Today I was able to fly the Rap2 12m in good winds at Berkeley and was impressed with the kites power and performance. A couple of previous, short sessions were fun and alluded to good things but not ground-breaking as we had somewhat light wind, the kite I have is a 12m.
Today's wind was better and we were out on anything between 12's and 16's for a solid hour at Pt. Emery. The kite? All around a solid performer where simplicity rules. The kite sits far enough forward in the window to provide nice upwind sailing and has a light, even and nimble feel to it. The flying is very smooth and stable, the canopy is rock solid and shows virtually no deflection or distortion when in flight, turning and sheeting in and out and providing rapid changes in AOA.
Jumping is very good - not quite as big as the Outrage, but the Outrage is a unique kite. Jumping comparisons are harder for me to make as I'm used to the Outrages which are simply huge jumping kites but the Rap2 did very well, better than last years Rap, likely due to its increased aspect ratio. Maximum gains is altitude and hangtime can be had through subtle flying of kite while airborne rather than a simple 'send the kite and hang on' although that works too.
The Rap2 also showed signs of being an excellent candidate for waves as well as powered up carving of some of the swell by the restaurant kept the kite steady and stationary in the window without falling back or jumping forward - just parked and powered, but depower is as much as you want it to be - sheet out the 4-line CC bar and you kill the power. Having 4 lines while still having as much depower as you'd want or need is nice and relaunch is easy via the traditional method or reverse relaunch.
Turning is fast, but not hyper and smooth. A kite like the Outrage tends to start a turn and accelerate in speed and increase in power, carving sky, while turning but the Rap2 doesn't provide as blunt a sense of power but rather delivers it smoothly throughout the turn.
So far so good and my only regret is that the kite arrived so late in the season, but it will hopefully see plenty of storm action this winter where the smoothness, stability and depower will be welcome while still giving up the goods and not skimping on power and performance.
Next stop: tuning tweaks and kiteloops!
Cheers,
Ollie
Windwing Rapture 2 12m Impressions
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OliverG
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Last edited by OliverG on Wed Nov 09, 2005 8:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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OliverG
- Old School
- Posts:5326
- Joined:Sat Feb 07, 2004 5:03 pm
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Baja Report
Here's Will's report, who isn't working at Windwing anymore but agreed to make this Hood River to Baja and back trip and show the kites. It kind of balances out my initial impressions as he's had the most experience so far on the 6.5, 9 and 16.5 and not so much the 12.
[hr]
Okay race fans, arrived LaVentana yesterday, after several killer days in San Carlos on the new Raptures. I have now flown every size, been out on the 6.5 a few times and the 16.5 twice as well. I have nothing but good stuff to report.
Here are my comments by size:
6.5: This is an amazing little kite. So small, so light, but able to pull upwind when the boys were on 5.1 windsurf sails and not fully lit. At San Carlos in the waves this kite is great -- once you get on the wave face and start to peel down the line the kite just hovers and does not pull. It's there if you need it to rip a top-turn, then the power goes away while you surf the wave and make bottom turns. Plenty of boost for me, and it is phenomenally efficient upwind, even when only moderately powered. This kite easily fills the gap up to the 12. It does require some tuning, and will do some strange things once in a while -- if you transition it very hard while underpowered and fully sheeted in (oversheeted?), it will start to fly backwards. Sheet out, and it shoots forward again no problem, but it might jerk you a little. This is easily avoided by not doing the above, and even if it does happen, it's not disconcerting at all.
9m: This kite is a jumping machine. It's extremely fast, and likes to go UP. You need to fly this kite while in the air, or it can drop you. A good kiter (I consider myself an intermediate) could make this thing go to the moon. Very fast (of course) and upwind like a rocket, re-launch is a no brainer (either way) it will reverse up with no board on (and thus no resistance) and pretty much does everything well. You CAN get the wingtips to compress when you fully load up the kite, but this has no performance drawback that I can feel or see. Looks funny, but only happens for a second. If anything, it slows the kite at the moment you need it to slow a bit -- I see it as a positive from a performance standpoint.
12m: I've only flown it in light wind. Seems to work when others are on MUCH larger kites. Seems to behave a lot like the '05 12m, which is a very good thing IMHO (the '05 12 was my favorite kite, until now). Sorry, that's all I know about this one for now.
16.5m: The lumbering giant. Goes in nearly nothing. Turns fast for it's size, down-stroke transitions are easy, so the radius is fine, very predictable, got some good jumps, and the de-power is excellent. Used this kite in the waves and it was really nice to be able to dump the power when needed. Definately recommend a 56cm bar, 23 or 26m lines. The coolest thing is that this big-boy reverses in very little wind -- I reversed it in Berkeley in about 10mph off the water with very little effort.
Summary: All the Raptures do exactly what Bill and JB targeted them to do. There have been no surprises, performance meets all expectations. They are a big improvement over last year's Raptures, both in convenience and performance. The LEs are much smaller, pumping the big one is not something to dread anymore. All of the kites have incredible range and DE-POWER. I cannot stress this enough -- that is really what sets these kites apart is the ability to turn the power off -- whether you are on a wave or about to get in trouble. I would feel very comfortable suggesting these kites to a beginner or expert. The bar pressure on these kites is extremely light, and they are very predictable in handling. C'mon down to LaVentana and try one for yourself!
w
[hr]
Okay race fans, arrived LaVentana yesterday, after several killer days in San Carlos on the new Raptures. I have now flown every size, been out on the 6.5 a few times and the 16.5 twice as well. I have nothing but good stuff to report.
Here are my comments by size:
6.5: This is an amazing little kite. So small, so light, but able to pull upwind when the boys were on 5.1 windsurf sails and not fully lit. At San Carlos in the waves this kite is great -- once you get on the wave face and start to peel down the line the kite just hovers and does not pull. It's there if you need it to rip a top-turn, then the power goes away while you surf the wave and make bottom turns. Plenty of boost for me, and it is phenomenally efficient upwind, even when only moderately powered. This kite easily fills the gap up to the 12. It does require some tuning, and will do some strange things once in a while -- if you transition it very hard while underpowered and fully sheeted in (oversheeted?), it will start to fly backwards. Sheet out, and it shoots forward again no problem, but it might jerk you a little. This is easily avoided by not doing the above, and even if it does happen, it's not disconcerting at all.
9m: This kite is a jumping machine. It's extremely fast, and likes to go UP. You need to fly this kite while in the air, or it can drop you. A good kiter (I consider myself an intermediate) could make this thing go to the moon. Very fast (of course) and upwind like a rocket, re-launch is a no brainer (either way) it will reverse up with no board on (and thus no resistance) and pretty much does everything well. You CAN get the wingtips to compress when you fully load up the kite, but this has no performance drawback that I can feel or see. Looks funny, but only happens for a second. If anything, it slows the kite at the moment you need it to slow a bit -- I see it as a positive from a performance standpoint.
12m: I've only flown it in light wind. Seems to work when others are on MUCH larger kites. Seems to behave a lot like the '05 12m, which is a very good thing IMHO (the '05 12 was my favorite kite, until now). Sorry, that's all I know about this one for now.
16.5m: The lumbering giant. Goes in nearly nothing. Turns fast for it's size, down-stroke transitions are easy, so the radius is fine, very predictable, got some good jumps, and the de-power is excellent. Used this kite in the waves and it was really nice to be able to dump the power when needed. Definately recommend a 56cm bar, 23 or 26m lines. The coolest thing is that this big-boy reverses in very little wind -- I reversed it in Berkeley in about 10mph off the water with very little effort.
Summary: All the Raptures do exactly what Bill and JB targeted them to do. There have been no surprises, performance meets all expectations. They are a big improvement over last year's Raptures, both in convenience and performance. The LEs are much smaller, pumping the big one is not something to dread anymore. All of the kites have incredible range and DE-POWER. I cannot stress this enough -- that is really what sets these kites apart is the ability to turn the power off -- whether you are on a wave or about to get in trouble. I would feel very comfortable suggesting these kites to a beginner or expert. The bar pressure on these kites is extremely light, and they are very predictable in handling. C'mon down to LaVentana and try one for yourself!
w
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