The 4-lines Gaastra Pure 9m 2015 has 3 struts, a bridle with no pulley’s nor any battens and a high split point of it’s front lines. The very colourful green-yellow bag comes with numerous -functional- pockets and includes a huge size indication. The bag certainly does get the attention on the beach. The inflate is a classic wide -and quick- entrance to the perfect one-pump system, including a unique protection padding. The X2 bar is a bit thicker than most other bars but looks very slick at a first glance, including the lines.
Though when looking a bit closer to the bar, there is an issue: although there is a safety ring, it doesn’t fit over the chickenloop. The manual of the Pure suggests for suicide mode to connect both the chickenloop and the safety to the leach. Our North safety leach however did not fit. A bigger leash connection would fit, but it would certainly compromise the safety, since the end of Gaastra’s X2 chickenloop is wider at the end. The chance a leach connection will be stuck to the chickenloop when using the safety system is very real. So a safe suicide mode is not possible. This is a bit strange for a kite branded as A freestylers dream weapon.*
Dutch Gaastra supplier Newsports, provider of the test kites has read our review and had a reaction to this issue (see below review).
Gaastra’s website is very clear at the aims of the Pure; It is dedicated to freestyle competition with most direct c-kite character, optimized kite-loop performance. The kite indeed has a sort of C-shaped look to it, but for a freestyle kite the split point of the front lines is quite high. This normally ends up with a fast turning kite. Something the opposite freestyle kiters need.
The test
We tested the Pure 9m in steady 19 knots wind with some small waves up to 1,5 m. We simultaneously tested the kite with the Best TS 10m 2015 and the North Dice 2015 11m. We anticipated to be underpowered due to the limited amount of wind, but the low end of the Gaastra immediately surprised us. We could kite just as powered with the 9m Gaastra as the 10m Best TS. It was maybe even a bit more powered than the Best, a bit comparable with the superb low-end of the Naish Ride 9m. The bar pressure was much heavier and powerful than the Best TS or the North Dice. Even set to the light bar pressure at the Pure and heavy bar pressure at the Best’s steering lines. The power is (again just like the Naish Ride) distributed of a large area when pulling the bar. No real aggressive pop, but a bit vague pull. Good for air time (al though we had not enough wind for big jumps), less for aggressive freestyle action. The kite is quick to turn around it’s own axes. Sometimes even too quick. Which ends up in loosing the feeling where the kite actually is. It was quite fun to ride the Pure, mainly due to it’s alive feeling in such light conditions, but we would never have guessed this kite was dedicated to freestyle.
List price Gaastra Pure 2015 9m (kite only) Eur € 1059,-
2015 X2 4 Line Kitebar Eur € 399,00
Dutch Gaastra supplier Newsports, provider of the test kites has read our review and had a reaction to the safety issue with a suicide set up; It is possible to buy a bigger connection (see picture) to avoid any obstructions when releasing. Next to this there will be a five line hardcore Gaastra Freestyle kite available in the (near) future.