Wipika Hydro Plus 11.1
Kite:
Wipika has redesigned the Hydro from the ground up. This years kite is much improved over last year's kite with a slightly higher aspect ratio, giving it more performance. The 2002 Hydro was very much marketed at beginners or wake style riders, whereas the Hydro plus has a lot more performance. It turns faster with excellent allround performance, yet it still maintains it's well-known stability and easy relaunchability.
The kite has a very deep profile - it has a very grunty feel and makes for an excellent low wind kite. The kite always provides with consistent pull - a charectarisitic less apparant in higher aspect kites. What I like about the kite is that you get High Aspect performance with a grunty feel.
The kite features multiple turning points called cruiser, styler and trixter. The cruiser is for a fast turning kite and the trixter for a slower turning kite - when you need to do tricks. The overall quality of the kite is excellent - nothing compared to last year's airblasts.
Conditions:
On Water: One of the advantages of the kites is that you can fly it completely powered up, without flaring the kite. Unlike most other kites, this kite allows you to fly fully powered without sacrificing power, performance or turning speed. The kite's excellent low wind performance means that I can often get going in 7 knots - and even do some jumops - when most people on the beach are watching me. Most of the time I am the only one out on the water with this kite, when other people are waiting for enough wind.
Relaunching is incredible on this kite. For such a big kite, this is one of the fastest relaunching kites - if not the fastest - that I have flown to date.
Bar:
I did not like the Wipika bar that comes with the Wipika kites. The clam cleat system does not work efficiently and makes for problems on the water when you need to depower or power up. While the Safety system on the bar is adequate, the overall performance of the bar is dissapointing.
Conclusion:
Well done to Wipika for manufacturing a well made, good performing kite. While the Wipika AMPs have been giving numerous problems, the Wipika Hydros have been going very well and problem free. I am very impressed with the overall performance and durability of this kite.
These kites are suited to everyone - beginners and advanced riders, and is certainly not a beginners only kite. If you are in the market for a kite that will be suited to a range of conditions, and that rewards well in all areas, then this kite might not only be a good (if not better) alternative to only the AMPs, but many other models on the market.
