Gin Marabou v2 reviews ?

[athen]

thanks for these last replies, very useful!!! I will follow your advice

[gnevin]

My 10m Marabou came in last week and I was able to fly it on the beach this weekend. I used a 55cm Liquid Force Mission Control bar with 20m lines and it worked great!

[nate76]

So finally got out for my 1st legitimate test of the 8m Marabou on snow this morning. Just barely enough to keep things sliding, but it was all I needed. I was at a location that sits right at the foot of a large mountain range, so winds tend to be very gusty and swirly in there; a good place to test kite stability.

I’ll have to say that first impressions are very promising and it exceeded expectations. It is a very smooth and powerful kite, with a surprising amount of speed. There is really no sense of fluttering at the bar, even when fully depowered. It goes upwind really well and does not feel like it is trying to pull you downwind. My experience with single skins is that the upper wind range tends to get defined by a certain speed at which it feels like you can no longer maintain an upwind tack and it feels like you’re just getting drug downwind. That feeling just wasn't there; it felt very much in line with the standard medium aspect open or closed cell foil kite in that regard, in terms of efficiency.

The winds we're highly variable, from about 6 to 20 knots. At 6 knots I was underpowered, at 20 knots there was lots of power but I felt I could edge, bleed It off safely, and still get upwind (at 190 lbs). It handled the gusts well, and I never had a invert or collapse, although it isn't the worst conditions I've been in. The gusts weren't super sharp, but they were still highly variable and switchy. The winds were not consistent enough to get any sense for the lift and boosting ability of the kite; it was just too variable. The speed runs and maneuverability of the kite were a lot of fun though; pulling the bar in and felt like stomping on the accelerator and the kite really had some good grunt.

The combination of having a lot of power in a small platform; the stability, ease of use and sense of security the kite has, combined with the added speed and efficiency that is beyond that of a traditional single skin- I really think this is going to make a remarkable snow kite. Really looking forward to getting it into the mountains.

[nate76]

Little video of my time out w/ the 8m Marabou on snow. Coverage was - how do you say - less than ideal. But enough to get a pretty good feel for the kite in motion and at speed.



Also managed to get the 4m out at the same spot (under moonlight, too dark for video) in very sharp and janky wind conditions. Large wind spikes had the kite constantly surging, but it dumped power nicely and never collapsed (even when depowered) with the exception of one time in a large rotor. Given the conditions I felt this was very good performance.

[Adventure Logs]

Little video of my time out w/ the 8m Marabou on snow. Coverage was - how do you say - less than ideal. But enough to get a pretty good feel for the kite in motion and at speed.

That 8m looks so much faster turning than the Hybrid 7.5m. I'm looking forward to receiving mine. Does anyone know if the kite will fly normally on a high Y bar setup?

[nate76]

That 8m looks so much faster turning than the Hybrid 7.5m. I'm looking forward to receiving mine. Does anyone know if the kite will fly normally on a high Y bar setup?

I don't see a high Y bar setup being much of a problem; there's some videos out there of guys running really short lines (like 5m) on the 6m and it seemed to be fine. If you try it though, let us know!

It would be great to get some objective comparisons between the 7.5 Hybrid and 8m Marabou from someone whose ridden both.

[gnevin]

I finally got a foil session on the 10m. For context, I’m a beginner foiler, 180lbs. This is my first foil/non-LEI kite. The wind was 6-9kts and I was using the Slingshot Hover Glide Space Skate front wing.

The kite is great, very stable and hangs in the air in very little wind. I’ve only ever flown LEI kites so it does turn a bit slower compared to my North Reach, for example, and bar feel is a lot less direct in comparison.

From what I can tell, it drifts really well. I tried my best to ride downwind at it. It also stayed in the air when I messed up a couple jibes and the lines went slack. The kite had plenty of power to get going, but in 4-5kt lulls, it took an extra loop to get on foil.

[Unity-Watersports]

Can somebody explain if the 12m can be riden in 4 knots?
I am looking for a kite of extreme low wind for foiling. I have heared that the Ozone Chrono is a nice option, but for 4-5 knots? I do foil and I am 70 kg. Thanks!

[gnevin]

Can somebody explain if the 12m can be riden in 4 knots?
I am looking for a kite of extreme low wind for foiling. I have heared that the Ozone Chrono is a nice option, but for 4-5 knots? I do foil and I am 70 kg. Thanks!

I think 4-5kts would be possible with the 12m. I’ve only ridden the 10m with a large front wing and I’m able to kite 6kts with some lulls down to 5kts or so. The 10m would be more maneuverable (which is why I personally went with the 10 over the 12)

[Unity-Watersports]

I think 4-5kts would be possible with the 12m. I’ve only ridden the 10m with a large front wing and I’m able to kite 6kts with some lulls down to 5kts or so. The 10m would be more maneuverable (which is why I personally went with the 10 over the 12)

Thank you for replaying. Do you start with a kiteloop?
The lines which you use, are race ones? Which longness?
Nowdays I use the v1 9m Ufo