Rider: 95kg, advanced
Style: mostly unstrapped surf, the odd bit of old school deadmen!!
Board: TSJ Shotgun shortboard.... my day to day surfboard.
Weather: for this kite 15-25knt

Hi all.

Im looking to get a dedicated wave kite to run alongside a 12m switchy as my freeride kite. Im 100kg before my morning stop :) and was wondering how other larger lads had found the drifter.

The gap between a 12m switchy and 11m drifter? is it large enough? or should I be looking at a 9m drifter.... but I still want to be surfing in 15.

thanks

Thats the info i was adter. cheers!!

how does he like the drifter?

hey zippa what wind you need to get going on ur 11 and surfboard?

what can u hold the 11 to?

thanks Tez. ive just put down on an 11m 2012. thanks all. ill put up a report once flown!

cant wait. should get my 11 mid next week, if its as rockn as everyone says ill be lookin for a 9 too! cheers all

Ok I got the 11m.Only hickup was it has the 2011 bar??? still trying to sort that one out.

Anway.First kite on it was in 12-18...... and to be honest I was not too impressed.the wind was really gusty and holey from the north.... cross shore. I couldnt get it to park for surfing, I'd get it positioned and park it and go to turn and it would stall. I wasn't sure if it was not enough wind, my bad kite postitioning.either way I was withholding my judgement.

Next session was 18-25 from NE.MUCH better. the kite needs a good solid 15 to get me going on a surfboard. I still struggled with kite position, it drifts so well it seemed to always end up back over my head so when i was hitting a section and coming back down the kite too high over me...Im sure this is an issue with my kite positioning on the new kite.
i need to work on that side of thing.

the wind filled in to solid 20, so I went out on my TT for some fun.I was surprised how good the drifter was for powered freestyle. kite low powered tricks were really nice, heaps of pop and the kite drifts well to give you a bit of space to land without the kite being lit. very nice. It even did a reasonable job with some old school one footers and big floaty front roll to down loops.

So, overall I think Im attacking the waves the wrong way on it....it nots that great in this area in which it is meant to rock, so i cn only assume Im parking it wrong. For all round free ride its really nice when powered.

oh yeah, the kite responds to being ridden fast when going back out to the line up and tacking up wind <it was very nice for quick tacks> in marginal conditions you need to keep your board speed up there....I think that may be why it didnt surf well on the first day..

For my size I probably should have gone a 12m switchy and a 9m drifter for when im wave riding in 18+winds.

here is a bit of footage of the drifter 11m in 20-28 knts on a twin tip.....jumps ok for a wave kite : )

did a DW wave session unstrapped in the arvi in 20-25 and it was really nice, super stable. There was a few sections where we had to negotiate around a bommy and it was really messy. Even is overpowered conditions unstrapped it was easy to negotiate.

My only gripe is probably that it performs best in the higher end of the wind range, which has me looking for a switchy or similar for lighter surfboard conditions...

I might have to give a noise a try. BW has heaps of crew on em here.... I see packs of em come cracking past me on their downwinders.