RRD Obsession 12m 2011
Reviews / Kites
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At a Glance
The Obsession has been in the RRD Line up for a few years now, we’ve seen all the incarnations along the way and have been a fan of its performance for some time. This year sees a new bar shape and some minor changes to the kite. Gone are the trailing edge battens and the scalloped shape has been toned down a little. It is still a 5-strut design and the bridle incorporates an extra pulley on the last attachment point towards the wing tip on the leading edge. The wingtips are also much squarer although they still retain the chunky feel.
The Bar
We’ve been looking forward to the new bar for a while now and it sees a newly designed chicken loop, it is a simple push away design that is easy to activate and re-engage. The rest of the bar is up to the usual standards and smacks of the RRD quality we have come to enjoy. There are options to leash to a centre safety line that runs inside the chicken loop depower tube, keeping things neat and tidy, and also to leash straight to a suicide eyelet on the chicken loop. Trim is looked after by a clam cleat above the bar and the whole set up is very neat and tidy.
In the Air
We really enjoyed flying the 12m Obsession, when you put it up in the air it looks large and feels plenty powerful. Yet on the water it steers with the precision and directness you would expect from a smaller kite. The design is a full SLE set up and the direct connection to the rear of the kite enables it to be manoeuvred with real accuracy. Sending it back in the window for big jumps is joy and the rider is rewarded with a solid pull off the water and a long floaty jump. Equally freestylers will find it is very well behaved unhooked and has a real park feel about it. It doesn’t fly off around the window unexpectedly, merely sits there pulling like a train. The bottom end is very impressive, equally though so is the top end. It will be the perfect kite for heavier riders in stronger winds. Yet also prove useful as a lightwind beast for smaller kiters.
Upwind ability is impressive and we were never left feeling we were having to work the kite to coax it upwind. The bar pressure and feel in the hands is spot on, it seems more and more brands are getting this aspect of the kites right. Plenty of feedback, but not so heavy you feel like you are having a workout.
For
A refined design that feels even more urgent and direct around the wind window. Great for jumping and unhooking it should appeal to a wide range of riders out there.
Against
With the new bar we couldn’t really find fault with the Obsession, if you want a do it all high performance kite then this ticks a lot of the boxes.
Overall
Great for jumping, solid and stable for unhooking, a huge wind range at both ends of the spectrum and finally a bar that cuts the mustard…
This review was in Issue 22 of IKSURFMAG.
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By Rou Chater
Rou has been kiting since the sports inception and has been working as an editor and tester for magazines since 2004. He started IKSURFMAG with his brother in 2006 and has tested hundreds of different kites and travelled all over the world to kitesurf. He's a walking encyclopedia of all things kite and is just as passionate about the sport today as he was when he first started!
