NZ Rider Chris Blake Reviews the 2009 Nemesis HP.

I currently have the 2009, 8m and 12m HP. I've only flown the 8m so far, there hasn't been any good wind for the 12 yet.
Up till now I have been flying a 2008 waroo 11m, and 2007 yarga 9m. I would probably call myself an intemediate to advanced rider, I'm trying lots of un-hooked tricks, occasionally landing a few powered handlepasses, back and front mobes etc but mostly just lots of crashes. I've also been getting into speed kiting.

---

My review on the 8m:

On the ground: The bag is way better than last years, it's quite a bit bigger, with nice side pockets for your bar and pump. Looks nice and durable, this year they have added a chest strap between the shoulder straps, this makes it quite a bit nicer for those longer walks with your gear on your back. I often walk about 10 min to my favourite spot, so this makes it a bit eaiser, sure i'm soft, but I don't care. The pump this year is similar to last years, with the adition of a pressure gauge, not really sure if this is necessary, but it's good to have it anyway. The kite looks really durable, especially the leading edge. The material feels very stiff, and when it's pumped up is nice and rigid. The leading edge is super thin. The non return valves on the struts and leading edge actually work, and work well this year, they were terrible last year. Deflation is easy, using the small plastic tabs attached to the velcro on the valves.

In the air: This kite is faast! it flys really fast, and turns super fast. It sits quite a long way forward in the window. This is great for upwind, when your powered up, this kite charges upwind. I found that on the sandard bar and lines (2009) I had to attach the back lines on the last knot from the kite. If I had it any higher up, when you fully sheet in, it just seems to choke the kite, the tips come in slightly, and it sits further back in the window. Also this is necessary for unhooked tricks to avoid backstall after you've landed a trick.

It sits super stable in the sky, and handles the gusts really well. I flew it back to back with a friends 08 11m waroo, in nasty, gusty conditions(it was about 10 to 17kn). This kite just sat really stable in the gusts, whereas the waroo started to jellfish slightly. The kite turns really fast, it definitly suprised me at first, I was flying it on the AB setting. Kiteloops are amazing!! because the kite flys so fast through the sky, you can go for a wider loop, and the kite will still get back up to the top of the window to catch you as your landing. I've had the most fun kitelooping on this kite than on anything else I've flown. For unhooked tricks it works well, as long as the lines are set up correctly, I would like to try it on the AC setting, to try and slow down the turning a bit, as I found the turning a bit fast for wakestlye tricks, still totally managable, but I've been used to the turning speed of my 11m waroo, and this is waaay faster, so will take a bit of gettin
g used to. To get the best pop with this kite, I found that you have to edge up into the wind a bit quicker than on my waroo. With the waroo you got the best pop by bearing away downwind a bit, then edging back upwind fairly slowly before releasing your edge, whereas this kite the carve upwind has to be a little faster, probably this is because it's a smaller, more reactive kite.
For speed kiting, the 8m nemi rocks. So far I've been using my 11m waroo, however when I tried the 8m nemi in about 12 to 17kn back to back with the 08 11m waroo, I was going about 3kn faster on the nemi, even though I wasn't powered up. About 35kn on the nemi vs about 32kn on the waroo. I recently got just over 47kn on my waroo, so I'm hoping that I may be able to crack 50 on the nemi.

To sum it up, I gave my friend a ride, his comment, "I've never ridden a kite like that before"