Boom SKite

Like myself, you may not initially recognise the name BOOM. On the continent, BOOM is a well established brand, with a long history in snowkiting. In fact, they were one of the first companies to introduce depower systems to foil kites (who exactly introduced it first is a matter of contention between themselves and Flysurfer) on their most well known kite, the Vector. Since this BOOM produced the stillborn Prion (this kite was never fully productionised due to demands at the factory; BOOM is a subsidiary of NOVA paragliders), but the technology and development that went into the Prion was implemented into their next foil, the SKITE.

The SKITE is an open celled foil design aimed at the land side of kite sports, in particular snowkiting. Available for around a year now, the kite has been under constant refinement. BOOM'S u.k. distributor is Active Edge, kindly supplied this kite for the review.

Late in the evening a knock on the door revealed a brown box containing one SKITE. For all you bag fetishists out there, the BOOM bag is a little different to the other offerings. Somewhat resembling an LEI bag, its expandable both at the top and the bottom. The bag fully extended could easily take 3 kites or more. Apart from that, there's a front pocket for you manual and kite junk, and a loop on one of the shoulder straps for a groundstake or similar.

Rolling the kite out on the floor, the outline resembles that of a frenzy mixed with bullet. The shape of the kite is elliptical with squared off tips, and the leading edge having a much stronger curve than that of the trailing edge. Immediately eye-catching is the colourscheme, the blue tips helping breaking up the shape of the kite. The fabric itself feels a little thicker than that of say, a frenzy 04, but is of a similar weight. The leading edge has a relatively thin intake vent, which is covered with mesh. On the trailing edge is a Velcro'd opening for emptying out sand, snow etc.

The bridling on this kite is very minimal; the internal structure uses v ribs to help lower the number of lines necessary.

The bridle only reaches over the tips of the kite; it is omitted in the centre section completely. Where the bridles converge are two pulleys; one to alter angle of attack, the other to influence the profile of the kite. It's worth noting that boom produce their own lines in house, and stress tests all components on their own rigs. The lines themselves seem well made, and come colour coded and pre sleeved. Moving to the bar end, the boom setup differs to what most of you may be familiar with. Like the frenzy, the SKITE features an emergency quick release on the front lines, as well as a secondary release on the chicken loop to totally free the kite.

Where the bar differs from others is the handles on the bar ends which serve a number of purposes. Firstly, pulling both the handles brings the kite down quickly, collapsing the trailing edge. Also, if the kite lands leading edge down pulling one of the handles will roll the kite over back onto its trailing edge. As such, this creates a leashless setup, but if required one could be easily added by adding a line between the brake lines and connecting a wrist/handlepass leash to this.

Flying

It's important to spend a little time pre inflating the kite due to the narrow intake vent; it helps the kite sit better ready for takeoff. Pushing out on the bar lets the kite rise slowly to zenith, the narrow inlet helping keep the kite under control. The centre section fills relatively quickly, gently moving the kite from side to side helps fill the tips at a similar rate. While static flying the kite, immediately apparent is the SKITE'S very high level of agility, it being possible to spin the kite on its axis, pivot turn on the wingtips and work the kite very aggressively if so desired. Relax though, and a very smooth and controllable nature comes to the fore. The ease and control available were surprising, and along with the opinion of others, reminded me of the ozone samurai.

Several sessions later and with a little more wind, I was able to get out on the board with the SKITE. On the move, the kite feels punchy and responsive when sheeted in, giving rapid acceleration. The quick turning certainly helps with sining to gain that bit of extra power. Not that this is strictly necessary, as the SKITE has very respectable pull for its size, certainly more than the equivalent size frenzy. In semi powered up conditions, the kite has a fairly quick cruising speed, and at all times is commendably light on the bar, but not enough so as to mask the subtle nuances of feedback coming from the kite, an important aspect given the somewhat unpredictable nature of the wind at my flying spot. Qualities also discovered in the local hell wind include an almost total resistance to luffing. At several spots on the field are large wind shadows, and whereas other kites (including my psycho 2) become confused and can collapse, the SKITE can be recovered or take avoiding action very rapidly. In lulls, the kite does not nosedive, but gently drifts backward and recovers itself. Even the local arc flying community commented on its stability, which is no small feat in itself.

During a sudden gust, the power can very quickly be converted by the kite, so it's important to be ready to sheet out and absorb the gust. The SKITE has a very large depower range, but turning does suffer slightly in the last 4cm of travel. When in this zone full bar movement is necessary to turn the kite, but it's far easier to sheet in a little and increase the turn rate.

The kite fly's well unhooked, pull the trimmer in a few centimetres and it will fly to zenith. Power is particularly punchy unhooked, great for wakestyle moves if that's your thing. Pull the seemingly endless trimmer in some more and you can meter the power level down some more for those unhooked flatland moves such as surface handle passes or some blindside riding etc.

On the other end of the scale, a recent trip to Redcar with some of the kite fantastic crew gave me the chance to push the SKITE in its upper windrange. By this I mean circa 40mph. understandably I was a bit apprehensive putting up even a 7.5 in this wind but the very long trimmer means you can really depower the kite to a comfortable level. Open out the trimmer some more though and you can get onto the jumping... Sending her back and redirecting quickly, but not too hard, and lightening up your touch as the kite nears zenith gave me boosts with lots and lots of pop. Hangtime was okay, but not brilliant in this wind, which I feel was due to the amount of trim needed to give adequate depowering in the conditions, thereby stunting the available performance. Like the Flysurfer and Ozone kites, the depower is done both through angle of attack and camber change. In the given wind this day I had to depower the kite to such a degree that most of the camber change is nullified, so losing some hangtime. The best conditions for boosting and hangtime tried were circa 20-25 mph, where little or no trim were needed and you could milk every last available drop of performance. The kite was easy enough to handle in the high winds, but it proved better to bring the kite to the window edge and have someone catch it, than use either of the safety systems. This was to keep the kite out of the powerzone, and is pretty much standard practice for any kite in nuclear winds.

Conclusion

All in all, the SKITE offers a considerably different flavour to the other kites on the market currently available. Its nice to see a product which has evolved without outside influence from other brands and come up with its own unique (if a little odd a first) solutions. The most striking of these is the safety handles feature, spend a good session or two getting used to operating it as it's a completely different procedure to what most of us (including me) are used to. Also spend time gradually building up in wind strength as the kite has a bit of a jackal and Hyde personality. Not that this is a bad thing, it just simply stops being soft and mild mannered and becomes punchy and aggressive. It's certainly on par performance wise with the other offerings currently available. It'd make a good kite for any intermediates eager to progress and push themselves, but if used by a cautious and sensible beginner it'd be equally suitable. So for those of you after something a little more left-field and different to the norm, but with all the important qualities you've come to expect, the BOOM SKITE is sure to appeal. Try it and be pleasantly surprised. I was.

By : bushflyer