j-

I recently went on work experience to a sail makers/repairers and fixed a cabrinha helix as part of it. The vertical seams for the air pockets had split. As a result of this I no the kite pretty much "inside out" as far as structure goes. And I can say that whoever had this kite before had used it a fair amount. The seams were well stitched into the upper and lower skins; they had just split in the "equalisers," (the holes that allow the air to move between cells. Having never flown any other traction kite before I had nothing to compare it to, but it looks very slick. It is bright yellow/green and it has the cool carina "c" in the middle. Judging by pictures of other kites on the internet I would say that it had quite a long, thin aspect, giving it a huge presence for such a small kite. The first time up was before the kite was repaired, and it wasn't very windy so it doesn't count, but compliments to the kite as it would stay in the air even in light airs (a compliment to such a small kite) The kite was the only part in for repair; there were no lines or handles, so we made some of both. We used some 1.6 mm Kevlar line for both power and brake lines, and made some very Gucci handles out of a white fibreglass batten and some black grip tape- they were then referred to as the wands. However we didn't no what brake lines were for, so we just tied the brake bridal to the power bridal and flew it to line. the lines were not exactly the same lent , so we shortened one with a simple double figure8, only to discover that Kevlar doesn't like to go around corners that sharp- during a power-up one snapped at the knot- luckily the pilot was laying down(more on that later) First (real) flight Blowing about a force three according to wogz (he joint owns the sail repairer.) we used a beach on angelsy island with a name that I can't say or spell. First impressions were f*** I this thing am cool. I didn't any anything about wind windows, but even in that weather I worked out that to get back up the beach after 2 minutes of flying you had to have the kite above you or next to you. As we were flying statically, we powered up by sending the kite into one of these sport kite style spirals, enough power to keep your feet skidding (or scudding) down the beach. However I did think that the power came in lumps and didn't trust this or my feet as much as I could have done. Second flight We found a cunningly arse shaped hole at the beach and discovered a new way of being shot into the air: lie with your arse in the hole, dig your heels in and power up with the kite near to the ground. N.B keeps your arms straight otherwise power is lost and you end up on your arse again! As the kite powers up you literally stand up- very Michael Jackson! However if you power up too much you ended up running after it as the Welsh bracken isn't good for scudding! I also used it on a skateboard in a medium breeze, only to discover that the kite pulled well, smoothly accelerating, breeze was perfect, its just the kite seemed to be much more mellow and sluggish. I put this down to the apparent pull on the lines being reduced as I was moving with it; its just it is here that the kite shows its small size. Third flight Light/medium airs. I felt the window wasn't reduced considerably, but that occasionally the kite would randomly stop pulling and turn into a pile of nylon floating down to the ground. Extremely frustrating. To conclude: ~light airs this is a pain in the ARSE ~medium airs+ it is fantastic-as long as you keep it moving ~feels very controllable, I would take this out in anything that looks threatening/is stupid ~not the best puller, but a very good static fly. ~it will randomly luff ~it can overly slightly-but I don't think this is a problem ~it hasn't been proved but it feels as if it will lift you nicely. As far as value for money goes I couldn't give you any sort of opinion as I cannot find a price anywhere. Lines and handles are the same. But I can say that if you crash a lot you will do it some damage. If there were a category for it would go in between beginner and intermediate. By : j-)