13 2008 Waroo
 

This thread is a response for those that wanted a comparison on my new 13m waroo compared to my 12m 2006 waroo.. (please keep any replies on topic.. thanks)

FINALLY got to ride my new 13m waroo yesterday.. if only for an hour in mediocre conditions at the skyway. It did hit for about 10 minutes where I got to get a feel for the power this thing has got. Holy cow.

I did not get a chance to jump much and work out the timing .. its quite a bit faster than my old 12m and I sent it too far the few times I jumped.. solid kite.

rode it A/C then A/A when the winds lightened up. really didnt notice much of a difference.. wind was on light side so I need to revist.

One thing I can say for certain is that it loops FAST.. and not just quick.. I mean FAST.. even in the light winds I was able to do a small 2 to 3 foot jump and do a kiteloop w/ the kite completing the loop and heading back up before I hit the water.. 3 times back to back.. same results.. SOLID power thru the loop... no fluttering on the way up.. no ripple in the canopy...

the 12m would loop and on its way up start to deform a bit.. canopy would flutter and power would be gone.. often the speed you were able to generate from the bulk of the loop was the only thing that would keep your momentum going when you hit the water to glide out of it. The kite's power was typically gone and you had to bring the kite back down quickly to get back going..

not with this kite.. even in the light winds it retained that constant power/pull thru the loop..

thinking about it.. i am kinda freaking out about looping this thing w/ some solid wind.. I know its going to rip me across the sky and i'll land with screaming speed.

another main thing to note is that the the depower is no where near as much as the 2006 waroo. even at full push out of the bar there was still power in the kite.. definitely something to think about when the winds pick up.. i didnt adjust the depower strap due to the light winds.. but there's definitely a big difference compared to the 2006 massive depower.

construction is amazing. I dont like the colored LE.. already dirty with only 2 uses. I prefer black LE.. oh well..

got to ride the 13m yesterday in much better conditions at EB.

wow.

boosts big, floaty, controlled.. very predictable.. quick to move across the window and solid in the air.. I am very very happy w/ this kite.

it loops too fast. in more powered conditions, even doing my beginners loops (small jump then loop at apex) it finishes the loop before I have time to react and is already beginning a second loop before I hit the water..

scott rode it for a while and did some unhooked jumps, raleys and whatnots.. kite looked solid and he seemed to be having a good time.. probably a bit overpowered for his size and the conditions..

my 12m 2006 kite has been my bread n butter ride for a couple years.. this kite completely replaces it in terms of fun and boosting and it also adds a huge amount of power and kite speed.. for my size its going to be my go-to kite for nearly all of our standard conditions..

fun fun fun!

hey whats your approx weight....?
what setting did you have the kite on..?
i love my 13... man that kite is sick awesome...imo
now i just need a wider board to go along w/it...:D

i float around the 195 to 205 mark.. (lost almost 10lbs when I was sick last week!! but I think I've gained it back)

I had it set A/C then A/A and now its set A/B ..

to be completely honest.. I didnt notice a single difference.. bar pressure seemed to be consistent thru all settings...

I did rig it on the 4th knot up thinking that if i needed the extra juice it would be there.. I didnt need it.. i rode for about 20 minutes and then set it on the 3rd knot (center) .. i like to be able to ride with very minimal depower so that I have a lot left on my strap if the winds kick up too much. I guess it also might be from riding the 2006 waroo so much as you really dont want to ride those depowered.. thats when they tend to deform and possibilities of inversion go up.

2008 kite is much less prone for inversion and it really keeps its shape even under a full depower.. I can probably use the depower more actively with this kite.

I have mine set to ab and i think it rode it last on the fourth knot up...from what people said it was about 18 to 23kts at nb on sunday... and that was purr-fect...did not need it any faster, thats for sure.
im a couple pounds more than u ..but still seems this kite wil work good for most conditions...:D
hope we can ride this weekend... wonder if this front will give us anything:confused:

Nice thanks for the review. I have the 08 9M and am planning to buy the 13M to replace both my 12M and 16M 2006 waroos.

Finally, a 2 kite quiver.

Really the only similarity between the 2008 waroo and the 2006/2007 waroos is the name.

on Sunday the wind was pretty light when I rode the 13m..
Dan was out on his 16m waroo.. He was on his skywalker lightwind board.. i was on the skywalker 130x40.. i could keep w/ the wind but not go upwind well.. he was able to go upwind ..

i was going to switch to my lightwind 140X49 board when the wind died completely and we both put our kites down.

earlier i was riding the 13m when others were riding their 15 and 16m kites.. its got a lot of power for its size..

I also know you are looking to lose some weight.. i'd think that if I was in the 180lb range the 13m would completely replace my 16m waroo. As it stands at 200lbs I will need to keep my 16m in the car for those really light days.

Yeah, I'm down to 179, and I don't usually want to ride unless it's 15+ so a 13 should work no problem.

I'm kinda over just cruising back and forth in 11mph these days ...

It seems like most companies are getting quite a bit of power (efficiency might be better) from their 13/14m kites these days. I can easily be powered on most brand's 13m kites (at my size) in 13 knots on a "small" board. So, the 13m Waroo isn't in a class of it's own in that regard.
I would go so far as to say if I wasn't totally powered up on a brand's 13/14m in 15 knots, I would consider it a p.o.s.

On the other hand, because I can just cruise around and sight-see on a Glide (or similar light wind board) on almost any SLE between 9m to 17m in solid 10 knots, I don't see the point in getting a BIG kite, when almost any kite will do if just cruising on a good LWB.

Since all I can do in ten knots is cruise around, putting up a bigger kite than what I am pretty powered up on in 13-15 knots doesn't make much sense to me anymore. Pretty sure you and Tom are saying almost the same thing (that a big kite, if you have a light wind board, isn't all that necessary anymore). Although Tom isn't big on riding in sub 15, I will a lot if it's nice outside.

Funny, 'cuz 4 years ago I had a 20m RRD. 20m !! lol.
I didn't have the Glide yet, though.

I had a 21M nemesis.

F'in pos.

I will never again ride a kite bigger than a 14m.

I know that I am smaller than you guys, but this is an interesting point about not riding larger kites. When I first learned on the new bow kites, my first kite was a 16MCrossbow. I got it in May 2006. I rode that kite in anything from 10kts to 20kts switching between Big Bessie (LW 169 with the hibiscus flowers) and the LF Aura 130. That kite was a bus!!!! But, I didn't really know any different. I'd borrow my friend's 12M Switchblade from time to time, but always preferred the bigger kite until I got a 12M and 9M that Fall. That's when I quit with the "I need a big kite" as the 12M was my go to in all conditions. Fast forward just a bit, and my biggest kite is now the Era 10M!! I weigh around 135-140, and use this kite in as little as 10kts up to 22-23kts switching between my SuperPhatty and Crazyfly 125. Amazing how kites have evolved. I, too, find sub 12kts blah, but at least rideable if it dies down to that point. Roy has found that the 12M Era is his go to as well. If he can't ride that, we just leave the beach. Maybe we have all become wind snobs!! LOL

This is a great thread for me. My 2006 12m Waroo has been my go to kite for the last 2 seasons. I weigh 200lbs and ride my 12m 80% of the time (9m the othe 20%). Last year I would have replaced with a new kite, but nothing stood out for me. This year I probably don't have a choice since my 12m may not make it through another season.
Based on reviews I am pretty sure I will replace my 9m with a 2008 9m Waroo.
I was thinking a 11m waroo or 12m nemesis to replace my 12m waroo, but based on this thread it sounds like the 2008 13m waroo may be a good replacement.
It sounds like the 13m has more power and is faster than the 12m waroo.
A few additional questions.
-What about top end, can you 13m handle the same amount of wind as the 12m did? When out on my 12m it was rare that the wind picked up so much that I needed to come in and rig my 9m.
-I know several people that had or tried 2007 13m waroo's and for the most part that felt like they performed like Big kite (not in a good way, slow turning, non responsive, not much fun in the waves...). Can anyone compare the 13m 07 to 13m 08?
-Any comparisons between the 12m nemesis and 13m waroo?

Any advice/feedback will be greatly appreciated.
-rick

You are right about the 07 13M...

As for the 08 13M, I would guess the comfortable top end is right around 25. Slightly less than the 06 waroo 12M. But thats no big deal because if it's a solid 20 you will be on the 9m anyway!

Don't forget,if you buy the 13M and decide you don't like it, there is a 30 day no questions asked refund or exchange option.

Best will then resell it as a used kite at which time I will promptly snatch it up :D

You really can't loose... Best isn't gonna leave you hanging as long as you don't sit on it for a month before you decide.

The 13 as stated by others is much faster (just better all around) than the 12m of last year or 06.
I think a lot of brands had a big step up in 08 over last year. Best taking the largest step up, imo, which is why you are seeing guys that have been on 'roos for a while honestly ecstatic over this year's kite.

My personal take on the upper ends of the 08 vs. prior years of the Waroos :) --

In the past, you could just sheet out the Waroos ad-naseum and spill almost 100% of the wind off the kite. It was semi-ridiculous. This allowed a rider to depower the kite a lot and have an over-sized kite out in some pretty serious wind. When fully depowered to this point though, steering was sluggish (duh... lol... no rear line pressure) and the canopy distorted quite a bit with flutter and all sorts of stuff. I personally always took myself off the water on a Waroo in these situations long before I felt overpowered. I would just look at the kite and sense I needed to not be on a kite that in my mind had way more wind rushing over top it, than underneath it. You could literally see the top of the canopy becoming depressed and deforming from all the wind rushing over top.
I have seen too many bad things happen in that situation with kites.

I saw Tom ride his 12m in 30 to 35 knots once. It picked up on us from about 20. It was pretty sick. He ultimately came in and I grabbed his kite. I was LITT on a 7m Waroo at the time!!

The new 08s won't let you do this (go to silly top ends). The kite is forced to stay in a position where it is more stable this year (ie, won't deform and do the "whacky"). So, you will have more wind rushing under the kite proportionately than in the past when totally sheeted out to the point of slack rear lines. This means you are going to get blown off of the water when "you should" get blown off of the water on the '08 kites. I personally think this is a good thing. :)

As Tom said, depending on your size etc. expect to feel uncomfortable with the 13m's top end long before the 12m kite's top end.
Also as he said, there is plenty of overlap b/n the 13 and 9.

I hope that made sense. I brought it up because the top end is going to feel different to you, I think.

I think Best did a very good job with their wind range chart this year. SQ posted them here -- http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2345359

i agree 100% Scott.. a huge issue with bow/hybrid kites is that riders take them out in conditions far above their "true" threshold. I am guilty of this.. the 2008 waroos will limit this to an extent. still has a great huge range.. but compared to a 2006 waroo it will max out sooner. and this IS a good thing.

and in regards to your question rick.. i have not been able to ride in anything above 20. It hit near 20 yesterday for a while and I felt perfectly comfortable on the kite.. It probably hit 20 last Tuesday but it was up and down..

I know that the stability and speed of this kite are beyond my expectations. I am the worst shopper in the world.. i change my mind 50 times before i make any purchase.. I just went with my gut on this and am very satisfied.

my friend Dan who i've been riding with since day 1 is equally as impressed and I think we are just a short while before he gives up his 12 and 14 2006 waroos for a 13m 2008. He was talking that talk that us kiters do before we make a purchase.. he was justifying the reasons.. hahah.. saying "well.. my 12 is getting a bit worn.." hahahha..

I am confident that the wind conditions will be covered with a 9/13 combo.

if you see me on the beach, let me know and I'll let you take it for a spin..

Guys,
thanks for all the information and good advice. It sounds like the 08 13m is a big improvement over the 07. I am now seriously considering the 13m.
-thanks