 6 mph and at 8-9mph, Jan was able to get up on a skim board on the water with the 11 meter viersion, but not so much up-wind. In the air it is smooth and stable with no tip-tuck. Overhead, you can let go of the bar for long enough to open a water bottle and take afew sips without it wandering too far off.

When the wind came up I took the 11 sq. m Neo for a run in the bug. Power was smooth with lots of de-power range. It was even stable in a deep down-wind broad reach, with no tip tuck. Upwind was easy too, even in the light wind that day. Turning was fast, easy and predicatble.

The new de-power bar is clean and neat with all componenets easy to reach. Gone are the familiar seperate pull/pull straps for adjusting the center lines, replaced by a single line with a cam-cleat that is super easy to adjust. The strap leads all the way to the bar so it's never out of reach. Our local kiteboard instructor Robb VanWie really liked the bar.

The Neo is rigged in a 3-line configuration with the front lines coming down to a single line about halfway down to the kite, forming a "Y". Up in the bridle there is a compound 2-pulley mixer system that changes camber as well as angle of attack. the rest of the bridle is simple and neat and , with the shape of the kite, they never seemed to get tangled or want to wrap a line when the kite is luffed. With the light and viariable wind that we started off with, luffs were inevitable but we never bow-tied the kite.

Landing and takedown are worth noting too. The Neo has a landing handle accross the rera lines like a Montana and it's easy to back the kite down for a downwind landing. Once on the ground, pulling the top-hat safety dumps out the front lines by a few meters, plunking the kite down squarely on the brake lines, something Tridude noted would never happpen with his Flysurfers. Staking the kite by the landing handle leaves it parked securely with no worries. To put the kite away, first open the de-flation zipper on the back of the kite. Then fold the kite tip-to-tip, tossing the bridles into the center. Then simply roll-up the kite from the tips to the zipper openning, toss the bar and lines on top and fold it over. Simple and neat. Kiteboarders with Neo will be on the water while others are pumping and will have a beer in their hands afterwards while others are popping bladder valves.

"Sweet- No hype- the real deal" were the first words out of Tridude's mouth after he put the Neo down. He went on to enumerate to Jan Hendrick the advantages of the Neo over the Flysurver Psycho and Pulse, but I will let him post those if he wants as I am no expert with FS.

The Neo should be available in a few weeks. Jan Hendrick tells me that the first production run in Europe is already sold out

The Hydra
The Hydra is like a baby Neo on a fixed bridle 3-line rig and bar.
Take a Rush III Pro 3-line (single rear brake line for reverse launching) and put on a closed leading edge with 2 one-way air inlets and you have a great water-realuchable trainer. Besides a trainer that is sure to be popular with kiteboard schools, the Hydra will be a fun kite to play with in the surf for body dragging and the like. It will be available in afew months for about $50 more than the Rush III Pro.

The Montana IV
My only beef with the otherwis great M3 were the de-power adjuster straps on the center lines that were hard to reach when let all the way out. Well they fixed that big time with the new bar, which is esentiially the same rig as is on the Neo. They also used the same single line front line "Y" set up to reduce wieght and drag. With this bar comes greater de-power range as well. Up in the Bridle, they went back to the same 2-pulley mixer as was on the M2. The kite's profiles have been optimized too for added stability and reduced tip-tuck. The M3 was great in this department and this is even better

The Apex II
The Apex has always been a great, super-affordable entry-level de-power kite and the A2 gets even better. We get the benefits of an updated foil with new profiles for added stability. His first time on de-power, PKF member Dustin took to the Apex II with ease.

The Rush III
HQ took the popular Rush II and refined the foil for more speed and stability. The Pro version has the singe center brake line for relaunching. running like a mad dog, Jan Hendrick took the Rush III Pro for a full 360 around the beach in the light breeze, proving its speed and stability.

I want to thank HQ, Tim and Jan-Hendrick for giving us a great Demo Day and a sneak peek and some great new kites. thanks to all those who travelled a good distance to the event to make it a great success

Fantastic review Angus! Sounds like HQ has a killer new lineup

OK Gang, here are the Pics from the event. If anyone else has any pics they want to include, please let me know!

http://www.coastalwindsports.com/HQDemoDayJekyll08.html

Thanks again to all.

Great pics Angus, wish we could have attended but we have a lot of clean up to do after the hurricane.
Brad Rex

Nice pics Angus. Thanks for sharing.

Susan (npw goddess)

Saturday was a great day on the beach with lots of fellow kiters. It was great to see Jan Hendrik and Tim from HQ again. Angus and I are frequent kite buddies so it feels normal being on the beach with him. Great to see Tridude again. He is always a pleasure to be around. My wife likes him since he wondered out loud how I ended up with her. Something about tequila was his guess. Also great to see Dustin again and walking with perfect form I might add. Met goldendmd for the first time and he is a pleasure to be around as well. He makes the landboard look SO easy. Just cruises back and forth seeming to use no effort at all.

Lackluster wind is par for the course in my neck of the woods so I was right at home. Then the wind started to blow steady. I was heading out into the water to cool off and turned around to find 3 kites in the air. Oh well, cool off later. The hype was all about the neo. Of those in the know, the consensus was that it was worthy of the hype with Tridude mentioning it and flysurfer in the same sentence. And that was to say that FS should be on notice that there is a new contender in town. He's had two and flown more so I trust his opinion. I didn't get to fly it due to the short amount of time we had wind and the popularity of the neos. Next chance I get I'll put one in the air. My opportunity was to put a depower kite in some clean coastal winds. My new girlfriends were the Montanas. I flew the 7m and the 9.5. In those light winds the 9.5 wasn't too much at all. The power is sooooo smooth with these Montanas. Want a little extra grunt? Just pull the bar in. I flew both the 7m and the 9.5m. With the low winds we had, the 9.5 was no problem at all. I flew each static for awhile and then took the new buggy on a run with the 9.5. I still have some learning to do and I was flying at the very bottom of its wind window, but it was a pleasant flying experience and I'll have one very soon. In thinking back, it seemed that the turning radius was incredible for a 9.5m kite. It was very maneuverable. Thanks Angus and HQ for a memorable day with some great kites and great people.

all I'll say is demo the Neos, and decide for yourself. Im thinking an 11 even though the 8 was recommended. I will say you wont be disappointed........................

Quote:

Originally posted by tridude Im thinking an 11 even though the 8 was recommended.

Tridude, Could you elaborate on this statement a little bit? I'm curious what application the 8m was recommend for and why you'd opt for the larger size.

I haven't heard much on the depower (range) for the Neo. How does it compare to an open cell foil like the Access or Montana?

Nice run down to JI! Very nice to meet every one. thanks angus for the hosting, big thanks to the HQ Jan & Tom. and thank you mother nature for a little breeze at the end of the day.
Marginal wind day (10mph) the lighter wind kites there seemed to do fine.

Not enough for the water so the ATB was the ride of choice for me. put up a V16 and cruised about til about 5:30. Cruised in and drop my rig and Jan got me on the NEO 11m.


thankful the wind was picking up, I think angus marked the wind speed when I got on it? can't remember exactly somewhere around 10mph.

this kite has a tapered trailing edge like a FS and quickly gets apparent wind feature very fast so it can be flown in low wind easily, the bar is standard depower set up with a trim and quick release below it with another release on the loop. the trim adjuster is reachable and we let it out and got a little more power, then hop on the board and took a ride.

very responsive, quick, very sharp power feel, alot like the FS i have, no tip thing, no collaspe.
upwind settled nicely, a great build in power with apparent wind. maybe got a loop in somewhere, hand full of some powersliding both ways very solid user friendly kite. Jan popped a jump with the 11m, he's 62kg(135lbs.), got some decent air. not enough for the 200lbs. club, but i can see the average rider having great all around ride on snow land or water. this kite would see a lot of use for land maybe up 15mph(for some certainly higher) then onto the water with more wind . A 14m would be nice for my needs water and land. I would guess as compared to the 11m, a 14m in 12-15mph would plenty power to get you on the water for the >190lbs. crowd.

nice to fly HOT NEW gear, for the price and usable range the NEO could be an easy choice, not sure where this kite is on user experience, but i would reccomend for a flyer who wants a, no pump, single all around rig that goes up in light wind with reasonable range.

Jekyll is a beautiful spot, took a bike around the end of the island and back to the site, i remember vacations there when i was 6/7yrs. old.

Quote:

Originally posted by kiteNH Quote: Originally posted by tridude Im thinking an 11 even though the 8 was recommended. Tridude, Could you elaborate on this statement a little bit? I'm curious what application the 8m was recommend for and why you'd opt for the larger size. I haven't heard much on the depower (range) for the Neo. How does it compare to an open cell foil like the Access or Montana?

8m based on my quiver...the depower is excellent. I flew hooked in as well as unhooked.................another 10 kts of wind would have been great but the low end performance was def validated

Thanks to you all for posting your comments and to Angus for his great write up and pics....seems like it was a good time had by all.

Can't wait to fly the Neo...What about a "Pass the Neo" program when it's in circulation

Quote:

Originally posted by lunchbox Thanks to you all for posting your comments and to Angus for his great write up and pics....seems like it was a good time had by all. Can't wait to fly the Neo...What about a "Pass the Neo" program when it's in circulation

If I go for the 11m, Ill send it your way for a month if you send your 13m V2 this way....................