Rebel SLS: Behind the Design 2026

Sky Solbach:

Sky: In terms of shape, what you might notice if you were to overlay the two kites, is we made the chord length a little bit shorter on the 2026 mode, so the length of the actual struts is shorter on the new one. That was one way to get the kite to fly to the edge of the window quicker. So it shoots to the edge quicker, having more deep power. In addition made some changes to the arc. I think the main things you'll feel on the 2026 versus the 2025 is that it depowers quicker, gets to the edge quicker, which is really helpful, when you're doing a kite loop, the kite climbs and gets above your head quicker, so it'll catch you quicker on your loops.

When you're just steering the kite up and shooting in, you get a more vertical takeoff, so it doesn't pull you as much downwind, more that it pulls you actually straight up, so you get a more vertical lift, and then a little bit quicker steering too. So with the changes we did in arc, the kite is quicker in general. So quicker steering, more depower and more vertical jumping, and again, not wanting to lose the hang time that that the Rebel SLS is famous for, because that's really the DNA of the Rebel. Something that has made the Rebel famous and really popular is it's the hang time kite. It's the easiest kite in our range to jump. It's a kite that anyone can get on and get a huge jump. So what are your thoughts on the new rebel SLS Patri?

Patri McLaughlin:

I like the new one kind of quite a bit better than last year's. Last year's kite was insanely good for jumping, you put the kite over your head and sheet in, and you go up and it floats insanely well, so we didn't want to lose that. With the new kite, it turns a lot faster and it's more comfortable to turn. The kite shoots forward a lot faster and easier. So that helps with depower a lot. You might not notice the depower just sheeting the bar out, but if you're riding really overpowered, and you edge hard, the kite will actually shoot to the edge of the wind window faster than last year's kite and that shuts the power off better and allows you to even ride an even bigger kite and jump higher than any other kite.

Sky Solbach:

So the rebel SLS is the go to big air kite of our range. It's the easiest kite in our range to get a really big jump, just put the kite over your head, sheet in and send it to the moon. The SLS construction offers the best price to performance so for any rider looking for a high performing kite that is an incredible big air jumping machine, the Rebel SLS is the go to kite.