bobbyboom wrote:North will be demoing kites at Sherman the weekend of july 28 - 30th 2006 including the new Rebel. Have you seen this kite?
http://www.gokitesurf.com/articlesstory.asp?ID=41
Bow kite with 5th line and no bridals! This could be the answer to our prayers!
-BOOM
Bobbyboom,
The answer to your prayers already exists. There is already a "bow" kite with a 5th line and no bridals... its called the
Instinct from Ozone.
Ozone has '07 technology now in '06. The
Instinct is the FIRST hybrid kite (not a bow) to offer these innovations. The North Rebel is NOT a bow kite, it's a hybrid as well. Both of these kites are what I'm "coining the term" as
HY-5 kites (Hybrid/5 line). These kites are the next evolution of the "bow"kite.
The benifits of this
HY-5 concept is simple - "bow" kite performance and safey along with "C" kite feel and handling. When you eliminate the bridals and pulleys of current "bow" designs and incorperate a 5th line, you can get the performace attributes of both kite designs all in one kite.
Ozone has taken it one step futher and incorperated an anti-invertion line to prevent kite inversions. North is stating that their new design (on the Rebel) also eliminates this issue, but I don't believe they have this same system, so it would be interesting to see how they achieved this.
Bottom line, if you are psyched about the new Rebel, then I strongly encourage you to fly the
Instinct as well. If your wanting this technology now, then the
Instinct is your only choice. If your willing to wait for the '07 Rebel, just remember that by the time it's available, the Ozone guys will have their second generation of this concept also comming available... in other words, Ozone will have had already a full year head start on this design evolution, giving them a strong advantage over the competition.
Some other facts about Ozone that lend to their reputation - they are currently the market leaders in both paragliders and foil kites. They are the ONLY paraglider and kite mfg that owns their own production factory. Every kite is built using the best materials available (fabric, lines, etc). They even produce their own lei/strut air-batters that several other kite mfgs use. They also inspect EVERY kite, not a just single kite from a batch, as many mfgs do. All of these facts lend to their excilent QC and insure they have the best build and flying qualities in the industry.
Please feel free to contact me if you want to demo the Ozone
Instinct. If you're wanting to purchase, then I'm proud to say that Live 2 Kite will be stocking the
Instinct very soon.
www.live2kite.com