26 Jan 2012 - A fast drifter

Location : Hampton

Kite : 10m Switchblade
Wind: 25 knot southerly

My kite has a broken pulley, so I borrowed Tarren's trial Cabrinha drifter.  

The drifter has no centre strut and turns real fast.  I got caught out taking off - I turned the kite through the sky as I would the switchblade and this thing just pivoted fully powered and smacked me into a wave.  I wasn't wearing my impact vest so I bruised my ribs in the process.  The kite was fairly powered so I did some long floaty jumps - it seemed to launch into jumps differently from the Switchblade too - at much smaller angles.  The kite is super twitchy and turns a bit too fast for my liking, any kind of grab and the kite is shooting off somewhere.  

Riding waves is where is excels - the fast turning speed and the ability to stall the kite and ride were fantastic.  Having said that, I won't be buying this kite.

Jeremy borrowed an Ozone edge after finding problems with his kite, but I had no time or will to try it out as my ribs were quite sore.  I'll try Tarren's out when it gets in - keen for a new kite now and leading candidates are the Switchblade or the Edge.