Bob..

I was able to hold upwind quite well when i got my 12m waroo.. but it took me from being able to maintain to being able to fly upwind.

high performance bow/hybrid kites take a huge chunk off the learning curve.

its been my absolute go-to kite for all spring and the light winds of this summer.. i weigh nearly 200lbs and ride a big homemade ply board.

this morning i got to fly my 16 waroo for the first time. its just as good as the 12 with more power. flippin awesome. i was able to stay quite upwind even in the lulls of this mornings breeze.

you'll progress so much faster once the season hits too... imagine once you get 10 more full day sessions in on that kite!

It's funny how that is. Buying new equipment usually doesn't solve your kiteboarding problems, but the 2006 kites have been a big exception to that rule, for the most part.