Interesting afternoon. Kited from 2pm-5pm. The wind chart does not
reflect what I know the conditions were so I cannot completely
substantiate my claims, I think conditions were 8-18. What I do know
was the when I arrived at the beach Mike Boxer and Evan were there and
neither would go out. Evan was doing an airush video (don't be
surprised if the v2 shows up in the background of an airush vid) and
had his kite in the air while they were shooting for the first 1/2
later when the wind picked up he did some demo stuff in the water
having to walk back upwind every time. This was partially because he
was pulling tricks that required that he use up the little wind power
that was there.
The changes I noticed with the kite which may or may not be correct are:
leading edge curves back more on the tips
deeper canopy
thinner leading edge
thinner struts
foam covering strut clips
The low wind beach flying of the kite seemed the same as V1. Launch
was the same. I even made a flying mistake that I know from V1 in
really low wind results in all 4 lines going slack and having to run
backwards to keep the kite from falling out. In the beginning 8-10mph
I took the v2 out with the light wave wing. Stayed upwind no problem
and I could feel more grunt and bottom end. I even made some small
jumps and getting the wing off the water is no small feat. I was
surprised I felt so much of a difference. The kite seemed a little
slower, more on this later.
Then it went to 10-12mph and I went to the LF concept DLX. Still
staying upwind no problem but now I started testing the jumping more,
no question it wanted to jump more and higher. Moved up to 15+ and I
depowered the kite and kept riding. It was very clear to me that doing
the same things I do with the v1 this kite jumps higher and has more
power. I let Mike boxer demo the kite and he did same as I - small
jumps over every wave when normally it would just be choosing one wave
to jump off. Wind chart shows gusts over 20mph but I would be
surprised if that was accurate, I didn't feel that. I have used the v1
over 20 many times and it requires that I depower the kite one step
more than what I did today.
Now on turning speed. I was not as excited about doing rotational
tricks with kite loops. I have gotten to where that is what I am
working on with the v1 on 10-15mph days and I was not excited about
doing it with v2. Maybe that was just not being used to the kite. I
have a theory though that something has been happening with my v1 that
happened so slowly that I did not realize it. I think it is possible
that the leading edge now twists more than it did when it was new
making my older v1 faster than the new v2. It is also possible that
the new leading edge is more stable and the kite does not twist as
much and is just slower.
Also on the subject of kite stability, I pumped the kite less than I
do my v1 and the tips did not bend under extreme wind and pressures.
On the v1 the only way I can keep this from happening is to pump the
kite very hard. It is also possible that the leading edge on this v2
will soften over time and the tips will bend unless pumped very hard,
however the way the leading edge curves back harder may be making it
more stable.
If I go on the assumption that my used v1 and this new v2 will always
operate as they fly now then I would recommend the v2 for anyone that
wants to ride in lower wind and jump as much and as high as possible.
I would recommend v1 for someone wanting to do tricks involving kite
loops in low wind. If Dimitri can verify that the leading edge will
break in and the kite will turn faster v2 is superior in every way,
unless you don't like to jump.
Thanks for the opportunity to check out the kite I had a great
afternoon and tried to let as many people as possible check it out.
The kite is a winner in my opinion. I probably used v1 for 80% of my
kiting days since I purchased it.
