Best Roca - Anyone Try it yet

[lindseym]

I have demo'd the Roca several times and was pretty impressed. It felt like more hang time than my Evo (2016). I did notice that after some of my surface tricks (double back with a kite loop) i would sink in the water and it didn't have as much power at the end of the loop. This however I think is more of a "pilot error" and I think just because I am so used to 5 strut kites (Roca is 3 strut). To correct this, I just looped a tiny bit soon which worked. It turns a bit slower than my Evo but man is that thing a boosting machine. On the Best website, if you look at their "Kite Stats" (bottom of page) it has "jumping ability" indicated at a 6. This is weird to me because the kite's greatest strength is its jumping ability , assuming we are talking about lift and hang time. The lift trajectory is not explosive. Its a bit more high aspect so its gradual but there is a very noticeable pause on the descendion which I like. The height to G force ratio definitely proved this as well...many jumps 20 to 25 feet with low g force landing (>1.5 g). I like this for knee preservation purposes. Lastly, the bar pressure is perfect, light but you can adjust to being more direct.
Over those sessions I have flown the 12 from about 13kts up to about 24kts (im 158). It's not designed to be a real aggressive kite - unhooking and such. i feel like the Evo is a bit more sturdy and better suited for all around (if you unhook). But if you are into boosting and stability the Roca delivers.

[Vindex]

Rode the 14m Roca a few times now. It turns much smoother than the Kahoona with a faster turn and even pull trough the loop. Have to try in higher winds to comment on jumping, but compared to a friend riding a Kahoona 13,5 at the same time, I was definitely jumping and having fun when the Kahoona was mowing back and forth. I could do jump transitions without a downloop on 14m Roca, witch I could not on my 11,5m Kahoona due to not enough power in the turn (or bad technique.... ) Also beeing almost the same weight I would go upwind in 4 tacks the same distance as the Kahoona 13,5 would in 8 tacks in marginal wind.

So in my opinion the Roca has kept the low end grunt of the Kahoona but is better at turning and looping witch makes it a much more fun kite! Will comment again on the high end of the Roca once I have tried!

[Flyboy]

Any more comments on the Roca? ? I have Cabos in 5m, 7m & 9m. They are fast turning wave kites but poor low end & not good for jumping. Roca is obviously more low end oriented - does it turn fast enough for wave riding - how reasonable would an 11m be for low wind wave riding?

[dylan*]

Any more comments on the Roca? ? I have Cabos in 5m, 7m & 9m. They are fast turning wave kites but poor low end & not good for jumping. Roca is obviously more low end oriented - does it turn fast enough for wave riding - how reasonable would an 11m be for low wind wave riding?

roca is going to be the opposite in that case, they have great low end and are awesome at jumping, tons of lift and glide. im around 65kg right now and can ride the 12m in around 13-14 knots with a surfboard, ymmv obviously depending on your conditions and board. so that is to say the low end is as good as any other kite ive flown.

not totally sure how they compare for waveriding in terms of drift as i've only ridden the rocas on a twintip. a friend uses them for everything though and they seem to perform well enough. it's a 3 strut kite with a fairly light weight canopy so it should be decent enough.

[ProkiteSouthPadre]

not the tightest turning design but does drift well, best suited for fast freeride, long hangtime, super lightwind foil board, but can be fine in all situations. we have many in stock, ready to ship

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