Gaastra Jekyll 2010 10.5

Rider: 85kg,


IKO Level 2 Instructor


Style: Surf, Freestyle, some wakestyle


Weather: 15-22knotsBuild


Quality: 9/10


Satisfaction: 9/10(dont think i'll ever find my ultimate kite)


Disclosure: Loyalty to good service at a couple of shops, work for a Kite school but no loyalty to brand or kites. I fly what impresses me.


Kite Type: Hybrid, bridled no pulleys.


Other kites flewn: 2010 Naish Helix, 09 Switchblades all sizes, 09 Gaastra Jekyll 8m, 08 Vapour 10m, 08 Gasstra Jekyll 10m(main personal kite), 7m Ozone Sport 2(strong wind personal kite), 08 Vapour 14m(light wind personal kite), 10.5m Flexifoil Ion 2, numerous older style kites over the years.


First off the kite is in a nice BIG bag. None of the skimping on bag material so you have to stuff your kite in hoping you dont catch the zip on it like alot of manufacturers these days. The bag is not fully expandable to allow the struts to be left pumped up though. Nice sand holes at the bottom and a nice little bar bag with a mesh side to let the sand out too.


Build quality is good. Full dacron frame. They fixed the single pump system so it releases the air easier than last years model.


Flight review time. Got to fly in ~1-1.5m swell with flat water on the inside tried both unstrapped surboard and twintip.Surf: Good kite, fast with enough depower when you get onto the wave. Stable enough not to fall out of the sky when riding down the line. On lighter winds it did tend to drop sideways in the window a little when riding straight downwind on a wave so had to change direction a little to keep tension on the lines. Middle to strong wind for the kite it didnt seem to be a problem. Turns quick when you need to hit a wave. Just had to be carful not to send it up and over too fast or you get lifted off your board. Best to keep it low and send it sideways thru the window. Overall 8/10 for surf. Could be slightly better straight downwind.





: First thing you notice is how fast this thing goes upwind. Upwind it's a good 3 degrees higher than the switchblade. Can start downwind of other guys on the same size kites and end up a good 100m upwind with the same tack. That said it also has good speed. Get some speed worked up and it still rockets upwind. Turning is nice and fast powered. Pivotal if you really pull the bar hard. Sending thru the window it tends to slow down just before the edge of the window so it doesnt overfly and luff off. Very stable compared to last years Jekyll. Bottom end is also much better. Doesnt tend to stall at all in lighter winds in the middle of the window. Jumping this thing is a rocket ship. Send it and you're on your way to the moon. Really fast up with lots of height(like other kite height). Once you're in the air working it a bit side to side gives you a couple of little lifts again. Quite forgiving on landings too. Not so critical that you put the kite in exactly the right spot for a smooth landing. As long as it's moving the landings are light. Kiteloops are good. Can do a nice big kiteloop and the kite will get back up high in the window for some of the lightest kiteloop landings i've ever done. Lots of speed still to make it fun. Nice even pull right the way thu the loop.





Unhooked: only unhooked once so far but unhooking on the beach it's nice and stable with manageable pull.


Setup: Trim strap is nice and long with plenty of depower. Setup is trim strap with pull bobbles like the 09 Cabrinha. The strap itself it about double the lenght of the Cabs tho and has a nice cover to keep everything out of the way.Bar pressure is light but not so light you cant tell where the kite is. Depower throw on the bar is nice and even. At about 3/4 of the bar all the way out 90% of the power is gone. Quick release is improved from last year also. Push the top of the chicken loop and the end of the loop comes out from behing a locking cover. Reasonably easy to put back together. No problems if it had lots of sand in it. Last years tended to get stuck alot and was very hard if it had any sand in it. Safety is onto one front line. Has a stopper ball to stop the bar from riding too far up. Only tried on the beach so far but worked well and makes self landing easy. Flags the kite out into a similar position as the IDS on the cabs, onto it's back.





Overall a really good kite. Watch out big air comp. If you like the Ions from flexi then you'll definitely like this kite. Similar feel to the ion 2, slightly faster through the window, better upwind and much better construction(my ion 2 self destructed mid kiteloop after one season). Cheers to Kite addiction for the demos, now the kite is mine, mine, mine. Off to Tonga next week so will put some pics up when I have them.