Thursday, 25 December 2008
January sale in store
If you are local to our whitstable shop you maybe interested that we have 20% off all clothing and footwear starting this Saturday, so pop down and grab a bargain!
Have a very merry Christmas for everyone at board-worx.
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Bandit DOS
F-one say about the kite:
The F-One Bandit Dos 2 (II) leads in all specialties, freestyle, unhooked, hang time, speed, wave riding and free ride.
Featuring the Life Line and the Auto re-launch, it brings superb comfort and safety to the rider.
An innovative C-shape kite with 4 line simplicity for no compromise performance, safety and control.
You can see more on the Bandit DOS here.
Check out this super cool video that the f-one team have made, its one of the best we have seen:
Friday, 12 December 2008
A kiteboarder's story
Having graduated from landboarding using Flysurfer foil kites I must have given Boardworx the wrong impression as to my true lack of ability as my brief excursions on the North Rhino 06 and Vegas served only to convince me that a frontal lobotomy was necessary to willingly go out on one of these kites.
Bow Kites
Trading these kites in for a quiver of Cabrinha Crossbow 2’s improved my confidence greatly about going out onto the water. The re-launch was simple and the power was easily controlled in my novice hands. When these kites were coupled with a Nobile 555 board along with a fair amount of edging practice on the cable tow I found I was able to reduce the amount of time spent walking back upwind on the beach.
As my time spent swimming became less and riding became the main occupation on the water my arms suffered due to the heavy bar pressure. A swop to Switchblade 2’s reduced the bar pressure greatly and still gave me enough air-time for my beginner needs. The huge wind-range with instant power kill covered me against any sudden squalls and storms. My only problems occurred due to my neglect over keeping the pulleys free of sand.
The few attempts I had at unhooking resulted in the kite folding ( I now realize that I was not trimming the kite to suit the wind conditions), and I exchanged the Switchblades for Flexifoil Ion2’s
Hybrid Kites
With it’s greater power and sensitivity the Ion’s also required me to learn how to deep water re-launch properly ( something the Cabrinha’s had done automatically). The greater time spent in the air allowed me to attempt more complicated tricks and when coupled to a 666 board with it’s increased pop over the 555, a fair amount of safe unhooking attempts.
My main concern was with Flexifoil lines attempt to get me to join the beach knitting club at every opportunity, so I changed these to Ozone lines.
C Kites back to Hybrids
Convinced that I was now able to unhook properly I switched to C kites Slingshot 07 Fuels only to find the bar far too cluttered with the depower close to the chicken loop release. Using the Core bar instead greatly improved things but a test fly on the Nobile NHP convinced me that this much more mild mannered kite was better suited to my current needs rather than the full on turbo power of the Fuels.
The NHP kites were small for their size and I generally needed to be a size up from the other C or hybrid kites. The Nobiles had virtually no bottom end and needed to be at the top of their wind range to perform like a Fuel. These factors were ideal for me as I could go out and practice moves without getting punished too severely.
By switching from 666 boards to Shinn Pros I also had the equipment which would do a reasonable job in waves.
Delta Kites
With winter underway my mistakes were costing me precious body heat in the cold water between re-launches, so I switched to Delta’s Core GT’s and was now able to endure 5 or 6 mistakes with shorter ice baths compared to the one or two longer ones with the Nobile kites. As a consequence my confidence and willingness to try new things continued to improve.
The main problem came during unhooked moves, by keeping the kite on the virtual 5th line ie the safety position the kite tended to invert or loop upon bar release. This was solved by moving the kite leash above the chicken loop - the “suicide” position for general riding and only using the safety for launching and landing.
Overall the low end grunt on the Delta’s is excellent and they have a huge wind range for both hooked and unhooked riding. I chose the Core’s purely for their single pump as it was now winter. The ‘virtual’ 5th line has become tangled with bar but I think this was due to not using the suicide leash.
Wooden Core Kiteboards
The problem was that I was getting very little feedback from the Pro boards when loading up for unhooked moves so I didn’t know if I had enough pop for a more complicated move until I was already air-borne, and then it was too late.
A Slingshot Lunacy board solved that and gave me excellent feel and the ability to predict when I was going to get good height, it’s wide tips also allowed me to get away with some very sketchy landings.
However, it was not too good in waves and floated on top instead of cutting in. Overall it was excellent for light wind use but felt like a skateboard on a ramp in heavy swell. By using the Lunacy on flatter water and switching to an Underground FLX in chop and waves I had a board quiver that gave good pop and also performed well in waves.
By
Hunny Ichangemykitalot
Thursday, 11 December 2008
North Voodoo's and Ice's 34% off
Win Progression kitesurfing DVD's
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Dakine Tabu offer
Friday, 21 November 2008
Slingshot Fuel 2009 review by Lance
Staff member and Slingshot team ride Lance Nunn has been out riding on the 09 Fuels this week, here are his first thoughts on the new 09 models.
The first thing you notice when you pull this sexy looking kite out the bag is that there is no 5th line pigtail and no 5th line on the bar, once you pump the kite up you can just see and feel just how solid the hole frame and canopy lay out is,
Once flying the kite is as solid as a rock in the sky with out the help of its usual 5th line the fuel has had for the last 3 years.
The first impression was how responsive the kite was for a 13m, you really get a good feel for what the kite is doing and where it’s going in the sky.
For the wind today I would have normally taken a 15m but for 2009 the 13m is the biggest size they make, the reason for this is for the extra power they have. There was plenty of power for today’s wind speed, it really does get going earlier with out having to create to much apparent wind, you get that great low down grunt of which you expect from a big free style kite.
The first kiteloop really shocked me for the light winds we had today, it really does throw you up and then power spike’s into a nice solid kiteloop, after a few attempts I was really imprested
with just how much power you can generate through the loops, after today’s session I cannot wait to get the 9m out in some 30knots plus winds.
Overall it’s a great solid bomb proof kite with loads of balls.
Any one looking for a true free style kite with simple rigging and some thing that looks aggressive and sexy on the water this is the kite for them.
Monday, 17 November 2008
£1 Delivery for Christmas
Monday, 10 November 2008
Christmas gift ideas
Monday, 3 November 2008
North Rebel 2009
Friday, 17 October 2008
First thoughts on the 2009 Nobile 666
Here are Mark Shinn's thoughts on the board:
NHP stands for Nobile High Performance. If freestyle or high performance twin riding is your aim then the NHP is sure to please. We started with the 2008 666 in mind and set out to achieve 2 major improvements... Significantly reduce the spray produced in certain water conditions and so increase rider comfort and increase versatility without compromising the top end performance of the range.
To reduce unwanted spray we re designed our unique Hydrodynamic Rocker Line to increase the tip lift. Then, we tweaked the heel side outline and moved the foot strap inserts inboard a fraction to ensure minimal interference with the water release on the rail- a major cause of spray.
Versatility was enhanced by utilizing our new Dynamic Asymmetrical Outline, this was focussed mainly on the toe side edge which means that the test winning rail grip, early planning and upwind ability of the 666 have all remained. There here on our site.