I spend a fair bit of time reading these forum posts and at this time of year what with the new seasons gear coming out I find it interesting to read all the chat on kite sizes, quiver choices and different crew members take on it all. I thought that maybe it would be a good idea to state our quiver details together with the reasons for it here so that the rest of the crew could perhaps see what the different parameters are in different riders’ quiver choices.

I’ll start the ball rolling:

Ocean Rodeo make great kiting gear. Customer service is 2nd. to none and I’m 100% committed to riding their gear and helping to increase their showing here in the UK. I’m not a ‘Rock Star’ and do only basic rotations such as back and front loops and transitions. I want to try riding blind and doing some unhooked tricks soon.

Age: Doesn’t matter except to say that my bones don’t bend like they used to!
Weight: 64 to 65 kilos.

Quiver:
2009 Rise 10m
2009 Diablo 10m
2010 Rise 7m (on order)
2008 Zen 129
Session harness
Predator drysuit (on order)

The board is all round for me and I can kite from the low teens with the 10m Rise. This kite will also do me into the mid 20’s and possibly a bit more too.

I bought the Diablo because I wanted to experience its performance, 5 line safety, re-launch and eventually the unhooking performance alongside that of the Rise. It will also fit into my quiver in between the smaller Rise and my 10m Rise. Well that’s my thinking anyway. Ocean Rodeo’s 100% guarantee meant that I could easily have returned it after 30 days if I wasn’t totally happy but I have been enjoying the kite and have done some of my best rotations on it. It will be mainly used on our flatter water spots when I’ll try loads of stuff!

The new 7m Rise has been sold to me on the rave revues I have received during my decision making process. Power and stability come to mind. In the winds that I tend to ride a smaller kite in I found my previous 6m Rise lacked just that little bit of umph and so the 7m should fit in closer to my ideal kite size for the conditions required.

So my Rises will be my general use kites for the waves and choppier conditions we experience most of the time here in the UK. When its windy its also usually gusty and the Rise handle this perfectly.

In the future I will look at the Mako range. I’ll be hoping to demo the Mini Mako soon. John has already sung this boards praises to me at my weight so look forward to reading other crew riders comments on this board soon!

My Session harness is still going strong and I wouldn’t want anything else at the present time.

Finally having been used to riding dry I’m waiting for delivery of the new Predator drysuit. Some may argue that it never gets that cold down here on the south coast but I have little meat on my bones and it don’t half extend your session not to mention the lack of torture getting changed before and after. I thought about the other styles but to be perfectly honest I’d have wanted a custom suit to fit my slim shape so the Predator fitted the bill better.

Come on Crew get posting your quiver and thoughts here!

08 6m amd 09 10m, rarely miss a day when kitesurfin’s actually doable.  I weigh 60 kg.  Age: 15

Age: 35
Weight: 84 kilos or 185 lb.

Quiver:
2009 Rise 12m
2009 131x40 Skywalker Pro Comp
2007 North Rocket fish 6’9”
Session harness
Wind range: 13 mph to 25 mph with the TT
I rarely use the surf board
I have been kitesurfing for around 1 year.

One month and a half out due to a ACL reconstruction.

age: 27
weight: 100 kg / 220lb

Quiver:
2009 Rise 16m
2010 Rise 13m (ordered)
2010 Rise 10m (ordered), previous 2009 10m Rise

edge hard and ride hard

Have had kit since the age of 16 and it has morphed from windsurfing to surfing, back to windsurfing and then to kiting.

Evolved from beloved but mostly mismatched and used pieces to my current pride and joy.

175 lbs

14/10/awaiting the 6 Diablos.  Holding onto my 8m era for now. 
Rogue Wave custom 139x43, 6cm rocker, boots. This board is my all time favorite piece of kit.  Took me more than a few boards to find it.
6’2 surfboard, modern fish type, no straps.  paddle in board for Hatteras.
All the clothes, but notably a pyro pro with the cold fire trimmings.

14 is my work horse and has more time on it than all the others combined.  10 is my memory maker.  When conditions line up and its that ever so sweet 20-25+ knots, perfect meaty waves and there is no where you would rather be, the 10 is a perfect fit.  It’s also nice to own the size in the range that saw the most R&D.  The 6…. I’m hopeful it does what I want and I can sell my 8m.  I’m tired of being overpowered on those really big days that are clearly more than 10m weather. 

I live for powered riding in boots.  Not that I pull off inverted handle passes.  More that I love the power and control in boots and like to ride as much as I like to jump.  There are different things I like to do in different parts of a kites range.  In the lulls its fun to loop, perfectly powered I stick to mid altitude unhooked stuff and try to carve like a demon.  In the gusts or really juice up I tend to just go big hooked in.  This year I learned I have way more fun goofing around on the surfboard in lighter conditions than struggling to hold my ground in boots.  Have also fallen in love with the surfboard in real wind and waves now that I’m getting better at it.  Again the 10m is my memory maker for those beach days that the wind is roaming between the mid teens and the mid twenties.  I’m perfectly happy to pop out of the boots when its a bit light on the 10 to get all the fun back on the surfboard.  Really beats stopping to pump up the 14.

The pyro and its accessories have made a huge difference for me.  Total comfort at the edges of the season and bomber built.  So warm I can hold off on wearing the boots and gloves until it is really frickin cold.  As much as I hate boots/gloves, the cold fire ones are absolutely awesome.  Though interested in the predator, I gotta say I really like wearing street appropriate layers so that I can hop in and out of my pyro, totally skipping the “I’m in my undies out in the cold” step.  Or worse the “I’m wet naked and cold in the elements of November” step that a wetsuit requires.  Convenience and comfort through and through.  I also love how little water it holds compared to my wetsuit. 

OR you make sweet gear.  It will likely always make up the lions share of my kit.

I’m rebuilding and I’ll take any advice going.

75kgs, kiting a couple of years.
Zen 135 and a session harness.
I’ve got a 16m Caution Answer which is a strange animal but I like it. Gets me going in about 13mph, just (no fun) but I can hold it in silly winds. Comes alive at 15mph
Also got a 9m ONE which I’ve been playing with, changing the bridles and I’ve had some success with it. Not sure of top end yet but init’s original form 30-35mph so it should be roughly the same.

And that’s currently it.

The above kites are pretty worthless so there’s no point in selling them. I also enjoy them so again no point in changing them yet. I plan to rotate my quiver now. I want a RISE to sit between the 16m and the 9m. Either the 11m or perhaps the 10m. I’ve tried the 11m and found it very sweet. 12 no thanks. I’m at the point where anything less than 15mph and I don’t bother. So I’m after something that will kind of compliment the 9m. Not a huge issue if the 16m goes into semi retirement.

Next year I’ll complement the new RISE with another smaller RISE. 6m is too small in the 2010 range for me - 8m or perhaps the 7m, not sure.

Thoughts and comments please as I’m in a right mess and can’t make my mind up!

Currently:

Session 2.0
North Ceser Pro
Insight Unstrapped Surfboard
Circle One Strapped Surfboard

Kites….Undecided for 2010

10 rise, 12 diablo, 15 rrd type 7, zen 129, session.

thinking of going full onto c kites at christmas depending on the range of the smaller diablos.. anyone got experience with the 8 and 6? 6 sounds tiny for a c kite and im wondering about the top end of the 8.. maybe flog the lot and get a 12 and 8 diablo.. what range would that cover?

or anyone know how the 2010 diablo will compare with my 09 rise in the same size wind range wise? seeing as i’ve been riding just my rise as a one kite quiver from the bottom end up to about 25 knots.

would a 12 diablo and a 7/8 rise cover things?

its real tough decisions!

noo noo - 02 November 2009 03:23 AM

I want a RISE to sit between the 16m and the 9m. Either the 11m or perhaps the 10m. I’ve tried the 11m and found it very sweet. 12 no thanks. I’m at the point where anything less than 15mph and I don’t bother. So I’m after something that will kind of compliment the 9m. Not a huge issue if the 16m goes into semi retirement.

Next year I’ll complement the new RISE with another smaller RISE. 6m is too small in the 2010 range for me - 8m or perhaps the 7m, not sure.

I’ve been using a 9m One / 12m Rise combo now for a year.  Before that I had a 12m One.  I’m a few kg heavier than you and I’m using the 129 Zen or 150 Mako.  I wouldn’t rule out the 12m if I were you.  The 10m will be too close to your 9, sure it’ll get you going sooner, but there will be a big overlap.

The 11m might pick up where your 16 has to be put away, but the 12m definitely will bridge that gap and will easily handle into the cross over point for the 9m.  Sometimes I’ve been on the 12m wishing I was really on the 9m, only to enjoy the glut of power on offer.

As for your plans for next year, I should have an 8m Rise “any day now” so will soon know if it compliments the 12m or it’s a step too far away.

Cheers, really need some help on this but seriously Dave I don’t want the 12m. I flew the 09 version and just wasn’t convinced. Shorter lines would probably suit me. I prefer 21m lines on the 16m. The 11m 2010 was completely different kettle of fish.

From the brief experience I have on the RISE the 12m overlaps with the 16m far too much. I also think the 11m will have a fair overlap but is more fun. I’m not interested below 15mph. 

Guess I’m leaning in the 11m direction. But all input is welcome

EDIT

Darn it - 12m on short lines (21m) might also be a way forward…......................................................................

Actually no I was completely on fire on that 11m in about 25mph

and im just confused as to what to get! help me spend my student loan on “essentials”!

yo Harry

My experience of the 08 Diablo was it would start me going at say 25mph. I’m sure I held it down in winds gusting 40mph but that was a stupid session. Lots of head shaking on the beach, it didn’t last long and was purely a fighting session. How the latest versions stack up against that I can’t tell you.

demo time methinks.

Some interesting posts crew. Keep them coming…...Brent how does the 8m Era fit in compared to the 10 Diablo? Could it be on par with the 8m Diablo (hence your reasoning in going for the 6m)?

If I were in your shoes Harry (and I’m not ‘cos I weigh peanuts) I’d get the 8m Diablo to go with the 12m one. I was holding my 10m down in some serious gusty conditions for me today. For UK conditions at your weight and skill level (flying big kites in strong wind) it would have to be stupidly windy to use a 6m ‘C’. Then it would be stupidly gusty and not worth it in my mind. Maybe the 6m would be more suited to the steady winds of the Carribbean? You could always grab a 6m once you’ve graduated and earning a wedge

noo noo get a grip! You’ve convinced yourself already to go with the 11m. How many people do you need to persuade you to put your hand in your pocket

andy - 03 November 2009 11:13 AM

noo noo get a grip! You’ve convinced yourself already to go with the 11m. How many people do you need to persuade you to put your hand in your pocket

I’ve been a good boy and saved my pocket money.

BUT what if the 10m is better? or the 12m?...................no 11m it is, no the 10m, 11m…..yes the 11m, no the 12m…...........Oh crap John can I have a 10.5m?