Gin Marabou - Single-surface Kite

[derek440]

Interesting discussion about Marabou, I am in the process of becoming the Australia distributor for Gin and Flymaax and have discussed this kite with Gin and they have said they are about to release the next version v2. I asked what is improved and they said "performance" so the rider feedback was that the kite was a great concept and worked well but not enough speed and it has heaps of grunt. I am told the new version is a massive improvement, I've got some on pre-order. I have just received a Shaman v3 6m to try and I also have a Flymaax Toon 8m but the wind has been crap since I got them as its end of the season but as soon as there is good wind I'll try them out with my moses 633 and pocket board. I have had one go on the Toon 8m in about 20kn with my race foil and was surprised how fast and powerful it is, but that's another topic. I have tried a peak 8m before (on my youtube derek440) so will be interesting to compare Shaman 6m and also Marabou v2 when I get my hands on one.

[jumptheshark]

Found your YouTube but can’t find you on a Peak.
?

[derek440]

[derek440]

After reading this thread I got a brand new Shamanv3 6m out of my garage and had a good look at it on the lounge room floor and watched some youtube vids on shamanv2, that kite looks amazing. I took the 5th line off and noticed it has only three rows of bridles and visually looks a lot more high performance then a peak4. I got it just to check it out but i'm pretty excited to try this kite it now, it looks great. I'll try it this weekend and post a review. Might even get some helmet cam video adn youtube it. I did really like the peak 4 but it went upwind so badly compared to my race kites it puts me off but its just horses for courses right, but shaman will be interesting and new marabou v2 will be really interesting.

[jakemoore]

Hi Jake,

Have you had a chance to do a bit of a head to head with the Peak4?

Would love to hear some direct comparison power and handling wise.

Bit weird the Peak has attracted such interest where there is not a lot of feedback on either the Marabou or the Ozone Explore.

There is a business school masters thesis in there somewhere. I think Gin was first with the closed cell tips with the Shaman, but Flysurfer dominates market awareness. Ozone is a little behind without closed tips in the Explore. Has anybody even seen an Explore? I think the Explore promo vid had the best soundtrack by far. And Firefly has a lot of appeal to me as well. Gin and Concept Air both strike me as being more boutique brands. Maybe the Peak phenomenon it’s all driven Horst Sergio’s genuine stoke?

My SS quiver started with a 3m Peak. Then the 11. What a difference!!. I also got to fly a friends 5. When Marabou launched I preordered to round out my quiver. I think I made some comments in the 900 page Peak thread or maybe there is another Marabou thread. It’s been a while so my memories are skewed to the best moments. But regarding the Marabou: stays up in almost zero, pinwheel turns deep in the window, instant depower deep in the window, ride straight downwind - it’s all there like a Peak. Same downsides too: big sizes disappoint due to narrow wind range and low power spike. Some people like Haiku seem to be able to crack the code of the large single skin but not me.

[lederhosen]

There is a business school masters thesis in there somewhere. I think Gin was first with the closed cell tips with the Shaman, but Flysurfer dominates market awareness. Ozone is a little behind without closed tips in the Explore. Has anybody even seen an Explore? I think the Explore promo vid had the best soundtrack by far. And Firefly has a lot of appeal to me as well. Gin and Concept Air both strike me as being more boutique brands. Maybe the Peak phenomenon it’s all driven Horst Sergio’s genuine stoke?

Thinking back at when i bought my peaks, the reason why they are more popular seem obvious:
I was also interested to get a marabou, but could not try it, even after an email to gin. I could try peak at a local kite school and two more times at flysurfer demo events that i randomly walked by. On top of that, the peak also cost less, is made with better material, has way better feedback online and there are lots of videos where people fly it not just in a straight line. Since then i met two people who had the marabou and they both did not seem too happy with it.

It would be cool if producers who dont have a network of local dealers would start sending demo kites around like kitech does. When i was interested in a kitech frs they offered to send me one to try and that offer made me order one. I met another guy who also bought an frs for the same reason.

[slowboat]

I was an early adopter of the SS kite. It seems the Marabou was not readily available when we are all buying Peaks and also more expensive. I ended up liking the Concept Air Firefly the best but am selling them due to my wing ding addiction.

[a99]

Flysufer must release hybrid kite dedicated to hydrofoiling this summer and in late autumn will be release of Peak5 as singel skin for snow officialy.

[nate76]

I put some time on the 6m Marabou before I handed it over to a customer who has been using it for foilboarding and snowkiting. I had a couple people pick up the 12m Marabou for lightwind foilboarding and they have all been happy with it.

The Marabou behaves very much like a single skin: will stay up in next-to-no wind, drifts really really well, great power-to-size ratio. Also like a single skin, it produces power deeper in the window, so isn't going to as efficient at going upwind, but will be really stable and handle gusts well.

I've got very limited time on Peaks, but found the 6m Marabou compared pretty closely to the 6m Shaman V3. The Shaman3 has closed tips unlike the Marabou, so a little less flapping. The little time I did get on a Peak, the Shaman/Marabou felt a little more like a traditional twin skin kite than the Peaks, although they are still very much single skins.

Word on the street is that the Marabou V2 is shooting for more efficiency and extended wind range. In the future, I think the Marabou will become my preferred choice for a larger single skin, as it uses a 4-line bar which I tend to prefer especially for light wind kiting, and should excel at both snow and foilboarding which I am just getting into.

I plan on having the Marabou V2 available for demo at Lake McConaughy this summer for anyone who is interested. Here is a quick look at the 6m Marabou V1: