An Honest Review 2014 Slingshot Rally

[JWatkins15]

In the interest of full disclosure I have been flying Cabrinha Switchblades for the last three seasons (7,9, 11m for 2011; 8,10,12 for 2012 and 2013), and before that owned a hodge podge of Naish, Liquid Force and North Kites. I am not a Cabrinha guy per se, but I have been reluctant to stray since finding the SB, a kite that allowed me to push my riding but that is also beginner friendly enough for my wife (Annie) to ride.

Now that the disclosures are out of the way, an anecdote. I thought the 2013 Cabrinha Switchblades were a big disappointment after what I thought was an awesome 2012 model year. Yes the 2013 kite turned faster, and yes it relaunched and unhooked better and yes it had less bar pressure, but to be honest it did all those things well in 2012. For what I thought were very moderate performance gains the Cabrinha team executed a a complete shape redesign from "bow" to a more "delta" shape that completely neutered the thing. I'm talking NO balls. This is a long way of saying I spent most of this past season thinking about trying something new.

Then the stars aligned. A few weeks ago, I got a buyer for my whole quiver of 2013 kites with local pickup right around my asking price. This left me for the first time in a few years completely kiteless. I hoped it would be a liberating feeling, but instead I had this perpetual feeling of nakedness. I actually hoped for the first time ever that the wind WOULDN'T blow because I knew missing a session would be too much to bear. Enter Mike K. If you haven't been paying attention to his news letter/ posts on here Mike is building inventory in a big way, and this means TOOONNNS of demo gear. For the past two weekends, I have been the recipient of his kite charity. In returned I promised him I would give an honest and detailed review of anything I rode. This is that (rather lengthly) review.

I meant to ride a couple different makes and models over the last two weeks (he's got Blade, Naish, Slingshot, Crazy Fly, Ozone... the list goes on), but thought my time would be better spent really putting one kite through its paces. That kite was the 2014 Slingshot Rally. Over the course of four days of riding in a two week span I put probably 20 hours split between a 14m and a 10m kite. I can say that we are now intimate. Here are my thoughts divided by discipline since the feel of the kite varies pretty dramatically depending on what you ask her to do.

1. Surf Style. I love riding a surfboard, and I think the characteristics of a good surfing kite translate nicely to other disciplines, so I'll discuss this first. My first impression is that the Rally flys big for its size. Meaning, a 10m feels like it has the juice of an older model year 11m or 12m Rally. The gossip on the beach is that if you lay a 2014 over a 2013 the new model year actually does have about an extra meter of fabric, which indeed confirms that the number on the side of your kite doesn't amount to much. I mention this because I found that with a surfboard and the 10m kite I was able to stay up wind and get a really excellent ride when most other kiters were out on 12-14m kites. From a power delivery perspective I found that the kite did not generate a tremendous amount of juice on the down stroke, but rather really hit its power band once locked into a position. I think this is pretty typical of a delta style kite which tends to turn more pivotally than on an arc. While the Rally is fast, I would not describe it as twitchy... specifically the kite requires real bar input to turn, which at times left me feeling like I was one turn ahead of the kite as opposed to following it through my top and bottom turns. Additionally when I had my speed up and would try to kill the power to get a solid top turn I couldn't turn the power off of the kite as fully as I like. With the bar pushed fully away the kite still delivers enough power to pull you off a wave, or out of a transition. It was kind of unnerving to feel like like my board edge was the only thing keeping me on the surface of the water a few times. In terms of transitions, the kite down-loops very smoothly, with a consistent pull which makes for a very fluid carve in transition rather than the kind of accelerating whip more typical of most kites on the down loop. Great for smooth and styled riding, not so good for outrunning a breaking wave. Last comment about surf style is unhooking down the line. I only made about 20 passes unhooked mostly because the waves at Reddy are pretty segmented, so there wasn't much for me to ride without the power of the kite, but I didn't want anyone to claim I wasn't thorough. For the most part this is a very nicely behaving kite when trimmed and unhooked down the line. With the kite low I seldom found myself pulled off my line, and there was little to no backstall when I came off my bottom turn. It does not drift or turn with slack lines quite as well as a wave specific kite (the cabrinha drifter and airrush wave are the two I am familiar with) but overall I would say solidly respectable in this crossover arena.

2. Freestyle (pop, unhooking and all that jazz). I am not a freestyle expert by any means but I know enough to be dangerous, so I unhooked and tried to show off for the couple of Wahkon girls sunbathing by the dead fish that had washed onto shore. Unhooked this kite is also very predictable. Excellent snap on pop jumps that is smooth and offers plenty of feedback. Even when turning my back on the kite I never dove the kite inadvertently into the drink. The rally, however, is a very weak looper. She is fast enough to loop well, just without much power. In my assessment this is excellent for someone just learning their first kiteloops. I am working on dialing in a couple surface glide tricks that require a kiteloop, and I found myself wanting for more horizontal pull. The other thing that I really noticed was that when the kite is sheeted in the safety line goes slack, which then gets wrapped around your chicken loop, and the excess length of the depower line also gets all twisted and tangled. I havent given a lot of thought to the above v. below the bar depower question until now, but after a couple days on this system I can say the below the bar system may look cleaner when fully powered, but it a mess when sheeted in. Finally, when unspinning a twisted bar it was really slow and clunky because of the bar floats. If I bought one of these, those would be the first things to go.

3. Race. I didn't really race obviously, but got pretty damn close. I just picked up a airrush sector for light wind days from a buddy in FL that is awesome. I wish I would've bought a real deal race board, but this thing was cheap, and is a close approximation of a box rules board. In terms of how the Rally does with this discipline I have two thoughts. First the rally tends to fly a little deeper in the wind window than other delta kites (Airrush deltas for example flys very forward) which translates to more locked in power, but less upwind ability. For someone that doesn't race, who gives a damn. Deeper in the window is going to translate to more power anyhow which is going to translate to more fun for most people. The other thought I have is based on something I am just learning: When going directly downwind you have to be very active with a kite, either by looping or aggressively flying the kite vertically up and down the window. The upstroke pull from the rally means that this kite is awesome when going straight down wind. Like REALLLY awesome. I felt as fast on a running or broad reach as I did on a beam, which is pretty unique.

4. Light wind. The good news is that if you buy a 2014 14m rally you can get rid of any 15-18m kite you might own. Seriously, this thing has plenty of juice in the light wind. It is still a big, slow kite, but it is fast enough still to be playful and fun rather than cumbersome like so many bigger or light wind kites. That said, I've flown the fat lady and the zephyr and all the other light wind machines floating around our MN kite scene, and I can say with certainty that the 14m rally holds its own in terms of low end power. In 10-12 kts of wind I was having a ball on this kite. Not just lawnmowing but actually riding.

5. Free ride. This is probably the only section people care about, so I left it towards the end to keep you reading. WOW. WOOOOOWWW. This thing flys. Seriously, its not a kite, its a wing. From 10 o'clock up the the 12 o'clock position this thing is like a thoroughbred. I honest to goodness think I got above the trees on the frontage road on a couple of sent jumps. I don't do a lot of big huck sent jumps, but this kite kept me smiling and pulling the trigger all afternoon. This kite does a lot of things, but the thing it REALLY does well is boost.

6. A Newbies Impression: My wife Annie who is a self sufficient kiter riding upwind, but still very beginnerish had these things to say.
A. "The 14m is too much for me, I feel like I have the bar pushed all the way out and it still is pulling me (this was in about 13 kts of wind). This is salient because it might emphasize that you want to err on the side of a smaller kite since you will feel in gusts that with the bar is fully sheeted out, it will not kill the power completely.
B. "I feel like when I dive the kite it is falling out of the sky... I can only water start on the upstroke." This is another good point regarding the power delivery on the kite. It is a locked in ride, so don't expect to generate a lot of additional board speed with sine strokes. Also it speaks to how much updraft power there is as the kite climbs to its zenith (good for jumping).

Conclusion: This is an excellent kite. The best bits are its boosting ability and its solid park and fly characteristics even in lighter wind. My only major complaint was a depower throw that does not fully kill the power with the bar pushed fully away. With that one exception my other comments and notes were mostly personal preference (above the bar v. below the bar depower, a kite that pulls through the turns v. pivots, a more aggressive looping kite, a desire to get rid of bar floats, and a dislike of the bar grip that chewed my hands up almost as badly as the F-one bar.) The point is that a kite review is only as good as the reviewer, and that no kite can win an award for "best kite ever" because personal preference is such a big part of it. That said, while Mike is sitting on this huge kite inventory I would definitely encourage you to get out on some stuff you haven't flown yet... the Rally is great but don't take my word for it... fly it back to back with the Park or Switchblade or Bandit. Mike doesn't have all of these, but you shouldn't be shy to ask the local team riders if you can take their rigs for a spin too (you wreck it you buy it rule usually applies here). We get a major hookup on gear pricing...the least we can do is get you a demo on a crispy new kite. I really believe that you won't be able to accurately say what you like until you try whats out there.

I had blast on the 2014 Slingshot Rally over the past two weeks, am thrilled to have spent so much time really getting to know a new kite, and can't thank Mike enough for letting me bum his gear. I can finish this review by saying I am now the happy owner of a new quiver of 2014 Cabrinha Switchblades, they should be here Friday... How's that for an unexpected twist? I should be a suspense writer.

[JWatkins15]

damn, sorry for the dissertation..... got a little longwinded there.

[zheton]

Great review! Thanks!

I'd like to hear a bit more in your lightWind section you are comparing 2014 rally to Zephyr(what year 2010/11/12/13/..)?
Haven't flown fat lady, but what are others light-wind machines you have in mind?

I'm considering 14m rally for light wind, but did you get to test if it relaunches in 10-12mph winds? Would it relaunch in such a low winds laying on the leading edge? I remember days on waconia when there were a few of us (me on Zephyr and few more guys on Rallys) fishing with our kites glued to the water pulling the lines and not being able to anything.


Thank you,
Eugene

[Tighe]

wow what a great thorough review Jim. Couple things I might add.
Did you get a chance to ride the 10m in true 10m conditions? Many of your comments seem more consistent with what I have found when riding the kite slightly underpowered. The 2011 and 2012 Rallys had incredible top end but I think they got a bit of criticism for not having enough low end. Personally I think this must be from people looking for a park and ride kite. The Rally from these years did require a bit of flying to generate power and get going in the lighter ranges. Many of us coming off the Octane felt right at home with this and loved the zippyness of the kite. In 2013 they made the kites much more stable, added a ton of low end power and made more of a park and ride kite. My first session on the 2013 12m was on the lighter range, and I was pretty disappointed. It was super stable yes, you could park and ride yes, you could ride in lighter winds yes, but the life was gone. Then the next session I was lit on the same kite and the kite I loved and knew returned, with the addition of incredible stability and much more hang time.

The 2013 and the 2014 really seem to behave differently depending upon where in their range you are. That is maybe why they increased the size for 2014. I have found that on the underpowered side of the range, the kite does best locking into place and letting the efficiencies of the wing provide power. It doesn't drift real well in these conditions. But take it out in normal powered conditions and you may feel lit just riding in a straight line, but wave riding becomes this kites forte'. You can just lock it in place and massage the waves. Jump to the moon and float forever. That's why I ask if you had a session in 10m conditions. I didn't think we had any over the last few weeks other than the south side of Mille during the Gathering. Everytime I saw you on that 10m I think I was on a 12m or 14m. If you get a chance you might try the 10m or 12m when others are out on the same size.

The biggest remarks I get when people come in on the Rallys is how frickin stable they are and how much they boost. These characteristics may not be what everyone wants. I love them though. I am not a unhooked rider. I like to go big, and land as absolutely softly as I can. I also love having a kite with huge range so that I don't have to rig and rerig.

I totally agree with you Jim. Everyone should try as many kites as they can before buying. It's the best way to find one that meets your needs. It's also a good idea to explore the kite in the conditions you want it to perform in. If you want a light wind kite, get out in light wind. If you want a kite with range, try it in a variety of winds. Also see if you can get the kite for an extended session.

Thanks again Jim for the thorough review Jim.