VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

I think you are seeing two guages of cuben. They use a "heavy" guage for the leading edge and a lighter one for the canopy.

Just Finished testing the 15m Hellfish!!!

We had 1 hellfish here in Cabarete this weekend available for testing. I am going to repeat again that I have never been a Best rider because when you hear what I have to say, you'll believe that I am biased.

The kite is simply amazing.
-Turns faster than anything I've been on and I tested a lot of kites during the Cabarete Testival.
-We had gusty winds today but it was incredibly stable, even though the kite is fast, it doesn't need to be, you don't have to work this kite
-With the gusts it was obvious that this kite has a huge wind range
-Definately not a beginner kite
-I wish I could have had a longer turn to test the kite but everyone was limited to 1/2 hour

One problem: although I never experienced this, one of the other testers founf that it was quite difficult to water relaunch. We assume that this is also because of the small leading edge.

If you guys post any questions I'll try to answer them but, as I said earlier, I'll be limited because I was only able to fly for 20 min.

Hey Stammy,

Thanks for the review.

Curious what wind strength you took it out in? Could you explain what you mean by it not being a beginner kite? Any comments about jumping it?

My only concern about the Hellfish is how the Cuben fiber material will hold up.

Hey Alex,

Winds were about 12 knots gusting up to 17.

The kite flies deep in the wind window and even with a 15m it was much too fast for a beginner. Once kiters have good kite control they will enjoy this kite but until then it will make the learning process hard. It'd be like giving a student a trainer kite with power.

Didn't feel like I was boosting any higher than other kites but I was definately floating down much slower.

As for whether or not the material will hold up, that is the question that is on everyones mind. If I was you, I'd wait before going out and selling kites to buy these right away. Purchase them later when enough people have damaged/tested theirs, then we'll see.

It is for sure right now but I am discussing the possibilty of bringing one or two up with me when I come home for vacation in July. If this is the case, I'll make sure people are given the chance to try them. This totally depends on whether or not Kim will spare them.

If you'd like to have a look at some pictures and a video of the Hellfish when it was here last weekend, One of the local riders has posted some on his webpage: http://www.nelmes.org.uk/Hellfish/index.htm

You can get a real look at the size of the struts and leading edge.

If you have been to KiteBeach, Cabarete before, you'll notice that the wind is very poor in the pictures because we usually get our trade winds from the east and on the day we were out on the Hellfish, the wind was coming from the west. The wind was light and gusty.

For those of you who have never been there, there would be atleast fifty kites at this spot on a normal day. The Hellfish was the only kite that managed in the conditions.

Again, just trying to help distribute some info on what seems to be the next generation of Kite.

Can you define what you mean by 'wind was light and gusty'? Any idea of a wind speed would be good.

ya, the wind was about 10 knots at most times, gusts up 17 knots. the rider that you see in most of those pictures is Kim, he is about 170 lbs. and riding a 130 cm board.

I agree, like everything else give it some time and let it sort itself out, get the kinks out so to speak, I admit it is interesting especially at how small it packs up, yet still not "sold" on the kite, although I do think the chrome color is super cool.