grogamanda

Hi, I have noticed that the only guy who ever appears to write about these guys is MEE (the person not me) so after flying the kite today and thoroughly enjoying it I thought I would back the guy up a little, well maybe a lot! After reading a considerable amount regarding these kites I decided to take the plunge as I had a few notes spare....and a weekend of too much kiting to do. The bag A basic yellow affair and the lettering is fading a bit (it is after all a second hand kite) but its great for packing this hulky thing away. It is more a wraparound with velcro. makes it so you dont have to be too accurate on a windy day to make sure it fits in the 'ole as it were. Has a little card in it showing manufacture date. The Kite On first opening it I thought ugh what a weird config of inlets.....even though I knew what they looked like from pics. I thought to myself well they wont work (they do - more later). The bridles are long in comparison to my FS Spirit but there again this is a big kite. There is a nice blue zip down the centre of the kite for changing between 9m and 11m configurations and yes it works beautifully when required. This does allow you to effectively reduce the size of the kite when you want. This kite inflates when in use so will work on land, snow and water without any issues and WILL relaunch on water with no real problems as I found out today when I got going so fast on the beach I ran straight into the sea up to my waist 🙂 Great fun! Only takes a little while to get back to full performance - minimal impact - still pulled like a train. Quality is very good - material is excellent as well as sewing etc. Lines and bridles are VERY strong. pulleys look more than adequate for the job. D lines in bridle are thinner than main bridle but that is to be expected. Bar is basic but has excellent features. THe safety is excellent as stated on powerkite.me and newer kites now have a trimmer strap instead of the knot solution which needs altering when zipping down the kite.I have a basic clam cleat system in place which works well. Colour coded lines from bridle to bar make untangling/setup very easy. This is a thru safety so you can spin the bar many many times with no issues. I use a clip and not a chicken loop with the kite as the safety is very good (in fact excellent). So - first impressions - 11m setup. 8mph winds static flying at york racecourse. went up no problem but I had concerns over the bridle setup - couldnt make out if a mod had been done to it. Also we had disconnect lines due to a tangle..........I wasnt confident with it so didnt board. It flew well and dealt with gusts ok just not with sudden lack of wind - there again neither did my other kites deal well in these conditions. So hey ho off home we went to check the bridle and plan a visit to good winds. Took it home rearranged the lines slightly (my fault) and checked everything over - right tried the zip - wow - dead easy! Left the zip done up as I prefer to start smaller really. Second impressions........9m setup cleethorpes offshore changeable winds up to 20mph Kite out - lines ok when unwrapped - clipped in and we were off. I had been flying a 7m spirit earlier in the day to get used to my new harness but it didnt have enough grunt. changed to this! Wow what a difference this made! Depower was ok but wind was high so became a little silly to power this kite up too much in the window. Talk about pulling us around the beach with little jumps at each end! great. The intakes worked really well with the kite absorbing gusts on the leading edge - literally 5 seconds to really fill out! Righto now for the board. off we went and woohoo this is the first kite I have managed to "lock in" to the window with no problems. it sits and grunts at you. So - upwind downwind - left right great fun ( and I am no proffessional this was probably the first occasion I really really used my board properly. It felt really really fast. THe wind was obviously a little strong as I was fairly overpowered - it dragged me straight into the water as metioned earlier at quite a speed. to be honest this thing made my day. Lift - this kite does lift with the right control - I havent got it right yet - the mods I intend may help that. Unfortunately, the wind got up a little too much for me after a couple of hours and I did a faceplant. Then another which needed the safety which worked immaculately. I will learn to reduce kite size one day at the appropriate time 🙂 I will be modding this kite in line with the Mee's site over tomorrow so I will update you on my next adventures at cleethorpes.(in a week weather permitting) Conclusion A little known - well designed, gust proof depowerable with a lot of flexibility. If you havent got when then at least have a go of one then you will want one. Just be careful these are powerful. I am now going to have a steam bath as when I fell off I hurt my legg and it hurts a lot - This is not the kites fault but the driver! Hope to see you at a beach or York / pontefract soon! By : grogamanda

Hi all, I thought I would just post a few thoughts on my most recent purchase......A rad Pro II 3m. I bought this kite primarily as a hig wind kite but also as a practice kite for me to blat about with as I build up to using my blade III 4.9 in higher winds. General:- This size kite is a good start before moving onto the bigger stuff as it is small enough to control and learn in "normal" wind conditions but it also has some very good traction and good lift in higher wind conditions. I have been using this as a starter kite for me to actually stand on a mountain board and learn to balance myself properly! The bag: A fairly good rucksack with venting meshes in the right places and a substantial front pocket for all those extra kitey bits! Expandable straps in all the right places although you wont need them if you fold the kite properly. There is ample room in the bag! The handles: Nice handles as far as a budget set go. I miss the neoprene of the flexi handles.... They also come with hooks at top and bottom that enable you to wind the lines in (similar to a bar). This is excellent as it keeps the lines fairly neat and I havent had a load of tangles since owning the kite! Build quality. Looks fine to me (I am no expert). Intake vents have gauze on them similar to a blade. All the bridles are sleeved dyneema although it is Knotted and not sewn. Leaders are color coded. There are no croc clips for keeping the bridle organised. (Why dont people do this as standard? its a couple of bits of velcro!) Having said that - so far no bridle tangly things. Lines were all equal on opening the bag from marrionville - always a good sign. Only initial concern was the weight of the lines but this hasnt really been a problem in winds up to 15-17mph as it dragged me down the beach. First flight:- Staked out, set up kite, it sits staring across the field as I put me killers on and I am thinking this will be a doddle "ive flown a blade!" So - tug - whallop up to zenith with some nice tugging as it went through the zone. As I flew the kite all over the window It began suffering significant "stutter" in the power zone. It was like getting power on and then switching it on and off rapidly through window. This continued for about half an hour with significant luffing in odd places in the window. I put this down to lumpy winds but at the back of my mind I thought I may have wasted £100. Thankfully I persevered and the stuttering disappeared and has only returned once more during very lumpy winds and it was exacerbated by the fact I had trimmed the power lines by 2" in a previous flight. One warning - dont misjudge this kite on first flight! It does "settle in" Too be honest once the stuttering had gone I have got to say I love this kite in good winds. I can throw it all over the place and treat it very badly in the sky and it delivers again and again. It does have significant lift in high winds so dont treat it as a small kite and it provides some nice traction for learning on a board without the awful SNAP a blade can give as the power comes on. This kite is very fast turning and does turn on a sixpence with the right touch of brake. It is quite happy to sit at zenith generally but it is fairly easy to judge where it is in the window through the handles as when it is at zenith it is happily trying pull your arms vertically. It doesnt generally overfly if the lines are set up correctly but when it does it WILL luff and you can end up with a bag of washing on a string if you arent careful. Additionally it does take a little work in lumpy winds.(doesnt every kite except a paraglider?) I would not give up this kite as it is a great recreational peice of kite for a small amount of dosh. The most important bit - Its yellow! In conclusion - A great, cost effective kite. good for learning but dont take it out on your first flight in 20mph winds - it will catch a beginner out. I am 17Stone and it likes to pull me about in high winds. Hope this helps any new guys starting out! By : grogamanda