Hi Ste,
I felt the same when I first got my Cat. I think I just wanted to replicate that continuously heavy feeling of the switchblade I came from. Once I got used to the kite I was quite happy with shortest factory knots. I do prefer the loops closest to center on leading edge in light conditions though.
Yep, I shortened the shortest knots by about 10mm for max range on 14, 10 and 8. There may be some batch variation so fly your kite first to see how it's going.
Do not shorten your lines to try to replicate the bar pressure or grunt of another brand's kite. It's about tuning the bar to give the right range of angle of attack of the kite. Pulling in more rear line beyond a certain point will restrict your range and increase the likelihood of stalling.
It's not a mysterious art, the tuning of lines; you just need to get a feel for where the kite works best and then adjust the knots so that that trim point/range falls in thew comfiest part of the bar throw for your stance, arm length, and harness combination.
Trim Rope: I run about 2.5 inches of trim (5 inches of rope given the 2:1 pull) on my 10m and 8m for top end of range vs low end so it's not a big shift.
And for max low end you don't always want max sheeting. Let that kite breathe, build speed, and then gradually pull the bar in to find the sweet spot rather than yanking it in expecting grunt. Feel for this develops the more you pay attention to it. Line up with other kiters so you can compare your speed, upwind angles etc for various bar/sheeting positions.
Fly Ozone, vive la difference!
Guys, Ive had the 2013 Catalyst 8m up a few times in consistent 26 knts & it performed as expected. However, conditions in Sydney were pretty insane on Sunday. At Botany Bay gusts were from below 25-37 knts . First time I've experienced conditions like this. I consider myself a beginner but felt confident enough to get out in the mix. There were strange periods in the conditions where the wind would completely die in the arse & kites would fall out the sky & then BOOM suddenly be powered up with a 30 knt gust. Some guys would really struggle with relaunching, number of kites fully inverted, others came back to the beach & packed up after one or two tacks. The 8m Catalyst performance was outstanding . Ive never had to work & pump the bar so much but was amazed how well it soaked up these gusts. At times when I felt over powered I only had to edge harder to compensate. A few depowering adjustments were also made but I never felt out of my depth. I found the Catalyst very quick & responsive when I had to steer it out of a dead wind zone. It was a great learning curve for me & at my level really feel I put this kite through hell. [}:)]
Great to know Jason I have one on order for exactly the reason you have discussed.
Rider: ~85kg, intermediate
Style: Freeriding, Freestyle
Weather: ~14-23
Build Quality: 9/10
Satisfaction: 9/10
Disclosure: this kite replaced some very old kites (Aero II / Rhino '04), so the only way was up...
Board: Cabrinha Custom 2013 140cm
My Comments:
I bought a 12m '2013 Cat at the start of January this year. I'd had a little break from kiting ~5years. I stoped kiting when I started uni a few years back as I didn't really have the money or the time... Got the idea at the start of this year to get back into kiting now that I'm no longer a poor student...
So, I picked a new 12m Cat on the advice of the guys in Kitepower at Sans Souci. I didn't want to bother with demoing as I'd been out for so long and would really have nothing to compare to...
Result: massive grins from ear to ear... This kite seriously makes kiting that much easier and fun, it's awesome. I kited pretty solidly for a couple years before my break, so I was straight out and back up first try, turns out its like riding a bike. Only the new bike is sooo much better...
Riding: mostly flat water, back loops, trying front loops, trying spin transitions, big boosts, down loops, trying unhooked a little but just beginning (I can pop, but really my only 'unhooked trick' is hooking back in... Lol). I took it to the beaches in the surf a couple of times when I first got it, but can't really comment.
I also picked up a 10m 2012 C4 in Feb.
Some points:
- boost is freaking awesome in with this kite, it's very easy to send and has nice glide.
- eats gusts all day long, it just sticks in the sky, and is very manageable.
- great low end I feel, I can get out and be going upwind in about 14knots on a 2010 underground Stella 144x46 @ 85kg. (14knots is my best guess...)
- makes progression easy, I have more tricks in my bag now after 3months back on the scene than I did after 2years on my old (really old) kites.
- love the simplicity of the short bridle and 4 lines.
- relaunch is easy, just keep pressure on the kite to avoid inverting, I inverted second sessions out, never since. Was my error.
- it's hard to drop it out of the sky in lulls, it looks like it might fall, the just floats back in the window a bit and recovers. I back stalled it a little the other day for a second, but just pushed the bar away and all was good, it was on the beach in light conditions.
Negatives:
- I don't really like the 'pull towards' safety. But, to be fair when the kite inverted and I needed to release it, I had no trouble.
- when not riding suicide and I do too many loops one way, the center lines twist, not a big deal, and I'm getting better at looping both ways but I still always seem to have twists in the center lines either one way or the other. There is a small amount of wear I can see on the lines in that area, really only a small point, I don't think it will be an issue.
Bottom line:
I love flying this kite and I add to my bag of tricks almost every day I'm out. It makes riding heaps of fun and progression very accessible. Behaves very nicely in a broad range of conditions and keeps me smiling every session, really can't say enough good things about this kite!
Hi guys, had the 8m 2013 cat for a while now and it's my go to high wind kite, lots of winter frontal stuff at Brighton and Rosebud. I have tried it on all bar settings and have just left it on the middle using the shortest steering line. I'm far from in love with it but don't really know what could be better for what I do (70% tt, but love my surf sessions!)
-The comments about lots of power in the turns rings true for me which is the main negative in the waves, and requires some creative flying to keep it drifting in moderate conditions.
-Excellent bottom end when flown actively; a huge factor of winter riding is the lulls!
-love the build quality, huge pump up valve, and 4 line simplicity (has recovered from the craziest of situations with out fault)
-it comes with 25m lines which seems excessive when I use it as a boosting/unhooked kite, I think I'll make a shorter set
-I've never felt unsafe in the top end of this kite but it likes to be left fairly powered because it steers terribly on slack steering lines.
Just some thoughts, feedback welcomed :)
Select to expand quoteNeddero said..
Rider: ~85kg, intermediate
Style: Freeriding, Freestyle
Weather: ~14-23
Build Quality: 9/10
Satisfaction: 9/10
Disclosure: this kite replaced some very old kites (Aero II / Rhino '04), so the only way was up...
Board: Cabrinha Custom 2013 140cm
My Comments:
I bought a 12m '2013 Cat at the start of January this year. I'd had a little break from kiting ~5years. I stoped kiting when I started uni a few years back as I didn't really have the money or the time... Got the idea at the start of this year to get back into kiting now that I'm no longer a poor student...
So, I picked a new 12m Cat on the advice of the guys in Kitepower at Sans Souci. I didn't want to bother with demoing as I'd been out for so long and would really have nothing to compare to...
Result: massive grins from ear to ear... This kite seriously makes kiting that much easier and fun, it's awesome. I kited pretty solidly for a couple years before my break, so I was straight out and back up first try, turns out its like riding a bike. Only the new bike is sooo much better...
Riding: mostly flat water, back loops, trying front loops, trying spin transitions, big boosts, down loops, trying unhooked a little but just beginning (I can pop, but really my only 'unhooked trick' is hooking back in... Lol). I took it to the beaches in the surf a couple of times when I first got it, but can't really comment.
I also picked up a 10m 2012 C4 in Feb.
Some points:
- boost is freaking awesome in with this kite, it's very easy to send and has nice glide.
- eats gusts all day long, it just sticks in the sky, and is very manageable.
- great low end I feel, I can get out and be going upwind in about 14knots on a 2010 underground Stella 144x46 @ 85kg. (14knots is my best guess...)
- makes progression easy, I have more tricks in my bag now after 3months back on the scene than I did after 2years on my old (really old) kites.
- love the simplicity of the short bridle and 4 lines.
- relaunch is easy, just keep pressure on the kite to avoid inverting, I inverted second sessions out, never since. Was my error.
- it's hard to drop it out of the sky in lulls, it looks like it might fall, the just floats back in the window a bit and recovers. I back stalled it a little the other day for a second, but just pushed the bar away and all was good, it was on the beach in light conditions.
Negatives:
- I don't really like the 'pull towards' safety. But, to be fair when the kite inverted and I needed to release it, I had no trouble.
- when not riding suicide and I do too many loops one way, the center lines twist, not a big deal, and I'm getting better at looping both ways but I still always seem to have twists in the center lines either one way or the other. There is a small amount of wear I can see on the lines in that area, really only a small point, I don't think it will be an issue.
Bottom line:
I love flying this kite and I add to my bag of tricks almost every day I'm out. It makes riding heaps of fun and progression very accessible. Behaves very nicely in a broad range of conditions and keeps me smiling every session, really can't say enough good things about this kite!
Never seen a C4 invert - thats when a kite relaunches inside out, as in the struts are on the outside of the kite. I think you mean it rolled through its lines, and yeah thats usually just user error.
You can unspin the front lines manually, all you need to do is clip your leash to the ring inside the chicken loop, then just rotate the bit where the flag out line sits. Before you come back to the beach to land clip the leash back on to the flag out line ( I launch this way too and change to the inner ring once I'm away from the shore)
Yeh man I do the same. Always ride in the metal suicide ring because I'm rotating and looping my ass off. Honestly I've never come across a swivel that auto unspins even the mutiny. Only works for a while get a bit of sand and it doesn't work. Prefer the manual unspin on the airush, north and ozone bars.
