Is the waroo "the best bow kite"? (at the moment)

[sergi_14_3]

What do you think?

I don't use it at the moment but the opinions than I read are very goods.

...your opinion....

[-wAVe-]

I can't help feeling we are being bombarded with hype (on the internet) as far as the Waroo is concerned. It may or may not be a great kite - who knows.

Lots of great reviews - even in the uk - not sure that you can actually buy one here yet! I think this is very suspicous!

[-wAVe-]

PS I'm going to try the 06 Vegas, the Sonic and, if I can get hold of one, the Waroo, and then decide.

[Toby]

this is a wrong question!

You may reword it: is the Waroo the best Bow for ME?

There is no such thing which is the best kite for everyone, or a certain type/brand.
We all are different, and want different stuff.

Test yourself and find the PERFECT kite for YOU !

Greets
Toby

[sergi_14_3]

I wanna ask this question for the people than they test almost kites exists, or allmost popular kites.
Or if the opinions than the people say are reals or they exaggerate.

I didn't express good, sorry

[Rabidric]

i am wary of the internet hype of Best, but i am prepared to overlook the previous hellfish debacle, and give them a try. I sincerely hope that this post doesn't come across as a pimp.

I agree with Toby above, but i also think that some tools are better suited to particular jobs. I am also adaptable. My current quiver is a 13m Speed for lightwind, a 14m Vegas for medium winds, and a 9m Waroo(i ordered it in jan, got it in late feb, in the uk). Hope that shows i have no particular bias...

personally, i have only had a couple of sessions on the waroo, but it is a good kite. it works great when others are on 13m Cshapes, and keeps on workin when others are on 8m tubes. It depowers in an almost perfect way, i.e. as you sheet out it dumps power and then starts to flutter lightly, and will slowly fall from the sky. However, importantly, it does not"over-depower". i.e. the kite can't sheet out to the extent that it has so much surplus backline length, that the kite can invert. This is perfect.

whether or not Bows are for you is another question, personally i find jumping a C more natural as the power through the turns is so smooth. Waroo is a close second though on that matter, and seems to go as high in the jumps anyway. But it is versatile on other fronts, great on waves(as most flat kites are) and has opened this aspect of Kitesurfing up to me- on previous kites if i was powered enough for it to be fun, i had too much power to attempt much on waves. Today i startedtrying things i wouldn't have dared before.

Relaunch is a no brainer, and upwind seems very good, the depower is great for tuning your power/speed.

As a counterpoint to this praise, i should point out that other Bow users of different brands report the same things in terms of functionality, so when the chips are down, the stand out factors of the waroo are that it is currently cheaper than the competitors flat kites, delivers the same benefits, has no more tendency to invert that any other kite, and is quite close to the feel of a "C", when powered up.

Someone on the beach mentioned their crossbow suffered from a lot of wear. Only time will tell how the Waroo holds up, so i will refrain from comment on that front.

In the end, a small flat kite really opens up waves and boosts rider confidence above 20knots, in my opinion. These are the primary reasons for getting one. Below 20knots , the depower function is not so important, and if you enjoy other kites and are used to them, then don't feel the need to buy a bigger bow perhaps. modern Cs boost really well , and modern foils are a fantastic option in lighter winds.

Hope that helps you figure out what is important to you.

[GraemeF]

What do you think?

I don't use it at the moment but the opinions than I read are very goods.

...your opinion....

Well I hope not, having bet gummybear $5 mill it aint and even worse that I'd give up flogging slingshot.

But then with only five struts I think I'm on safe ground.

[Kitedude]

no its just the much hyped. and talked about by best pimps on these forum

[ryansurf1]

Sorry i have no comment on the waroo...

More of a proposition to GF....

I will bet you $10M that a bet is not a bet if you don't have the money to bet....

[gumball]

I completely disagree with Toby. The Waroo is a vast improvement over "C" kite and other brands' "bow" kites, and is in fact the best flat kite on the market hands down. There are tons of independant reviews popping up everywhere that all say the same thing. Try all other kites first, then try a Waroo, that's our best sales tool. Here's a new review that just went up on the Best forum from a guy in the UK...

Waroo 9 m review

Well thanks to the guys at extremekites.co.uk I got to finally ride one of these new breed kites this weekend and
I hope you don’t mind if I give you my first impressions.

The scene was what seemed to be a light wind day at Ainsdale beach. We got there and I was certain we were not
Going to be able to put the kite through its paces until Andy set it up and began jumping 15 foot in what seemed to be
About 10 mph of wind. we had 3 06 best kites to play with but it wasn’t really worth putting the 13 - 06 Yarga up. Never
the less it was inflated and taken down to the water. Just to give you an idea, I’m 65 kilos, that’s just shy of 10.5 st. and
I'd inflated my 15 05 yarga, but took the 9m Waroo anyway.

First impressions outa the bag - Construction has surpassed my expectations having been riding best kites through the
04 and 05 lines. The stitching is as ever perfect but what struck me were the socket type struts that were done so neatly.
Otherwise there was nothing to suggest this was not a premium kite.





We inflated the kite as hard as we would normaly and then a little bit extra. Unraveling the lines on the bar gave us a chance to
Have a good look at it before use. Everything was great, nice and wide in the center and tapered to the ends, the line winders
Looked well better than the last years and a lot more practical. The Strop was high quality as were all the lines and rigging.

The safety system composed of a chicken loop based pin release system and a ring for a suicide type leash that would allow
the bar to move to 100% depower should it be released. The system seemed robust and adequate.



OK, the kite was pumped, lines and bar configured - which incidentally was real easy - no more complicated than a conventional
4 liner, and we were ready to give it its first flight. We rigged it on the third knot in towards the kite on the back lines and launched it
with great ease for the 10 mph we had.



As soon as it was up Phil started messing around and just let go of the bar. The kite would fall to one side of the window and sit there
like a puppy ready to chase another stick, waiting for you to pick up the bar and lift it off its tip again. The next thing was the kiteloops.
We pushed the bar out and sent it throught the power zone a few times, result? A kite that turns like whirling dervish and produced no power
thought the power zone. We looked at each other with awe. Pull the bar in and do the same and you get a good dragging even in light winds.

Andy grabbed the kite and started jumping her. First jump say a few feet, but the next ones just got bigger. He was getting 10 ft for sure
possibly 15 in some light number2 wind. I got under the guy to snap some shots.....



Ok I did have a 70 mm lens on a digital slr giving me about 100mm lens (70x1.6)......so yes it doesnt look high but it was....

OK so we had a play, next to go in the air was the yarga 13 06. I didn’t get to fly this one so will refrain from commenting but Andy
Certainly looked quite impressed.

Off we went to the water, normal boards, no light wind stuff even though there wasn’t much wind. I got in first on the 15 yarga and found
it hard work to keep on the plane. I looked over at Phil and had to do a double take. He was on the 9 and up and cruising. I didn’t take
much more notice until a squall came through that must have sent the wind range well above that of any conventional C shape LEI. I got slammed
and had to ditch the 15, everyone ditched I think except that guy riding the 9m Waroo who was going high and having a ball.

I de-rigged my kite and went over to take the Waroo of Phil. He put the kite at zenith and I took the bar as he moved the cl, with the 100% depower this
was easy and allot safer than on a C kite. OK now I can start talkin... As soon as the kite was in my hands I felt the difference between this and
my Yargas. The kite was way more responsive and felt amazingly fun to fly. I let go of the bar a few times and watched it behave perfectly. Tried
to run underneath the kite to get it to either invert or luff and no joy. The kite just followed me and yes, that’s with hands off the bar. OK I was confident
that I wasn’t going to encounter and inversion event so I took it off to the water but the wind died totally and kites were falling out the sky. Waroo stayed
up but I decided to land as I wasn’t going anywhere now. A few minutes later and it were back blowing about 10 - 12 mph so I got her out for a ride.



It took a few minutes to get used to the bar pressure and feedback. I'd say it was very much like a c shape kite but just a bit more sensitive to over sheeting.
Too far out and no power, in light winds too far in and you can choke the kite. however I got the technique dialed in by my second tack and was jumping
10 -15 footers on a 9 m kite in about 10 - 15 mph of wind. I spent the next hour or so riding from shore into waves and the kite just felt natural to me after 10 minutes.
It flies very much like a C Shape kite and it feels damned close too. I spent time railing it hard and the feedback from the board was even better than my C shapes.
progressive railing worked really well too and the kite built tension in the lines very effectively. this could be due to the fact that a lot of the forces were through the harness.
I was quite amazed by this as I thought it'd kill the kite.

Jumping the kite - Well, this was a revelation! as already mentioned the wind 10 - 15 mph, must have been 15 as I began to rail, sent the kite real fast - this was beautiful
as the kite loved being sent -hit the 13.00 point and released all that lovely line tension and got ripped of the water alla f.one 9.1 - super fast and super snappy....I got up
there only to be doubly surprised by how long it took to get down again - another remarkable difference from the C's I usually ride. I fell in love that minute.

Steering and turn rate of the kite was just fun. I can’t think of a better way to describe it. This kite is a hell of a lot of fun! the kite’s responsiveness is brilliant.
No need for tennis elbow remedies here! the pressure from the bar is good enough to allow you to feel the kite wherever it is in the window as long as your
sheeted in and combined with the turn rate being rather quick, even for a 9m, it turns on its tip like a c kite and doesn’t slide out at all, I ran it on the standard centre turn setting so guess it can turn more and less like a c-kite if you want. All this results in
amazing fun and enjoyment. How can I put my finger on it for you...Its not like a mosquito out a control, its more like being in command of a very large mosquito
and in full control. there was no real on / off feeling either, the power was really progressive.



It produced good power in the turns, Went over zenith slightly differently than the C shape kites; I think it cuts a little lower through the window but that certainly
wasn’t a problem. In fact it’s great for wave riding. I could really imagine its wave riding potential. it’s so fast and easy to steer that it’s a no brainier. no problem syncing this
kite in the waves. I didn’t kite loop it personally but I put it through a few downturns and it did as well if not better than the C's. It turned well fast and pulled me through
the carve very smoothly and in full control. Incidentally, the 100 % depower works a treat. I had to spin the bar a couple of times after rotations and as soon as I let go - I sank!
I had absolutely no problem with that as the second time I was fast enough to spin the bar without coming off the plane fully. Furthermore, if you want you can add a stopper ball
so that you can ride against the knot and attach the leash to one of the oh number2 handles on each of the rear flying line leaders. That would make it allot more like a c shape if that
kind of riding is your thing.



Unhooking - the depower strap is well within reach should you want to ride unhooked. I didn’t try it this time out so can’t comment for sure but there is no reason I can think of
Why it wouldn’t work very well indeed, the depower strap covers half the bar travel so no reason why it should choke unhooked.

so, jumping the kite feels better than my C's, the hang time is exceptional for the wind strength, the kite turns better without a doubt, it steers a lot more responsively, it boosts bigger than
my C's without a doubt, its smooth in the turns faster and fast to fly. It gives 100 % depower when you let go of the bar and has the option of being ridden on a stopper. To me it’s all good.
I was always skeptical about bow kites and although this isn’t pure bow, I guess I’m going to eat my words, and say I’m a convert. I'm still trying to find fault with the kite and I cant. I don’t
Believe it!

Later on other people were out on it, some guys looked so stoked riding it that it was as if they had just re discovered kitesurfing. Smiles everywhere as a result of this kite.
One guy went out and spent the whole time kite looping it, another was jumping it more, and someone else was just riding it up and down. All in all it was a great chance to
test this much hyped kite andi have to conclude that the hype is all true.

A great thanks to Phil and Andy of http://www.extremekites.co.uk these guys are super friendly and always put you before themselves.

I believe they might have under hyped this one....

Regds and thanks for reading.

Ron.