I hadn't seen this mag since I bought it back in '03 and was amazed to see this kite, I though the crossbow (and that other one, was it GK?) were the first of the pulley kites. This was marketed in 2004 two years earlier.

Did anyone ride one of these kites, or can anyone remember other "breakthrough in kite designs" that actually carried through?

I agree. I think the idea of putting bridles on a C kite was still frowned upon at that stage. Cabrinha and Takoon (both released at the same time) were the first of the to use the bow concept which popularised the bridle on kites and made the acceptance possible.

Takoon seemed to get the idea right (1:1) but their implementation of the concept was flawed and the kites turned slower than the Cabrinha which is probably the main reason the Cabrinha's were so much more successful. GK followed with the Sonic straight after which was probably the first really successful implementation of 1:1 and had they not had the construction issues that they had, they probably would have got a much bigger market than they did.

f-one also introduced the 5th line the same year north did - and I believe ( could be wrong ) that in both cases the actual 5th line system was marketed after the initial batch of 04 kites and then adopted later.... Im sure someone else must have tried it a few years earlier though

Maybe you guys are forgetting the Wipika CLS system