Pansh Ace

The more eagle eyed of you out there may notice that I have only been a member of race kites for a short while and yet my collection of Kites is expanding at a rapid rate, damn am I glad I got back into this sport!

So I started with the flexi 10 and now have the Beamer III's (2+4m), over the past 5 weeks I have certainly shifted a few lbs and feel generally healthier than I have for some months/years (aided by giving up smoking too) despite the bruises. Every Sunday and Thursday (my day off) morning my first job is to check the tree tops for movement, do a few jobs around the house to appease the wife and then head off to the field for some more 'punishment' but I have now found I am just not 'getting enough' from the current selection particularly as the wind has been so light of late. Another pay day had come and gone and having read about the ace and the bargain price I thought why not.

I originally was going to go for the 5m but the price has gone up somewhat on the origional reviews I had seen and the 6m seemed very reasonable at £75, it kinda made sense too as I had a 2m and 4m kite....... this logic doesn't really work by the way.

Ordered kite on Thursday evening and it arrived, direct from China, on Monday morning!!! Seriously impressive postage!!! I of course did the only thing I could do on return from work and that was to 'try' and lay it out on the living room floor to impress the wife. I say 'try' as my living room is a bit over 15ft long and this kite is a fair bit longer than that, I can honestly say that, for the next couple of days, I had been feeling genuinely apprehensive about flying this monster, the wife was less than impressed at my apparent 'insanity' too.

The Kites build quality, for the money, seems pretty good. The bridles are a little rough compared to the beamer but the material of the foil feels every bit as good as most other kites I have looked at and has this kind of posh shiny feel to it. The Lines that come with the kite appear to be ok although not coloured for left and right and the handles, also, can only be described as serviceable at best. Because of this I chose to attatch the HQ lines and handles as they also had the Kite killers on them, something that the Ace does not come with! I think from a safety point of view a kite this size should not be sold without killers and I would have gladly paid an extra few quid for them to be included in the package. On the subject of the package don't expect a backpack or any other 'luxuries' like an instruction manual, it's a stuff sack made of the same material as the kite and thats yer lot.

Right, Thursday morning and the tree tops are just about moving and I figured that this would just be enough to get the Ace off the ground for a 'gentle' test flight. Setting up the bridles brought none of the tangle troubles reported by some other flyers, just a Larks head at each corner to deal with and we're all set. Picking up the handles I could feel the amount of pull this beast was going to generate compared to the Beamer. It took a little work to get the kite fully inflated and then it went up......and I went across the field on my heels at what felt like warp speed.

Once I'd got used to the sheer power and lift of the kite (which there is loads of by the way) it became apparent that it has a tendancy to overfly the zenith and subsequently Luff, fall, re-inflate and rocket me up and across the field once more, something a bit of brake control soon sorted out as I became more comfortable. Generally, in flight, this kite needs a lot of aggressive work to keep it moving and once you get this sussed it is extremely rewarding and challenging at the same time.

This is definately going to be my kite of choice on the light wind days and I am really tempted, next month, to grab a 3.5m for the breezier ones too whilst they are still 'cheap'.

For the money the Ace is great value and as an additional kite I would definately recommend a purchase. If I had bought it as my first 4 liner, however,I would probably have found it mightily frustrating as the lack of instructions and general equipment, not to mention its slightly unforgiving flying characteristics don't scream beginner! Kite killers are a must!

Overall very pleased with my purchase.

Final thought from my first flight, knee pads protect from impacts when scudding and jumping but when your leg kinda bends in a way you don't want it to and the kite keeps pulling they do naff all...ow my knee really hurts!!


 

By : CrashMatt