Better...

but still not Epic.

Forecast looked awesome all day, so I headed to the lake at 12:30pm-ish to make the most of the sunny afternoon... and there was frickin' NO WIND.
Stood around shooting the shit with Miyachi and after moaning about the bar pressure on my Xbow 16 (am I turning into a limp-wristed sissy?!?!) he offered me his 14m RPM. I was actually hoping for the 15m Naish Charger but oh well :D

During the standing around, the wind picked up and we got white-caps on the lake - suit up! Rush the beach! Hump the gear!
Pah, no need... even after setting up the kite and diddling around going back to the car for gloves, it still wasn't that windy. I got on the water anyway with the new kite...

So what's it like, mister?
First thoughts on the RPM were "Wow, this is just like my arcs! But without all the power through the turns!" As the day went on, that feeling was reinforced as the kite jelly-fished, twitched and vibrated just like the arcs do. It IS a very nice kite though, don't get me wrong!
Heavier on the steering that the sheeting; likes to be worked to make power but doesn't really feel like it's powered; fast in turns but not so fast that it'll spank you... where I enjoy riding it the most though is no doubt out near it's top-end... and it gets twitchy and punchy up there, jerking and behaving badly.
Directly connected rear lines give good feedback - but too much in my opinion... you feel every twitch and vibration of the lines; I prefer the 'damping' of systems with pulleys. For now...
I was surprised at how little power it made in loops... and it needed a lot of wind for me to park'n'ride. I never got off the Flydoor and never though about trimming it either - much to Miyachi's surprise.
Also, really didn't want to turn with the bar right out - I dunked it once (and only once!) when it just wouldn't  turn and I dragged a wing-tip... relaunch was fine, maybe just a tad more difficult than the Xbow but that may have been cos the kite was heading towards a buoy and I was getting worried...!
Over all, a really nice kite but I'm happier with my 2011 Crossbows!
(Was on a big bar - 65cm probably, with 27m lines too... FYI)

... wind was up and down all session - we spent a lot of time trying to get moving in the lulls and then having fun in the gusts. Soh changed his kite several times and I either kept working the hell out of the kite, jumping like a loon or standing on the beach :(

Got some nice jumps in, really nice float with the RPM - there was even one magic moment when I just hovered there, like a helicopter :) one hard landing really gave my gammy ankle grief though and I thought I'd have to quit... but I didn't!

As I was giving up for the day, I was trying to catch Miyachi's eye to get him to land the kite - I don't want to self-launch or -land borrowed kites! - the kite got hit by a gust and front-stalled, falling to the ground :o I watched in horror as it rolled over on to the L.E. and I sheeted out so it flipped on then just waited as Miyachi was dashing over to secure it... phew!

Nice session, despite all the underpoweredness and it was really interesting to try a modern, different kite system to those I'm familiar with.

Mood of the Session was relaxing enjoyable.

Moment of the Day was the back-spin that used the kite nicely and was more what I think they should be rather than an overly quick whip-around... it was up, float, rotate, redirect then pull out of it :)

Weather was all over the place... it's recorded as between 12 and 14 knots with gusts no more than 29 (5am) but it was above and below that all day. Temperature was between 7 & 8°C at 45%. I felt cold when I got off the water and stood around doing nothing.

What I learned today...
• JMA forecasts, especially the hourly ones... if the wind is NW then it's an hour ahead, if the with is N to NE then the wind is an hour behind. So if JMA said the wind was 6m/s at 1pm from the NW then it hit Locus at 6m/s around 12; 2pm at Locus if the wind is N.
• I should be happy with my 2011 Crossbows cos they are really great, stable, and well-behaved kites.
• Where I like to ride kites is out the top-end of their design limits.
• So the heavier, more stable kites give me more fun and peace of mind. See point one.
• I'm still of the opinion that behaviour of the kite when over-powered is related to the number of struts... I'm thinking 5 might be a magic number for a balance of light weight (my god the RPM was light!!!) and stability...
• My jumping 'skills' are transferable between kites.
• I prefer riding my S3 15 in winds like we had today - and I would have been jumping much higher :D