Turbine 19m

[Greenturtle]

Hey just back from bahamas trip and put plenty enough time on this humongous kite both low and high end to share some thoughts.
I know the big kite contingent is waning what with hydrofoil taking over the light wind segment for many, but shallow water or really rough conditions still dictates tt or sb.

Anyway, I mainly bought this beast for tandem riding and for that it does excel as one would expect.
On this trip however I did use it alone quite a bit including post-tandem rides when too lazy to pump smaller size for myself...
Im about 170lbs / 77kg and I was using 134 and 160 tt’s. Thought it would likely be way too much for just me in 15 knot conditions and was hesitant to try it in that for sure, but I was really surprised, with pigtails on least power and depowered fully I could not only survive, but have a ton of fun and boost all over the place with lovely soft parachute landings.
I am not advocating riding overpowered and for the record I am not suggesting to anyone that they do. This kite does for sure generate uncontrollable pull in that wind if too much board speed is developed, but if you control that and ride slow it has a top end to it that I did not expect at all at my weight and cranked upwind. Very minimal flutter too, only lightly luffing behind le, which was also surprising in pushing its top end. - I easily could have ridden my 12m flite in the same wind (and definitely would rather, but as I say, lazy a few times to switch down)

On the low end I have less to comment on because I was not surprised. As you would expect, it gets the job done very well. Not going to try to give a wind speed figure, but for sure it was very light many days and having this kite was clutch. I used to have the 17 turbine and I would definitely say that the 19 does indeed add welcome power to the really marginal lw conditions, and boosts sooner, with good upwind performance.

Turning speed / reactivity is painfully slow, but it works ok with the 23inch bar. Any shorter of bar length would not really be doable in my opinion.
Bar pressure is on the heavy side but perhaps less than the 2014 17m turbine I had before, or about the same.
Relaunch I did not test as this kite has not been wet yet.
Handling on the ground / flipping it over etc is awkward at best because its so big.

I will also add as I have stated before that this kite is bigger than 19m. Id say at least 22. Think what you will about this, but I would put money on it being the biggest lei that is readily available to the public based on what Ive seen from laying it over other kites from different brands on the ground.

If you’re a big dude or just want the max power lei, I recommend it, especially as its very inexpensive (saw the 2017’s going for 700 bucks new recently)

Happy spring everyone

[BiteMe]

What year is your 19m?

How do you find the downwind pull on the 19m? I have a 17m and find when the wind picks up the downwind pull is a struggle. I really have to fight the kite. Just curious if they are making the newer models higher aspect

[kitexpert]

It tested a Turbine some years ago and I had to rank it one of the worst big LEI kites I've used. It was slow, it had bad upwind performance (I couldn't follow my friends) bar pressure was quite high and also feeling of the kite was heavy (not pulling forward but to downwind). It relaunched well though.

Kites like Zephyr, Contra, TS, Passion, FS, XR5, Edge etc are much more lighter in use, not to mention kites like Speed4-5 or Sonic2. If you are not a heavy weight rider who needs a lot of grunt I don't recommend kites like biggest Turbine. Other with similar properties (or even stronger) was Airush Zero, it had ridiculously low range before everyone was overpowered with it. But Zero having no struts was exceptional LEI in very light wind and also by its pack size and weight.

Another suspicious thing with this kind of kites is huge LE diameter which makes it weak. I was on the beach when local Zero exploded, it was a loud bang and after that it was miserable sight with huge tear in LE and bladder.

[Greenturtle]

What year is your 19m?

How do you find the downwind pull on the 19m? I have a 17m and find when the wind picks up the downwind pull is a struggle. I really have to fight the kite. Just curious if they are making the newer models higher aspect

Its the 2017 19m

When the wind picks up to 15 kt I find that if I ride slow and aggressively edge, the upwind performance is excellent. If I allowed board speed to build up too much then the downwind pull is uncontrollable in that wind speed at my weight. I do not think the newer models are any higher aspect.

[Toby]

Sounds like a good kite!

[Greenturtle]

It tested a Turbine some years ago and I had to rank it one of the worst big LEI kites I've used. It was slow, it had bad upwind performance (I couldn't follow my friends) bar pressure was quite high and also feeling of the kite was heavy (not pulling forward but to downwind). It relaunched well though.

Kites like Zephyr, Contra, TS, Passion, FS, XR5, Edge etc are much more lighter in use, not to mention kites like Speed4-5 or Sonic2. If you are not a heavy weight rider who needs a lot of grunt I don't recommend kites like biggest Turbine. Other with similar properties (or even stronger) was Airush Zero, it had ridiculously low range before everyone was overpowered with it. But Zero having no struts was exceptional LEI in very light wind and also by its pack size and weight.

Another suspicious thing with this kind of kites is huge LE diameter which makes it weak. I was on the beach when local Zero exploded, it was a loud bang and after that it was miserable sight with huge tear in LE and bladder.

I think you would find that the turbine is bigger than all those lei models per number printed on kite when compared laying on ground.
Test the 15m turbine against other 17m models for a better comparison.

Slingshot may be shooting themsleves in the foot by doing this. But Im glad one company at least is offering an lei in a crazy big size so I can do tandem rides in nice lw conditions when water is smoother etc and not have to wait for 20knot days. I realize this is a niche market haha

I agree with your assessment, best suited for a real heavy rider at 17, 19 sizes. Or for Toby

[kitexpert]

I think you would find that the turbine is bigger than all those lei models per number printed on kite when compared laying on ground.

Ok, I didn't know that. And it should be remembered that kite judging is very personal thing because taste, use and body weight etc. differ so much. No doubt there is many who like kites like Turbine and feel kites like Zephyr are weak and gutless.

[bri7]

used to have a 16M turbine, once I'd recovered from inflating the thing it was like a fkin tank. Anything over 12 knots and I'd be hinging on for dear life. A bit like driving a big van in the city, every nice person just jumps out the way

[iriejohn]

used to have a 16M turbine, once I'd recovered from inflating the thing it was like a fkin tank. Anything over 12 knots and I'd be hinging on for dear life. A bit like driving a big van in the city, every nice person just jumps out the way

Did SS ever make a 16m Turbine?

[ap888]

19m with 15kn u will end up here