2018 Eleveight WS 11m First Thoughts
Oh yes! After falling in like (not love, too much commitment) with the Best Cabo v3’s, I bought my first full quiver of a single model kite (Cabo 5/7/8/9/11m). I watched the Best rumor mill declare the company in/out of business on a weekly basis and then was pleasantly surprised to see the designer of the Cabo kite join the Eleveight team. I’ve been wanting to try the v4 Cabos for a while but it seems not many were produced, at least there aren’t many for sale. A WS 11m came up on eBay. After a few months of low-balling, an eBay coupon and a great exchange rate I scored a sweet deal on a brand spanking new 2018 Eleveight WS 11m!
First thought, it seems bigger than my v3 11m Cabo but I’ll need to lay one on top of the other. It has SIX battens! WTF?! It looks like the 2019 may have went down to four and my 11m Cabo only has two. I can get the v3 11m Cabo to hang in practically nothing for foiling. Hopefully the weigh increase isn’t major and I can always remove them. I really should stop being lazy and weigh my kites like my bike parts. The added foam squares at the tips to deflect the lines, called “3D” some crap, are a bit overkill in my opinion. Will they soak up water? Missing are the foam protection pieces at the leading edge of the kite where I would actually prefer to have some foam. The valve seems good. The v3 valves are a press fit design and rely on a thin, rubber seal which is ungluing on my 11m as it’s my most go-to kite (easy $30 fix). The bridal seems longer but need to overlay to compare. The Teijin double ripstop feels nice, not sure I care about the 2019 Eleveights with the quad ripstop if they weigh more. The color scheme is kind of “meh”. With my Gilligan hat on I rarely see the kite flying but I think the Cabos looked more exciting. I hate kites with a lot of screen printed graphics; the paint seems to attract a lot of fine sand from static so this one’s OK. Last gripe is the bag. It’s a messenger style bag, for a kite?! Seriously huge f*kup on this one. The Best on the v3 is one of the best bags I’ve ever used. Bar pocket, wetsuit pocket, large enough to stuff a wet kite in a hurry, pocket for a phone, shoulder straps and bag straps for board and pump. This messenger bag is a joke in comparison as it has none of those! This is some Apple whack ass design here. But who cares about bags, it’s about the kite!
Overall I’m STOKED! New kite smell is da best! Not yet sure if it’ll outperform the v3 in lightest of wind but I’m hoping. If it doesn’t, the WS v2 will NOT be on my list of things I’m drooling over.
UPDATE:
Measured the kite with my 11m Cabo and they’re almost identical. The wingtips look a little longer and slightly more curved on the WS. The front bridal points and lines have also changed by a few inches. The rears are the same
