voor de paar ss fans

Had the opportunity to ride the 2004 Fuel 19 at the Red Bull event in Grand Haven this weekend...

Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2003 7:18 am Post subject: Red Bull Grand Haven Saturday...

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All I can say is..."WoW"!

I pulled into Grand Haven to see about 50-60 kites sitting on the beach. The whole beach was covered with kites, literally. There were so many kitesurfers, I saw Roberto when I first pulled up and yelled to him, and then I never saw him again. Custom board shapers were out, as well, showing what they could produce using the materials they thought were superior.

I met a lot of nice people there, even though I spent a lot of time on the water. Everyone was very helpful, in and out of the water, as well. I assisted about 4 riders (including Brandon) while on the water and got some great rides, though the wind could have been a bit higher.

I pulled up to find wind in the 8 knot range. I pumped up my only kite, the Fuel 17m and let it give me a few rides out and back on the LFt doing a couple 360s (one nice one right in front of all the cameras just before the comp). I then saw the new 2004 Fuel 19 with the split strut technology and one-pump. Sweet kite. Watched a 130lbs guy rip on it for a while when the winds were light. Then the competition started.

We watched the pros do some nice moves since I was in typicl Chicago mode showing up late for the entry (didn't matter, the winds were kinda light still for a 185lbs rider).

Then I noticed the 2004 Fuel wsa not being ridden! I hopped under it and took it upwind of everyone and got some great rides.

2004 Fuel 19m review:

Sweet. Stable. Smooth.

This kite generated good grunt and lift for its size. The kite was very stable in the air and had a nice smooth trigger to power up the kite. The kite turned fast and is certainly a lighter kite, by a small factor, than its 2003 counterpart. The construction of the kite was the same as the 2003, very tough, using the best materials and reinforcing everything. Even though, the kite still weighed less. In about 10-12kts, on the LFT and the 2004 Fuel 19m, I was able to fly upwind, get enough height to do some 360s, 720s, and some flips off waves. During gusts, the kite flew forward well and didn't pull me too hard (though the winds were admittedly light-there were some wind channels out there). In typical Slingshot style, Slingshot is going to deliver kites for 2004 that are going to be really appreciated by their riders. Nice stuff.

I put the 2004 19m up against the 2003 19m. The 2003 19m is actually 21.5m flat. The 2004 19m I think is only 19m flat since it was a lot smaller. With the 2004 in front of the 2003, the 04 tips reached only to the small bladders just before the tip on the 2003. So there was a couple meters missing, plus the aspect ratio looked exactly the same, and the 04 was about 6-8 inches thinner completely around the kite. So I'd say about 2-2.5 meters were missing making it about 19m flat.

I do hope the 04 line will include a fuel 21m. The big workhorse will surely be missed. I equated the power of the 04 to be roughly similar, though a bit more, than the 2003 fuel 17.

V
Chicago Kitesurfing
www.chicagokitesurfing.com

"The construction of the 2004 kite was the same as the 2003"

Pardon ?? geen Splitstrut? geen one-pump??

ow,die ss die door midden is,is idd bij lange topics