Slingshot
Slingshot Turbine 2014 Review
With the ever changing times we have today, there’s always something to discover beyond the horizon. We’re never content with what we have, we strive for something new, something better and something that will take us closer to the edge. It doesn’t matter if it’s a minor difference or a major one, it’s still a step towards achieving our goal and even surpassing it.
The 2014 Slingshot Turbine 17 meter light wind kite (a free ride light wind kite) has delivered on its promise of more days on water. With 10-12km/h wind, you won’t be standing on the beach anymore, you’d be on your board with your new Slingshot Turbine and it lets you stay on the water even if the wind is picking up. There are a number of improvements on the new design: it now has a direct bridle, mini strut and 5th strut on the wing tip, lighter weight construction. The progressive open delta C design updated with a new bridle 5 point cascading bridle attachment system which gives you a consistent smooth feel and specific control over the power. The new design gives a more powerful grunt without sacrificing riding speed, efficiency or upwind performance. The long lines allows for a long power stroke and you can bet with it’s quality build, it’s gonna last forever -or at least for a very long time. This kite is good for those who are into wakestyle, freestyle, or if you just want to go out there and enjoy the waves.
| FEATURES | |
| OPEN DELTA C-DESIGN PLATFORM | The kite’s a higher aspect ratio in combination with speed improves the lift rather than the angle of attack. The new shape allows the kite to fly forward in the wind window while freeing up the wing tips to prevent the kite from being oversheeted. |
| SPLITSTRUT INTEGRATED DESIGN | The kite has only 3 struts and is very light, yet it’s built in quality material for increased stability and canopy shaping control. This kite will not drop down from the sky in the first case and the lighter profile makes is easy to water relaunch. Another plus is that this kite doesn’t take much room once packed down |
| REFLEX WINGTIP | The free pivot wingtips work as natural regulators and open up by the wind to extend the apparent wind range. |
| CONNECT FORWARD ATTACHMENTS | The steering lines have a direct connection with the forward “sweet spot” geometry of the kite. Three different settings enables you to fine tune the bar settings for desired bar pressure and turning speed. |
| WINGTIP STRUTS | The struts have a conical shape to decrease drag and for a more efficient control. |
| LOWPROFILE WINGTIPS | This is a proven design for faster turning speed similiar to the one to Rally. It also reduces drag and hence make the kite even more high performing. |
| ADDITIONAL ATTACHMENT POINT | Use the additional attachment points for optimal performance in super-light wind. |
| AUTO-TRIM TRAILING EDGE | This design feature automatically reduces the risk for oversheeting and virtually makes it impossible backstall the kite while still allowing the panels to open and flex. |
| CASCADING 5-POINT BRIDLE | The bridles are free from pulleys which not only reduce the total weight (only with a few grams, but still every gram counts for light wind kites) but also gives you a more consistent and smooth bar feeling throughout the power stroke when you sheeting the bar in. |
| TRI-TECH PROTECTION | Strategically placed reinforcements such as mark cloth and neoprene, individual scuff guards and ballistic kevlar protect the kites most vulnerable areas and optimize the kites durability and life length. |
| LEGENDARY SLINGSHOT CONSTRUCTION | Slingshot has always been known for their bullet proof kite constructions and the Turbine is not an exception. The newest high tec and strongest materials are used throughout the kite. Everything from the Leading Edge, canopy, bladders to the smallest trim details are made with the best excisting materials. Nothing has been left to chance |
| SLINGSHOT ONE PUMP | One pump systems are standard these days and the Turbine is of course also equipped with Slingshots patented single point inflation system to spare your time on beach and maximize the time in the water. |
| LIFETIME RIDER SUPPORT HOTLINE | If things still go wrong connect directly to Slingshots competent and helpful customer support. |
“The turbine has three attachment points to adjust for bar pressure and kite turning speed. Personally, I like to ride on the middle setting giving me a firm feel yet still quite fast turning for a 17meter kite.” – Tucker from MACkite
The 2015 Slingshot Turbine will be released in February 2015. If you don’t have a local Slingshot store in your area then a recommended online store for European kitesurfers is
0Slingshot Fuel 2013
Here are some sneak photos of the new Slingshot Fuel 2013. I havn’t heard about any major changes, but why change a winning concept? At least I guess we can expect some new kind of graphics, hopefully a bit more colorful than those we see on these photos…
The History Of Slingshot
Slingshot was founded 1999 by the Logosz brothers, Jeff and Tony. In 1998 One of Jeff’s friends was calling him to talk about a guy he had seen riding upwind with a kite and wakeboard, something no one ever had done before! The name of this guy was Lou Wainman and he is probably the main reason to why kiteboarding began to evolution to what it is today.
By this time Tony Logosz already had a company that were designing kiteboards so taking the step into designing kiteboarding gears became natural. The two brothers didn’t want to interfere with Tony´s own company, so they decided to form a new company solely aimed for kiteboarding gear, the name was Slingshot!
Many of the windsurfing companies saw the potential in kiteboarding why they also started to manufacture kitesurfing kites. These windsurfing companies already had an image and a legacy reputation that they had to honor. Slingshot was formed solely as a kiteboarding brand that could do whatever they wanted since they had nothing to lose and they had the freedom to create their own image.
Slingshot became an innovative and creative company that wasn’t afraid of doing any mistakes that could hurt their brand. For example they were the first company that actually put some graphic on their kites in the form of flames, suddenly some sort of coolness was added to kites.
The first kite that Slingshot designed was the “Stealth” kite, a full size kite that literally sucked which they also were honest about. Stealth was a megaflop, but Slingshot learned a ton on this lesson and from that time sort of become obsessed with the quality of their products. They started doing massive changes to their kites and the R&D team were constantly testing prototypes. If something wasn’t top notch then they had to fix it!
The company grew from zero to one of the global kite companies and Slingshot has definitely helped the sport to develop to what it is today! With the popular C-kite “Fuel” Slingshot targeted a new small group of extreme hardcore freestylers. The Fuel is a kite that makes it possible for riders such as Ruben Lenten to go crazy with insane kiteloops, he simply needs this super high performance kite that it is.
After Fuel came RPM, a kite that once more made Slingshot the emperer on the market!
Slingshot has always had a drive for making the kiteboarding sport better, safer and still more extreme! The technology behind many sports such as golf, tennis, bicycling etc. have been developed so that perfomers have been able to achive better results. This was not really the case for kiteboarding gear. The wakeboards that were released on the market around year 2000 were the same old crap that were designed 15 years earlier, just in a new costume. Slingshot was the first company that started to design boards with flexibility which added pop and made landings softer. The same drive to improve their products also mirror the kites. Slingshot has released some great products year 2012, but don’t think they have reached some kind of plateu. Kitesurfing is a sport with endless of opportunities and it will continue to grow. Slingshot will keep pushing the limits and bring safety to the equipment!
Stay tuned for the 2013 products that soon will come!
