Im a kook and a noob...but im riding on a 12m LF m80 or swapping the bar and lines to an 06 yarga.
I dream of saving enough pennies for depower!!!!!
Yesterday was first decent wind for ages.. and I realised I suck much more now than my first attempts at raleys at the end of last season, and after the worn out snapping of the fifth line during a gusty front a few months back ..Its now sht scary and hard work!!!
not only am I learning to edge to control but not dropping the kite either coz getn it back up is a baztrd.
Now my legz just hurt..
So I am proof that kookie noobs can ride c's too!!!
everyone moaning about depower are kind of completely reading past the parts that say " C KITES now a days have ALMOST just as much depower as bow hybrid poo kites" which really is saying that you can use either in sh!t conditions.
saying crap about range is the same, the unhooking range on a C kite is way bigger than that of a bridled kite because as soon as you depower a bridle kite it starts flying forward and doing stupid sh!t. C kites you can still trim in stronger wind and have good performance.
as to 5th lines most 5th line C kites from 07 onward depend on a slight bit of tension to give canopy support. eg hifis and i think new and naish and bla bla bla all need a bit of tension in the 5th.
Besides their merits in the performance department, I've got a theory...
I've got an uncle who was one of the first bunch riding in Cape Town (South Africa), so he learned to kite a while back when people got lofted into buildings etc etc.
When I went over and let him try my old TD2 he HATED it, simply because of the lack of feedback and high bar pressure...
It's like most things I guess, you generally kite better on equipment that you're used to and are therefore inclined to continue buying that kind of gear (ie C kites)... eg: I HATE driving automatic cars... can't find the clutch! 
. Even though from an efficiency perspective an automatic is far superior in the kind of city driving I do, familiarity forms a strong bias - which is equally practical.
It's plausable that there is some inertia among long-time kiters to switch to bows/SLEs, who are clearly more likely to be better on average than the latter group of kiters who most likely learned on bow kites and turned into 'bowmosexuals'.
How many learners these days vs. 'back then' are sold C kites?
Of those who aren't, how many go and try C kites?
Of those who try them out, how many are going to actually like C kites, which are chalk and cheese different to what they're used to.
What would be interesting to know is the average kiting experience and the kite learned on of those who fly C-kites vs. SLEs vs. bows... but then that would raise another question:
What is the greater determinant of a good rider? The kite type or the kiting experience?
what type of kite doe's Lou Wainman ride?
It's not about which kite is better. It's about which kite suits your style the most. I learn't on C kites and in their sweetspot they are really fun to ride, but if your not all about handlepass tricks, then I can't see any advantage over modern sles's. C kites allow that split second of slack in the lines after loading up and poping off the water, giving you time to perform your handlepass without being yanked by the kite. Its as simple as that, there is no other advantage. How many of the worlds top kite "surfers" prefer C's to sle's!
It boils down to personal preference, but IMO C kites are best for kiters who are focused on handlepass tricks, Sle's for everything else
^^^^
so your saying that the "newer C's" with "just as much depower as sle's" have a small sweetspot like the 06 models im riding now??
serious question... no sarcasm... this is a good thread for hearing peoples feed back on what they are riding now compared to what they learned on compared to what we will be riding tomoz.
I tend to disagree ben.
Generally SLE/bridle kites go weird when maxed out.
C kites Im familiar with tend to be far more usable/consistent when wind ranged.
(most kites are going for our 4 year old E.S.P. technology, click the NEWkiteboarding.com site for those details)
Off topic,
Wind machine has started and we have had another 3 days of great wave kiting!!
Yellow, vs you have a choice
. What colour board shorts does the little troll have
with C kites compared to SLEs and hybrids - for me- the elephant in the room was steering.
compared to the turning speed of c kites that i had ridden previously )Airush Lift pros / Generators) -these newer flatter kites were absolute slugs. Hideous. horribly slow.
And the depower wasnt significantly more than i was already getting from these efficient c kites. I found that the new hybrids depowered quite alot - but lost all turning input at a certain stage - so practically werent that much more useable...
and here in WA our wind is so steady that wind range isnt that important anyway - if you have access to a quiver of kites.
70% of the kiting buzz for me was having a kite that turned as fast as possible. I love the feel of transitions when you can get the kite where you need it to do a 180 turn mid air and come out going the otehr direction at full plane.
I never really enjoyed my kiting after flat / hybrid SLES became the norm and subsequently drifted away from the sport - preferring the direct feel that comes from my windsurf rig.
regarding the slug like turning of the new wave of kites - is this still the case?
Agree with most comments on the lack of top-end response on SLEs. They do get a bit weird and ordinary in the top end of their (wider) range.
Conversly Cs are max fun at the top end (and still safe-ish if you have a 5th line to bail to).
Give with one hand - take with the other. The bottom end efficiency of my 9m competes with the bottom end of my ol' 13m C (really) so effectively with my 9m SLE I get the bottom end of my ol 13m (but much more agile than the 13m C) and get almost (prob about 3 kts less) the top end of my 9m C - but it's not as much fun at that top end. That's why I also have a 7m SLE.
Horses for courses. In the perfect world I'd be flying 3 x Cs exactly like my ol ones but due to 'gotta get out there and make the most of the session'realities of squeezing kiting into LIFE - the SLEs suit my needs well.
Having flown both Cs and SLEs - the SLE steering is no-where near as bad as some make out I reckon. It is differant and usually a tad slower but it just takes a bit of time to dial into IMO.
It's a bit like the straps vs strapless argument... if it works for you, why would someone else get twisted about and start telling you what you should be riding?? Weird.
Can't wait for the next great inovation in kiting (so I can pick up the best current designs dirt cheap - coz no-one will touch the 'redundant' technology with a bargy ).
Bloody hell I was only trying to have a laugh. Any way back to C kites and not yellow vs blue black green with stripes . PS give me some SW and a know vote on tuesday
Its true you need another size kite for the perfect C kite quiver.
I recon better kiters need different sizes anyway, cause they will look like a kook when wind ranged on a size too big or too small.
Better to be comfortable with the right size than dealing with a pig bridle kite and standing like
C kiters don't generally stand like this because they know what they are doing and the gear doesn't allow the stance.
A person who can kite will just ride downwind a few meters to move the kite to the edge of the wind window or edge hard.
No need to stand like that. With out bridles there is no need for depower lengths like that either.
