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Hi everyone

I just want to share my experience with my new kite. Conceptair Wave 6,5.

I saw some videos and comments on Internet that made mi curious about this kite.

Ben, please feel free to add your comments.
I didn't asked Ben for advice. I like to figure it out by myself. So the trial and error is because I didn't asked for help.

Aim I wanted to achieve:
1) well drifting kite for my Greg style or Steph Style foiling. (Kind of)
2) a 6-8m kite that fly's well in sub 10knots wind for my son, 45kg 12 years old who wants to learn kiting.

I was curious so without any deeper conversation with Ben I ordered the kite.
I received the kite as promised, so everything perfekt.


Today I had my first day with my new toy.
Please find the wind reported in the fotos from reported of two stations on the beach. 500m distance. I was kiting from 16:30 to 19:30.

I'm 50, 16 years of kiting, 2,5 of foiling. 108kg dry.
I get all jibes. No tacks.

Quiver:
Lotus4 18m
Hyperlink 12m (it does not fit in the quiver)
REO in 10 and 7
Zeeko Carver

I tried today the wave with 25m lines and 55cm bar.

The bar maybe is to big, I will test and let you know. The wave requires more steering power. You feel very well where the kite is.
25m lines looks ok for the lower range of the kite. Generates lots of apparent wind when the kite can run.
With the 55cm Bar i can pivot the kite but it loses all his power. So next time I will try a smaller bar, but it has only 20lines. For me it looks necessary to have a large bar to get the kite turned. But maybe 55cm is to much. Once turned it acelerates very well.

The kites drifts very well.

So I'm quite surprised by the low-end, but to be honest I think the gusts helped a lot. Anyway meanwhile I was kiting, there were kites from 17m with directional board up to race-foiler with Ozons R1V2 in 11m.


The mixer is realised by different knots. Looks much easier than the FS system, as you only jump from one knot to the other. But I noticed that the lines get tangled around the knots when on ground. So this have to be checked carefully before starting.

I dropped the kite once and it almost jumped out of the water.

There was a colleague which is about 60kg on a Neo 6m with HF, too.

I think the Wave 6,5 and a Wave-LEI 8/9m could be compared.
Very light and small packing kite.
Drifts very well
A little hard to land. I think you have to power the kite when landing. It collapsed twice when I tried landing it in the edge of the window, with bar totally depowered.

By today thumbs up for this powerful wave- toy.

When there is no wind I'll make some fotos.


I'm kiting in Spain, Barcelona, Castelldefels if somebody wants to have a closer look.

CU on the water

Carsten

Great post, thanks for sharing your feedback. I really appreciate the incorporation of sensor data, makes the direct comparison easier between other brands.

Sounds like the tip curl fully depowered is pretty standard, all my kites do that when landing with the trimmer pulled in. I usually land fully powered now for exactly this reason as it removes that variable of having to fight the kite.

Hi,
Thank you for sharing your impressions. I have the 4.5 and 6.5 and can comment on some of your observations.

Regarding bar width I currently use a ~50cm bar and though it works fine I'm going to make a slightly larger bar to experiment with. I have been out once with a 55 cm. bar but I'm can't really say I have any conclusions after that. I do have the 50 cm. bar at full tilt from time to time.

Like with any tool you will appreciate it a lot more when you learn the specifics of it. I'm still adjusting to how much bar pressure I need to add. The distance between power/depower is short which fits my trimless system great but it also requires you to not sheet out a lot. Having it close to the windows edge requires some bar pressure as you noticed when landing. Did you land with a helper? Solo landing via backstall is still not working for me very well. It is a shame because it has been my preffered method with other foils.

I was out yesterday in 10-12 m/s and was using the second knot from the top on the steering lines. I seem to have settled on that setting and I believe my lines are of equal length.

Sombra wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 11, 2018 10:00 pm

With the 55cm Bar i can pivot the kite but it loses all his power. So next time I will try a smaller bar, but it has only 20lines. For me it looks necessary to have a large bar to get the kite turned. But maybe 55cm is to much. Once turned it acelerates very well.

This is has nothing to do with bar length, keep your 55cm bar. You may need to adjust the line length / trim. With my CA Waves, I don't like that the kite stalls when the bar is fully pulled in, some like it but I don't. So adjust your back lines so that you don't "choke" the kite to quickly when you pull in the bar.

Then, this is not a LEI, you have to let the "kite flies by itself" and be gentle (i.e. pilot it)... you use it to get back to the peak and then you focus on surfing, no need to shake it in every direction because it still flies on slack lines ... flow is the secret

stefFZ wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 12, 2018 10:06 pm

This is has nothing to do with bar length, keep your 55cm bar. You may need to adjust the line length / trim. With my CA Waves, I don't like that the kite stalls when the bar is fully pulled in, some like it but I don't. So adjust your back lines so that you don't "choke" the kite to quickly when you pull in the bar.

Then, this is not a LEI, you have to let the "kite flies by itself" and be gentle (i.e. pilot it)... you use it to get back to the peak and then you focus on surfing, no need to shake it in every direction because it still flies on slack lines ... flow is the secret

Hi,

I’m aware of it. But just one thing is to know the theory and another is to do so. I was most time foiling at the lowend of the kite and when you need power the reflex is to pull the bar. I have To get usted to it, alsow my Lotus in 18 behaves the same way.
What line length do you use? I’m not sure about it, but after (only) one day, I think long lines are better. But again, I had the kite with max power the complete session, so I do not know in which manner the kite behaves when nicely powered.
During this first LOWEND session I missed the instant power. When I wanted to turn out of the manover it took a second to get the kite to speed up and develop the power. But this may be due to lack of wind. I never would have believed that I could kite with winds that low with 6,5m kite.

I tried several times to surf a wave with the kit in park position and let go the bar. The kite behaves great, does not pull from the harness and stays up in the zenith.

But the cost of it is more steering forces needed. So the little beast got my shoulder muscles aching.

Nice kite. Looking forward for the next session.


CU

Carsten

I use 21m lines, most us use lines around this length ... maybe it will be interesting to shorten the lines to make a test. On a strapless surfboard, I don't really need to.

A friend of mine bought the Wave 6.5 that Benoît brought with him when he visited us. Here on a very short downwinder on an hydrofoil with 25 knots, the camera in one hand and the bar in the other.

https://vimeo.com/275601814

L'aile est impériale et ne demande pas de gestion particulière. Dans ces conditions la conduite peut se faire d'un coup de poignet. On retrouve les gènes de la 4.5 en moins sport, plus cool.

These CA Waves change the way you kite in waves. I was on the Wave 4.5 yesterday in 25-30 knots+, strapless with a very little swell (80cm!) side / side-off and it is really a fantastic kite.

Hi


I had 4 more sessions with the CA Wave 6.5
Lowend for me is roundabout 11 knots. From 13 knots its fun.
Very powerful AND insane wind range
They kites relaunches by itself.
Drift of the kite is perfect, no back stall.

Tried it with 25m and 21m. Both works good, better lowend with longer lines. No surprise. Bar was still 55cm. When I used it with a smaller one, I will post here

Max speed recorded so far, without looking for speed, as it is no race kite, was 40km/h. Please do not take this as the max speed the kite is able to run.Just for the file.
NEgative is only the quite big bar forces needed.

Landing the kite alone looks like a little challenging. But I didn’t tried, as our beaches a very crowded due to the summer/vacation season. But I think the easier it relaunches on water, the trickier it will be to land it alone on the beach without letting it drop into the safety.

CU
Carsten