came in the mail yesterday..................awesome kit! The bar, lines, and bridles look amazing..................kite is rather light for a 17m tuber.............Ive flown the 2011 17m and was amazed at the low end, depow, and turning speed of the kite. Im sure I can go in 7/8 kts on my Door or 6' directional. As amazing is the kites top end. I rode the 2011 in 15kts strapless and had no issues. I should be able to hold her down in 20 kts using at TT................def looking forward to some light/not so light wind sessions this summer........review to follow soon and a pic or two as well.........

very jealous.
haha I guess all your sales paid off no?

You are going to love that kite!!

I absolutely love my 2010 Zephyr. The range on that kite is *incredible*: 8mph - 26mph (measured on a wind meter) on a 2009 Cabrinha Plasma 146x46 (note: i weigh 155lbs) in low winds, and a 139x41x5 Flexi Delta in higher winds. It turns fast for its size and boosts & floats well.

Last Monday the wind was hovering between 10 and 14 and I was boosting, doing looped transitions, backroll kiteloops, backroll kiteloop transitions, and backroll kiteloop hand drags. I even managed to land my first front roll and finished it with a looped transition as well.

This might sound strange, but the forecast tomorrow is only 13mph and after Monday's session, I am super stoked ride it again :frog:

....so the big question...how does it compare to your speed 2 in the light stuff? Losing any mph on the low end?

My question is this (I wondered this for a while actually):

With me being a complete newb on the water and having a 12m sle in quiver. Would this work for me to get out in sub 20km/h winds on a 144x44 board???? I want to go for a 9m but once the winds get in that range they get über gusty and shifty. Or is this another one of those kites that you need the skills to ride in the light stuff???


I trust your judgement so that's why I'm asking now......

Shags,

Once I get her out in the light stuff I will let you and Pete know about the 2012 low end performance.........................newb or not the two most common mistakes on water I see are bar position (all the way in/fully powered) which chokes the kite in light winds and not running down wind with the kite to build speed before setting your edge.......................

At 170 lbs I have ridden the 2011 Zephyr in 12/13 wind mph and was nicely powered on my 6' Fish and 139 TT which is 20 kph.........................you have kite skills already which is a huge plus......keep in mind not to choke the kite out in lighter winds via bar position and letting her run before you edge and you'll be up and plainng in no time.............from the session I had on the '11 I would not hesitate to put a new flyer to the activity on the kite under supervision...............:duh::duh:

Quote:

Originally posted by dandre very jealous. haha I guess all your sales paid off no?

yes they did.............some thought I was after the new P2 which are nice kites but this will complete my water quiver. Also, kite racing is growing momentum and I may look at racing this May in our 2nd annual event. The 17m Ozone Edge claims to be the new benchmark in the racing world. I know that Edge is big in the SF Bay/Cali area for racing, and went 1/2 in the worlds last fall. I would love to fly the Zephyr along side the FS 15m SA2/3 or the 17m SA. If anyone has a 15/17m reg or SA cloth and wants to down load shoot me a message. Never hurts to have a SA in the trunk or in my case the truck bed..........................

Quote:

Originally posted by lunchbox ....so the big question...how does it compare to your speed 2 in the light stuff? Losing any mph on the low end?

I'm not sure if you're asking me, or Tridude, but if it's me:
The speed 17 i bought was the FS Speed 17 1.5, not a Speed 2, unfortunately :/

My buddy successfully repaired the rips and I took it out on the water but the bridles needed tuning because the left side of it was almost constantly tip-tucking.

Anyway, I rode it back to back vs the Z and while I could ride, I couldn't go upwind nowhere near as well as on the Z. I think once I tune the bridles I might be able to remedy that. But, then turning speed and boost comes into play and the Z beats it hands down. I'll probably end up selling it soon, but I'm not sure how much I can recoup as it has a few repairs the fabric has seen a lot of use.

Quote:

Originally posted by shaggs2riches My question is this (I wondered this for a while actually): With me being a complete newb on the water and having a 12m sle in quiver. Would this work for me to get out in sub 20km/h winds on a 144x44 board???? I want to go for a 9m but once the winds get in that range they get über gusty and shifty. Or is this another one of those kites that you need the skills to ride in the light stuff??? I trust your judgement so that's why I'm asking now......

20 km/h = 12.4274238 mph

If it's 12mph steady, I'd be able to ride in that on my board. I'm not sure what your weight is, but my buddy had a Switch so I know what they look like, and think that board would be able to pull it off as well.

If it's below that, the Switch has a little more rocker than my Plasma and it has more rounded tips, so those two things *may* limit your low-end capabilities. If you get a bigger, flatter board, then you'd probably be fine.

As far as skills, the thing about lightwind riding is that you HAVE to have your stance dialed to ride upwind efficiently. The beauty of riding in lightwind is that it ends up forcing you to discover the best stance to go upwind. The 'discovery days', however, might end up in a lot of unintentional downwinders.

You also have to have good kite skills with regards to knowing how much and when to sheet in/out and feel for what the kite is going to do in lulls to keep you moving/or simply planing or sometimes just keep the kite in the air when you sink in a lull. The Z does a good job at staying in the air when the lulls drop to around 5mph and I sink waiting for the wind to pick back up. Learning when to take another big powerstroke or downloop to keep the kite moving or producing power is essential.

Relaunching kite will also be essential, but if you've got good kite skills that can probably kept to a minimum unless you're trying new tricks. A 17m is a lot of kite to relaunch and it can be quite time consuming or impossible if the wind isn't on the stronger end of the light side.

Quote:

Originally posted by lunchbox ....so the big question...how does it compare to your speed 2 in the light stuff? Losing any mph on the low end?

this is still the low wind benchmark IMHO.............some may disagree............Im starting to see a couple lightwind combos.............

If you dont like bridles a 15 to 17m SLE/Bow (20M for Big Kahuna) and race board or a FSer SA/SA2/SA3 15/17/19/ 21 with a door and or smaller TT...............either combo will cost you about the same and guaranteed to get you out in VERY light wind.................

BB,

off topic but check the length of your tip ring line on your FSer........line shrinkage with use on water causes this. if you cant find the spec on the FS site then measure it against the ring line on the good (non tucking ) side. This will fix your problem.................

Will do, and Thanks!!!

I'm not huge but not skinny either 5'6" and 185lbs. I'm hoping the transition to sle will help me get riding well on the water this summer. If that's the case then one of these might be on the shopping list. It seems that with the less than par summer conditions really limit my chances of learning the water. So I just figured that if this was a good option to open up more riding days then I might have to be all over it. Body dragging in light wind is fun but gets boring after a while.

Shaggs, check your u2u.

I just saw that thanks!!! Tried to reply but it is currently saying that I have reached my limit even after emptying my in and outboxes. Much appreciated though.

Might be mine. I'll clean it out..

I'm sure I've asked before but... what's the bar pressure like on the Zephyr?

I have the 2010 and it's not bad at all. It's like, just under medium I'd say. More than my RPMs on the lightest setting, and less than my Nemesis HPs.

The 2012 has attachment points on the wingtips to increase or decrease the bar pressure but the 2010 doesn't :/

What's your idea of "medium" though :D we don't have any kites in common that I can compare it to...

I think you have a Cabrinha Crossbow in your quiver, but have you ever flown a 2011 Switchblade 12m or 16m (my buddy has those and I have flown them)? Those are medium-heavy.

I had 2007 Cabrinha Crossbow 9m and 12 kites. Those were heavy.

I got a 2010 16m Xbow and it's heavy on sheeting in, light on steering or on the "light" setting (as opposed to "lightest" ) it's heavy on sheeting and medium on steering but with much better speed and feedback.
My 2011 13 and 10 is super-light all round :o which bugs me about the 16. I'm thinking the bridle is the problem... big redesign on the 2011.

Flew a 2011 14m SB and it was a horror show - MASSIVE bar pressure, worse than the XB16 - I hated it! cf Vector 13 and XB13LW on the same session - both very light!!! What's the big deal with everyone I know who has Cabrinha having frickin Switchblades?!?!

Had a play with an 2011 RPM 14 today, for about 4 hours - man, it so reminded me of my arcs/Chargers! but with less bar pressure and making less power through the turns :o

... and compare all those with the Flysurfers, which sheet in easy and are say, light-medium on the turns but over a longer time-base...

Le sigh.

I think 13 mph (steady) on my Lightwind Cruiser is the lowest I can get out with my Zypher (well it depends on which way the tide is going. I am about 170lbs (180lbs with gear????). It's a session saver kite. A lot of guys around me who kite joke at having such a big kite, but I have been cruising out in the in the water while they pack up there gear.

What I need is a replacement for the Xbow 16... without the bar pressure. I'm not interested in low-end - I got the big Speed for that!

whats your top end on the xbow.....................my first sesh on the Zeph was 18 to 20 mph......depow is off the hook and the bar pressure was med and such that you could feel where the kite was and what she was doing without a visual.............great feel and feeback thru the bridle, lines, and bar............I had it trimmed about a 1/3 to 3/8 on the trimmer and response was sweet..........I was on the 139 TT, powered, and could have handled a bit more...............BBandit was right on the range....alot of top end..................let me get a couple more sessions in and Ill pm you my thoughts

What's that in metric

I've decided my top-end is when the kite start misbehaving - twitching, jerking, surging, and fluttering. Usually I can still hold it down with a small board and the jumps get epic :D

For the 16m, that's about 20knots average, maybe 5 knots more in shorter gusts. 25 for the 13 and maybe 30 for the 10... that's going by the weather data at the end of the day.

The 7-strut Xbows are so well behaved and the canopy is stable that they're just awesome fun when "over-powered"... the RPM became a handful, and a tad unpredictable in the gusts - but unlike the 16m Xbow, bar pressure was acceptable. I'm wondering if the 5-strut LW versions are better or worse...

I think if you were smaller and rode the 16m in it's proper wind range (8 to 18knots at 75kg) you'd fine it an easy flying kite, and the bar pressure wouldn't bother you so much. I remember one session in NZ when I went to the "light" steering to speed up the turning and it was bearable - but the wind was 10-15 knots... I think that's the sweet spot for the kite - but not for my fat ass :D

Flat water makes a difference too...!

Zephyr saved the session yesterday. Supposed to be blowing 20+, wound up blowing like 13-15 (some gust up to 17). I think I am wrong about my bottom end, I think a steady 10-11 may be my bottom end, I am not completely sure. I just wish mine had the quick fill valve, my arms are sore pumping that sucker up.

guys a race board and you'll go even lower at frightening speeds.

sounds like a nice unit Don. good info!

some may say light but winds were on the lighter side for this sesh.......................11 to 13 mph riding the 139 Comrade (twin tip)............kite performed very well..................plenty of power for a smaller board and 170 lb rider..................was abe to tack upwind without much effort.......over the top or down looping the kite on transitions worked well (perfer down looping in lighter winds)............kite flies solid in the follow me down the line mode...........once apparent and speed kicked in I was able to pop some real nice floaty jumps (10 foot range on a couple runs where the wind was probably 13/14)...............bar pressure again is there but not excessive. Kami, she likes to fly with the bar in half way or a bit more much like the Cabrihnas. She turns very well for a 17m sail. Turns as fast or faster than a 15m inflatable. Much faster than a 17m Flysurfer. The bar, CL, depow line, primary safety, and clam cleat trimmer are all clean and easy to work......................botched a down loop transition and had to water relaunch.........she climbed up on a tip and relaunched easily.............a larger light wind board (door or simiilar) or surfboard would get me going in 9/10 mph wind.......Compared to a 19m SA2.....the SA2 rides further forward in the window with liitle or no bar pressure. The Zephyr rides forward in the window but not as much as the SA 2. The Zephyr sits back a bit but has more grunt. Speed and power goes to the SA 2. The bottom end on my SA2 with a door 2 was 7 mph. The Zephpyr needs a couple miles per hour more...........The Ozone Edge is their SA type sail (race kite) ....quality of the kite and bar is what you would expect from Ozone..................def impressed at this point...................big range, functional systems, build quality, and confidence inspiring. It doesnt get much better than this......................

I've paid for a 2011 16m Xbow... we'll see how that goes :D guy I got it from said it's much better than his 2010 that he had too... but he may have been humouring me
Still want to try a Zephyr though...

got out Friday afternoon in 10 to 12 mph winds on my 139 Comrade.................would have loved to jumped on the Door but left it at home. Rode inside the sandbar in the flats with min current.....stayed upwind ok, did a bit of walking but not too bad at all. Had I been on the door I would have stayed upwind no problem. NFLeech took her outside in the break on his 11' SUP and was nicely powered (you think:crazy. At 170/75 lbs, on a 159 Spleene Door 10mph is my low end on this kite. She down loops nice on transition turns which is nice. A couple of water relaunches were uneventfull even in lightish winds. The kite has delevered up to this point on performance. Bar and lines are VERY sweet and adds to the stoke. Next will be to check her upper range. Winds are forecasted later this week @ 20kts plus so more to come. Stoked on the kite to this point:duh: