Clinton Bolton Reviews the new Nemesis HP

Posted Saturday July 7th

On Saturday, June 23rd, I went to Tarifa and met up with Peter to test the 2008 Nemesis HP. A little background on the wind in Tarifa: there are 2 different wind directions ... Poniente, which is the dominant wind direction, and Levante, which is pretty much the death wind here that blows gale force winds day and night and

When I arrived, it was blowing Levante, which is an awesome wind if you want to ride a 5m and do insane kiteloops, but other than that, a lot of people tend to not kite in Tarifa and head somewhere else. After meeting up with Peter and picking up the prototypes, we headed down to the beach and discussed whether to kite in the 50 knot conditions or to go somewhere else and test in more suitable conditions. In the end we made our choice and went to Canos, a 40 minute drive up the coast.

I was dying to try out the new Nemesis. I was debating between the 7m and the 9m ... it was 7m weather, but with very gusty winds, people were going out on bigger sizes than what they should've been going out on. I ended up deciding on the 7 ... what can you do when its blowing one minute 30 knots for a 7m and then 15 knots for a 13m ... but for the Nemesis HP, that wasn't a problem. The 7 handled fine in the gusty conditions: plenty of power when the wind was light and I could still hold my edge when the gusts came through.

I rode the 7 for a solid hour, coming in a few times to speak to Peter and give him some input, as well as getting input from him. It just blows my mind, the way he comes up with things without being out there on the water himself ... he just watches the kite and knows straight away what I need to do to make it better to my riding style ... of course he builds these so they're kind of like his babes, ha-ha. Anyway, enough with the 7. I wanted to try the 9, even though the 7 was perfect. Anyone out there could have been on a 7, instead being on such big kites and taking their lives into their own hands.

I was a bit nervous, wondering if this was a stupid idea with such unpredictable winds. Now and again, a gust of warm wind from the land would just pick up any kiter that had his kite at 12 ... plucking them up, one by one. I went out with the 9, though, and had no problem at all. It handled yet again perfectly. It is very responsive, and the Nemesis HP is the kite for people that want hangtime. This kite is a hangtime machine ... the hangtime that I got is unreal.

Overall, I had an insane day, getting to test the new Nemesis. It's a totally different kite from the Nemesis prototypes that we were testing last year in Brazil, but for sure these ones we have now are way better than the others. Especially considering that the kites I tested are only the second batch of prototypes, it's a kite that's a step ahead of anything, and I cant wait to see how the final product will be. The kites that I rode felt fine to me and I could have taken them straight away any day, yet Peter is a perfectionist and if he's not happy with the slightest little thing, he'll go all out in improving it and making it just that much more perfect. So thanks a lot to Peter for making some insane kites. I'll definitely be using the Nemesis HP in competitions.

For more on the testing of the new 08 kites, click here.

For more on Clinton, click here.