Overview
So the guys at Surface to Air Sports (S2AS) sent me the 2011 Slingshot Fuel 9m to demo and review. The Fuel is a pretty famous kite that is well known for its sheer power and high performance, I wanted to put it through its paces and see if it really lived up to its name. I've taken this kite out quite a few times now and overall I have been very impressed with it.
Slingshot say...
10 Years of refinement translate to 10 years of commitment, integrity and passion to the highest performance C Kite that ever lived. It’s this kind of dedication that legends are born.
Leading the charge is Freestyle Global Team Rider, Ruben Lenten as a calculated part of the design and development process of the Fuel. Innovative features such as Onepump (original Slingshot patented single point inflation system), Custom Fuel Injection (fine tune for wake or freestyle), unique FUEL canopy (consistent grunt and power through the stroke) and Slingshot’s legendary construction position the Fuel as the pinnacle of all C kites.
Day after day the Fuel delivers, without excuse, uncompromised C kite performance. Fuel your passion!
Stats
Slingshot Fuel 2011
5m • 6m • 7m • 9m • 11m • 13m
Traditional 'C'
5 Line (with swept leading edge wingtips)
Front line connection has two settings - freestyle/wakestyle
Below bar clam cleat
Mini 'fifth' line release onto front line
2011 Slingshot Compstick Bar
Kite - Out of the bag the kite feels crisp and strong. It has been reinforced in all the critical places. The renowned 'bomber quality' means that every canopy seam has been double stitched and every leading edge seam has been triple stitched ready to take whatever you throw at it. The kite has a lot of panels and a 28 panel leading edge which is designed to help with stability and rigidity. The graphics on the kite are somewhat simple and designed to look aggressive and brutal; it gives the kite that 'either you love it or you hate it' look; I personally like it! But anyway, enough about what the kite looks like! Let's talk about how well it does the job it's supposed to do!
Bar - The Slingshot Compstick bar is based on 4-line clarity and performance combined with maximum safety. It is really chunky and heavy duty. The bar is simple and uncluttered which is nice, and every part of it feels very high quality. The majority of the parts are made from metal rather than reinforced plastic which is what we see in a lot of other bars. I found that when I was using it the donkey dick would sometimes not stay in place but this wasn't too much of a problem as I tend not to bother with donkey dicks as I am working on my unhooking (provided it isn't ridiculously gusty!).
Slingshot have also created what they call an 'auto indexing chicken loop' which is designed to slot the chicken loop rigidly into the bar. This is a clever design because it prevents the chicken loop from flapping about when unhooked and makes it much easier to hook back in.
The Slingshot compstick bar comes with a below the bar clam cleat trim system so those who struggle to reach the above the bar trim will find this more helpful. However this system is more likely to wear out your depower line a bit quicker than other above bar trim systems. It is important to make sure that you trim the kite a tiny amount before going out for two reasons, the first being that it will make it much easier to trim the kite when on the water and the second reason being that I found that the rigid handle that you pull to trim the kite got in the way of my hands if the kite wasn't trimmed.
The swivel at the top of the depower rope is supposed to stop the front lines from twisting but this rarely works... Again this isn't a huge problem and won't affect performance dramatically so there's nothing really to worry about.
Other than that I couldn't find any flaws with the bar. The safety system is a simple push release that flags the kite out onto one of the front lines, fully depowering the kite. While testing this I was surprised at how this did dump a lot of the power and I didn't experience it making my lines go inside out so that would be an advantage for those people wanting to try new unhooked tricks without wanting to be on the suicide attachment. The compstick bars are supplied with 800lb front lines and slightly thinner rear lines to decrease drag.
Setup
Freestyle & Wakestyle Settings
Setup is super fast and easy. The one-pump inflation system gets the kite inflated in seconds and this is when the sheer quality of the kite really starts to shine through. The leading edge is fairly chunky and is accompanied by five fairly thin struts. It has swept back wingtips making the kite almost appear to have 7 struts.
There are two settings for the set up - freestyle and wakestyle. The freestyle setup is the more standard set up that would usually appear on 'c' kites, having the attachment point furthest away from the end of the strut and the wakestyle setting is closer to the back line attachment. It is designed to make the kite sit a bit further back in the window which will allow for better 'park and pop' ability when performing unhooked tricks.
In the air...
I got the opportunity to have a few sessions in lighter winds on land before I managed to get out onto the water with the kite. This was great because I had the chance to get used to its flying characteristics. The Fuel is a real enjoyment to fly; being so solid in the air and soaking up the gusts like a sponge. It was clear that the 10 years of refinement was really worthwhile. Turning is super fast, yet if you want to keep the kite parked for tricks then this is really easy too. The bar pressure and feedback is perfect once you've got it dialed in and you can pinpoint exactly where the kite is really easily. You can generate a great deal of power while throwing the kite through the wind window. In the lighter winds when you go to turn the kite and it's close to the edge of the window, you sometimes have to downloop it because otherwise it will backstall a bit. However this is only in really light winds and not going to be a problem when on the water. Kiteloops have a whole new meaning with the Fuel, 'boot, loop and recover' is exactly what it does.
On the water...
I put the Fuel through a thorough testing on the water and we had some varying conditions which really put it through its paces. The first test day we had some extremely gusty winds and other kiters were out on kites varying from 7m to 11m. I found that the 9m was perfect in these conditions and there was no kite I would have rather been out on. In the gusts the kite stayed solid and absorbed them nicely. There wasn't any point that I found the Fuel to overfly or drop out of the sky. The second test day brought us stronger, more solid winds which was nice. The wind was roughly 25-27 knots and the majority of other kiters were out on 9m's. Initially I was a bit skeptical of taking it out because of people saying how punishing this kite can be if you get something wrong! I have to say that the Fuel really isn't as harsh as everyone makes it out to be. For sure, if you mess up, you do get to know about it and it's a little bit more than other kites but that's to be expected with the performance that you can get out of it! I didn't feel myself becoming too overpowered. However when you are, the lack of any major depower means that your legs get a heavy workout! That is the only disappointment that I had from the kite - due to the kite being so heavily performance based, the lack of depower means that the top end of the wind range is quite small. This means that you need a lot of kites in your quiver to be able to get the best out of every session. If you are looking for something with a large wind range but still a lot of performance then I would recommend looking at the Fuel's 'brother kite', the Slingshot RPM. The low-end of the Fuel is fantastic. You can move the kite really fast and generate loads of power from it. I was up and going when others were out on 11m and I was still managing to do all my tricks and jumps as usual.
The bar pressure is fairly light which I originally didn't think would be great and admittedly did take some getting used to but now I'm used to it I can't think why I would want anything else.
Pop/Unhooking
The Slingshot Fuel being the 'highest performing kite that ever lived' really does live up to its name. I tested the kite on the two different settings (freestyle and wakestyle) but I didn't find that it made any huge differences, if anything the wakestyle setting gave a little bit of extra pop but it was hardly noticeable. When unhooked the kite stays rock solid and stays exactly where you left it when doing tricks. I did find that it was hard to get any pop if you weren't lit up on the Fuel. Having said that the pop is still easily predictable but does take some getting used to. The pop is big, much bigger than my Naish Torch so it took me a few raleys to adapt to it but after that it was really spectacular. The Fuel also offers a lot of line slack which is good when trying for new tricks. I also felt confident trying new tricks on it.
Kiteloops/Boosting
Well with his world-famous megaloops Ruben Lenten certainly shows us that this kite can loop... and Lewis Crathern with his legendary pier jumps certainly shows us that this kite can boost. The technique takes a bit of getting used to, as it would with any new kite so theres no problems there. I didn't feel like I was jumping particularly high but on the beach others told me that I was going much higher than I thought. The Fuel offers a great deal of pull throughout the loop and comes round to catch you for a nice landing.
Relaunch
Relaunch is incredible. I've never known a C kite to relaunch this well. It has to be experienced to be believed but you can easily just pull on one of the steering lines and the kite moves to one side of the window and pivots onto its wingtip. Simple as that! It's as good as any bow kite, even in light winds! Reverse launching the Fuel is also amazing. A simple pull on both the steering lines makes the kite pivot and fly into the air backwards then all you have to do is let go of one of the lines, hold onto the other and the kite will turn around and fly as normal. (Be careful when reverse launching as it is effectively a 'hot launch' so it will send you flying downwind!)
Conclusion
You would have thought that with 10 years of refinement of the Slingshot Fuel we should end up with a kite that performs like no other... well, the truth is, we do. The Slingshot Fuel really lives up to its name offering huge performance with easy usability for anyone who knows what they are doing. The target audience for the Fuel is for advanced riders, however I am by no means an advanced rider. I would have said that the Fuel is usable for intermediate riders and above. However less confident riders will be better off going for something that offers more progression because the Fuel will certainly let you know about it when you mess up, but having said that, it's really not as bad as it sounds! But hey! The relaunch on the Fuel is amazing so it doesn't matter if you drop the kite! The only drawback with the Fuel is that the wind range is somewhat limited, meaning that you need a fair few kites in your quiver to maximise your flying time. Bottom end is good, however top end can be pretty sketchy. In the optimum conditions the Slingshot Fuel 2011 is an extremely high ranking kite on my list of favourites.
Pros
- Really strong and durable due to Slingshot's renowned 'Bomber Proof' quality
- Nice aggressive graphics
- Solid, simple and un-cluttered bar
- Super easy and fast setup
- Fast turning
- Really good low end
- Good 'park and pop'
- Boots, loops and recovers like no other kite
- Brilliant performance for both freestyle and wakestyle - push yourself as hard as you want
- Extremely easy relaunch
Cons
- Not something for beginners to learn on
- The front line swivel simply doesn't work
- Small wind range
Overall Rating
9/10
Links
See the Slingshot Fuel 2011 official site
View on Surface 2 Air Sports (S2AS) kitesurfing shop website
Thankyou to team rider Will Bailey, check out his site HERE
S2AS