Thursday, September 24, 2009

EH Ovando, quick review.


EH Ovando, quick review.

OK, 3 words to describe this kite-
POWER, POWER & POWER



Pumped the 9m Ovando today (available for demo) in marginal winds that I usually don't bother pumping up in as these days my biggest kite is a 12m "C" kite. To my surprise I was motoring along on my 139cm board. Five minutes in I knew there was no need for the big plank and went to my 131cm board. The wind picked up after a while and as I was on the most powerful setting I had to tweak the de-power strap on a bit.

I can't say how windy it was as the closest beacon tends to over state the wind by a couple of knots and our beach is in a bit of a shadow. I would guess it was around 11 knots at the start and up to 18 for the last 10 minutes.

Other kiters were another heavy weight on a 19m Speed, a middle weight on a 19m speed and two light weights on pump ups one with a skim. I won't make comparisons to them though as it wasn't an upwind comp or anything.

I didn't try too much with regards to the kites general performance for jumping or unhooked as I was mostly consumed by the power trip but will review in more depth later.

Those who know me well are fully aware that I am the first to ignore advertising hype about kite performance until I try it myself but at this point I am absolutely convinced this is the most powerful kite per meter I have ever used.

If you are considering one of these definately get a size or 2 smaller than you would normally fly. As an every day kite for 85kg I would say the 9m is enough.

Jas


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