 | Solid Kiteboards Solid 138 Kiteboards 2007Solid Kiteboard loaded 138 shaped by Oliver Zernial
Length 138 cm
Width 35 cm
Thickness 15 mm
Weight 1,9 kg
Stance 40-60cm
Material Herex/Epoxy/Carbon
Construction handlaminated sandwichboards
Fins 4 fins in finboxes
Type 1,5cm thick twinwake for middle and high wind conditions.
incl. fins, pads + straps
Characteristics of the board:
The airforce loaded is made for middle and high wind conditions. The problem of overpowered kites in my opinion is not the kite itself, the board is deciding about fun or fear. Who does not know the situation: The kite is flying to the sky, is getting faster and faster, and it ends up in the Nirvana.
And so? Is that a problem of the kite? No, surely not! Because if you would have had more control over the board it would have been possible to control the kite riding the board consequently on the edges.
A lot of wakeboards do have this characteristics; there were a lot shapes in this sense. But in this case you have to use bindings.
The knowledge from wakeboard shapes and a lack of radical twintips with straps did end up with the loaded shape. It should be as thinn as a wakeboard, but should have the comfort of a twintip. The result is a board which will you let win height also in mid wind conditions; with the loaded a free, but comfortable kitefeeling is possible. In the middle of the board the waterline is allmost plan and has a relatively high scoop (6cm); therefore the board starts planing easily and is getting quickly fast; in the situation of overpower it has a special speed limit, which is responsible for more control in critical situations. For example this positive speed limit will make it impossible to get too fast after a landing with a powered kite or to lose control after a radical turn. 180ies or slides under full power are belonging to the standard program of the loaded. It is extremely easy to ride, and makes your faults not ending in too bad consequences. In general all tricks and jumps seems to be easier with this board, because you will be able to kite controlled in high wind conditions. Sure, this will work also with other boards, no doubt, but with the loaded you will not have the impression that you are riding a big wind.
A board like the loaded is made for advanced riders. To use the potential of this board you need to have experience with high wind conditions; if not you will not have fun with this board. Until this summer I was more a friend of smaller kites, than I made the loaded; since than I made a lot of positive steps and had more fun with kiting. This means not that I have no respect of big kites, but with this board I just get more control over situations which I had problems with before. Still now the loaded shape is a classic one, which is convincing.
P.S. In summer there were a lot of discussions about big fins. I was lucky to get the loaded series with 1.3 wakefins; they have a long base, so that they have more size than you would think after looking at them in the first step. Big fins guarantee more grip in low and mid wind conditions, but causing control problems in powered situations. Also big fins have no positive influence on the free and fast kitefeeling. If you will look around you will recognize that the fins of the small boards are getting smaller again. The series of the loaded will therefore have fins which are fitting to this type of board; it is not made with fins which are going with the trend. If you want you can mount bigger fins, but you will come back to smaller ones, I am very sure about this.
Links:
www.solidkiteboards.com/ |
