how would these kites do in high wind in gusty conditions. I hate gusty wind, most times I won't even bother kiting, but if these are good for these conditions I might consider. I fly foil kites, so not great at all in gusty conditions, especially Sonic 3.
High aspect foilkites are the worst in gusts, single skins are the best. At least Flysurfer peaks are amazing gust eaters:
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how would these kites do in high wind in gusty conditions. I hate gusty wind, most times I won't even bother kiting, but if these are good for these conditions I might consider. I fly foil kites, so not great at all in gusty conditions, especially Sonic 3.
So I've found the stability of the Marabou to be quite good, even by single-skin standards. Certainly better than most twin skin open or closed cell kites. I recently tested the 4m in some blustery, rotoring winds and it did well. There were a couple collapses from rotors/swirling wind (as would be expected from really any kite); what I look for in those conditions is how easily it recovers without tangles/bowties, and how safe the surge is.
By both those metrics the Marabou 2 did well; I personally think it's going to make a fantastic snow/ backcountry kite. A little more performance and upwind ability than a traditional single skin, but still retains a lot of the ease-of-use and stability of a single skin. Waiting for a bit more snow in the mountains, but hopefully soon....
Last edited by nate76 on Thu Nov 24, 2022 10:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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I have had the 6m out a few more times in light wind and the power is crazy for the kite size. Also got to the try the 4m in some nasty wind and it was rock solid. Like with a single skin the gust handling is helped by riding such small sizes in the nasty wind. And having the firm leading edge area gives the kite great shape and helps keep it open or get it to re-open. Check out this video of the water relaunch, the kite just wants to open up and fly, often without hands on the bar, i've never seen anything like it
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IWantToFly (Fri Nov 25, 2022 11:03 am) • lederhosen (Fri Nov 25, 2022 11:15 am) • gnevin (Mon Nov 28, 2022 3:41 am)
what's the best bar to fly the new Gin Marabou V2? Does this kite give its best using the Gin bar? If yes, which one of their model? Thanks
I've been trying it with a few bars and they all seem to work well. The Gin Foil bar is more expensive and works perfectly but its more expensive and comes with shorter lines 15m and 2+2 extensions so that bar works well and I really like it. I have also started using the normal Gin Bar in 52cm which comes with 19m lines and it also works fine and I didn't notice much difference on the first try. The Gin Foil bar has a longer throw and a larger and higher ratio trimmer system but i'm not convinced you need those things on a marabou2. For me the long throw is good for tacking a hydrofoil, if you are not tacking I'd say you can use pretty much any bar, like the normal Gin bar 52cm which works really well and is a very nice bar. My wife prefers to use the marabou2 with a carbon race bar and short lines because that's what she is used to and she also tacks with this kite, for me I can gybe it on a dime so I just do that or upwind 180 sometimes for fun, but both work with either bar. I think it will also work fine with tube kite bars that are equal length lines and low V but I haven't tried that yet. Tube kite bars tend to have very basic trimming systems but I don't think it matters too much with marabou2 it still should work fine and requires very little trimming.
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what's the best bar to fly the new Gin Marabou V2? Does this kite give its best using the Gin bar? If yes, which one of their model? Thanks
I’ve been flying my Marabou’s on homemade carbon bars ranging from 48cm for my 4m to 52 and 55cm bar lengths for the larger sizes on 19 to 24m lines, and they all seem to work fine. These are all 4-line, low-V setups. I tend to run longer lines since most of my time spent snowkiting.
The Marabou requires a little more depower throw than a Peak, but it is still is on the shorter side like most single-skins, and requires less throw than most traditional twin skins and inflatables. If you have a 4-line FLS type bar in the 52cm range that you like and you don’t want to buy another one, I would try it out with your current setup first and I think you’ll find it will work just fine.