Ocean Rodeo Flite Impressions

[nothing2seehere]

I don't find the Flite to be particularly easy to relaunch in low wind either. I have best results from reverse launching if possible. Otherwise I generally have to be patient.

I suspect its common for higher aspect kites. It doesn't seem to be any worse than my older rebels (c2009) and is certainly better than the newer rebels (c2012) which were much heavier. Could be my technique though

[irwe]

I have the OR Flite's (2015) 7.5, 10, 12, 14.5 They are my main go to kites for KBH. I usually fly them with 28 m lines. In the air they are easy to depower and pivot nicely for transitions. Like Regis-de-giens my only negative is that I find them hard to relaunch in 8 kts and under. The easiest relaunch kite I have tried was the Best Kahonha.
I ended up also buying a 12 m foil to ride in winds 10 kts and less since I can keep it in the sky with 4 kts.
Another positive for the Flites is that they are a decent wave kite so when I am on kite trips and want to KBH and Surf I can just take the Flites.

[Laughingman]

I have the OR Flite's (2015) 7.5, 10, 12, 14.5 They are my main go to kites for KBH. I usually fly them with 28 m lines. In the air they are easy to depower and pivot nicely for transitions. Like Regis-de-giens my only negative is that I find them hard to relaunch in 8 kts and under. The easiest relaunch kite I have tried was the Best Kahonha.
I ended up also buying a 12 m foil to ride in winds 10 kts and less since I can keep it in the sky with 4 kts.
Another positive for the Flites is that they are a decent wave kite so when I am on kite trips and want to KBH and Surf I can just take the Flites.

I find it surprising that anyone would have anything but pure praise for the relaunch of the FLITE. It is the sole reason we originally tested them... we were standing in waste deep water with our kites not relaunching and this newb taking a lesson with Tim (who was not with him at that moment) was crashing and relaunching his FLITE over and over again. I couldn't even get my kite to roll with any technique. I can relaunch our FLITE's (GEN4 and GEN5) in 5 knots no problem. Maybe they improved the relaunch from the Gen3 to Gen4?

[Do-it]

Ok...I'll bite. I have a Flite 12 and 14.5, along with Prodigy 12 and 9.5

I love the Flite's in light (steady) wind. They loop very well. If you need and extra boost, Flites will do nice fast powered loops, even in very light wind. They both flip over fast but smoothly when doing powered jibes, and they stay in the air in crazy light wind. With both I seem to be able to kite in lighter wind, and go upwind better than most other people on different brands. That said, I'm not a big fan of Flites in gusty wind. I've never used any other light wind kites, and maybe this is true for all of them, but I find the line between being comfortable and uncomfortably overpowered with the Flites to be very small during gusty conditions. Where I kite, the wind is normally super gusty, and for gusty conditions I like the Prodigy much better. I haven't had the opportunity to try a bunch of kites, but I've flown various, Ozone, North, and Cabrinha kites, and I find that in gusty conditions, the Prodigy is one of the most stable and fun kites I've tried. It flies similar to the Flite, but it absorbs gusts much better. It's easier to trim so that it won't overpower during gusts, but still allow me to power through lulls. If I'm hit with an unexpected gust or lull during a maneuver, I find the Prodigy allows me to compensate for a sudden wind change much easier than with any other kite I've had the opportunity to fly.

Powered loops???? You have no idea what you are talking about. Please stop.

[borist]

I only have 2016 12m Flite. I don't think of it as a hard to relaunch kite, but except my old kahoonas, many of my kites need some coercion to relaunch in light wind. If I have time I use little rocking, pull one brake line to get the kite a bit to one side and then hard pull on the opposite. Flite usually rolls over on a wing tip and I just yank front lines to get it flying. Cross-line-pull, front/opposite back line I use if I'm too close to obstacle and need to relaunch quickly. It is not hard if you can sit on the board and don't have higher Y bar setup.

[Regis-de-giens]

I couldn't even get my kite to roll with any technique. I can relaunch our FLITE's (GEN4 and GEN5) in 5 knots no problem. Maybe they improved the relaunch from the Gen3 to Gen4?

I have the Gen 4 and cannot imagine relaunch under 7-8 knots. Which technics do you use ?
Maybe its relaunch is good and i have lost the habit to wait for higher winds than my foilkite...

[nothing2seehere]

I have the OR Flite's (2015) 7.5, 10, 12, 14.5 They are my main go to kites for KBH. I usually fly them with 28 m lines. In the air they are easy to depower and pivot nicely for transitions. Like Regis-de-giens my only negative is that I find them hard to relaunch in 8 kts and under. The easiest relaunch kite I have tried was the Best Kahonha.
I ended up also buying a 12 m foil to ride in winds 10 kts and less since I can keep it in the sky with 4 kts.
Another positive for the Flites is that they are a decent wave kite so when I am on kite trips and want to KBH and Surf I can just take the Flites.

I find it surprising that anyone would have anything but pure praise for the relaunch of the FLITE. It is the sole reason we originally tested them... we were standing in waste deep water with our kites not relaunching and this newb taking a lesson with Tim (who was not with him at that moment) was crashing and relaunching his FLITE over and over again. I couldn't even get my kite to roll with any technique. I can relaunch our FLITE's (GEN4 and GEN5) in 5 knots no problem. Maybe they improved the relaunch from the Gen3 to Gen4?

Interesting. Is this only in standing depth water? I'm only ever out on a foil in light wind so its always trying to relaunch in deep water and on long lines. I think I'd struggle to get enough line tension to relaunch anything in 5 knots in deep water. Not saying the Flite is worse than average at relaunch, just that its shape isn't going to help as much as a lower aspect shaped design like the prodigy.

[Do-it]

I couldn't even get my kite to roll with any technique. I can relaunch our FLITE's (GEN4 and GEN5) in 5 knots no problem. Maybe they improved the relaunch from the Gen3 to Gen4?

I have the Gen 4 and cannot imagine relaunch under 7-8 knots. Which technics do you use ?
Maybe its relaunch is good and i have lost the habit to wait for higher winds than my foilkite...

I can easily reverse launch my 17m gen 2 in 7-8mph in deep water.

[Regis-de-giens]

but not my 10m Gen 4 ...

[SENDIT!]

Not being able to relaunch a 10m in sub-7 knot winds is sort of like not being able to fly a 17m in 30 knot winds very comfortably. Just almost not enough canopy to provide something for the wind to push on at that level. I have spent an incredible amount of time on the Flites; I own a quiver of them myself. I'd say the 17m Flite relaunches better than any of its competitors, with the possible exception of the Turbine.

I'm sure some fat little kites would relaunch better, but not sure how good they'd be for foiling, though. I'll let some better foiling experts chime in on that.

Disclaimer: I sell Flites and Turbines...