Flexifoil Blade III 6.6M

Right... Tickets booked, villa sorted, weather predicted to be superb... First Kite(Land)boarding holiday in Fuerte (been kiting there before but that was before I'd gained the desire to *really* do some damage to myself with a board). We had a Scrub board and a 2.5 Bullet because we were positive that the usual clear, strong winds would be ever-present...

Until I got paranoid that this would be the only week in history that the wind would completely let us down and the Bullet would not be enough to get us going... So we (being my better half and I) decided to get the second kite for low winds (that we were planning to get at some point in the near future) a little earlier than planned... We plumped for the 6.6 Blade so that we would cover the most bases possible for a couple who had kited for a while but really wanted to get up the boarding learning curve.

Now, I really had reservations about getting this kite as if you read reports from more experienced kiters you feel like unless you've been doing this sport since it's inception back in the 70's (or whenever... Stop being an anorak!) you are ill-prepared to take on such a piece of traction engineering. Now, not being a novice (flying powerkites for about a year) but not feeling comfortable using the term "Intermediate" to describe myself I felt that maybe I was jumping straight into a Mitsubishi Evolution a day after passing my driving test...

So the day came when we got there and the wind was, indeed, a bit low for getting any serious movement from the Bullet... Out from the (beautifully constructed) rucksack it came. Obviously we'd sorted out the lines before we got there so when we got it out it was a perfect, silken-stranded, tangle-free float down the sand...ish...ahem...

So 20 minutes of swearing and untangling later (I really am glad that my wife is able to ignore my tantrums...) it was ready and up it went! And all of a sudden... nothing happened! Well, not "Nothing" but it turns out that in the right wind and with a bit of experience and common sense, this kite is actually really well behaved: It's true what they say about it being a rocket launcher as the slightest dip into the window followed by a lift results in a beautiful, slick jump.

The thing is, if you start throwing it around in the middle of the window with no understanding of brake lines you will, most likely, really bloody hurt yourself but if you take your time around the edges to start with, in the right wind for the kite it's perfectly behaved. Yes you have to watch for the gusts, but when you're getting to grips with it that's what the kite-killers are for.

So I have to say that yes, it's not the kite to go for as your first choice (vast understatement, I know!) but if you can kerb your adrenalin and ego you have got a brilliant kite with smooth control, power on tap and more lift than you could think possible. It's a joy to fly... Just wish I had a harness with me as my arms were begging me to stop after about 20 minutes!

I have to admit that I did very little boarding with the kite for the first day as I wanted to get used to the kite and also because I had so much fun just being lifted up so smoothly but when I did get round to strapping the feet in I was not disappointed as the acceleration was superb and the speed eminently controllable. The jumps were as high as wanted them to be and I have no doubt that they could be positively lunar if pushed.

A cautionary tale though... I did fall into the trap, having flown the Blade of "losing respect" for the Bullet. When the wind picked up again I went for a speedy jaunt with the 2.5 and came off the board at speed, mainly because I was throwing it around with wild abandon ("Pfff... I've flown a 6.6! What harm could you *possibly* do??" - Turns out: Plenty!).

But back to the Blade to summarise: A great kite for landboarding with all the things that the Flexifoil blurb says about it being true... Just take your time with it.

By : Fuertefan