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Ever heard of advance kites? No, thought not. Neither had I till earlier this year when I first saw footage of Pascal Jouberts minute long jumps snowkiting. Something like that makes you sit up and take notice. And so the search began to find out more about advance. This proved easier said than done, owners are scarce here and product info pretty much the same. Most owners are paraglider users as well and word of mouth was quality is very high, a step above other manufacturers. There's also the matter of multiple wins in snowkiting including a couple of winter tours and things looked good. At this time, a new model was announced, the Diablo, for snow, water and land use. I needed a lightwind landboard kite which could also be used on the water well powered so an order was placed... Construction/details Opening the nice big box from the postman the kite comes in a drawstring like rucksack which folds into a waistbag; a nice practical touch. Looking at the kite, one can see it is a 4 line bridled depowerable foil, similar in concept to kites such as the boom vector,ozone frenzy and such. Where this kite differs is in the execution. Looking at the foil itself, one can see the fabric (high spec Porsche marine cloth) is thinner and lighter than your regular kite. The stitching is internal, helping to stop snags and keeping the drag down. The seams themselves are glued and taped, so water launchability should be good. The ribs have a mylar reinforcement helping to keep the profile as does the T.E. moving along to the tips, there are drainage channels as well as Velcro panels covering pop off type valves. At the bridles there are carbon battens attached to the A, B, & C lines with pulleys below to control the AoA. The product blurb promises better bar feedback and lighter pressure with this system, we shall see. The bar itself is the same as on the depower version of their previous kite, the Rhea, a straight carbon affair nicely finished in neoprene but a little big (cm) for my taste, I'm used to the frenzy's. However, one problem: no instructions to speak of. The supplier, Airborn of Sweden was kind enough to send the kite with lines pre- connected but at this price level its not too much to ask for a decent manual which covers what you need to know on those trial flights. There is a manual for the rhea online, but this is for the non depower version which doesn't exactly cover everything...however the overall impression of the product leaves you feeling its money well spent, the execution on the foil itself is excellent. Lets see how she flies... Land use The first round of flying involved some time static flying and on my mountainboard in winds ranging from sub 10 to 18mph. for the first flight I held up the kite for about 30 seconds to pre-inflate approx 1/3, this later proved unnecessary. Pushing forward on the bar sent the bird towards the top of the window quite slowly, the tips needing about another 10 seconds to inflate fully. Turning on the kite felt crisp and it was manageable in the fresh (circa 15mph) wind that morning. I tried a few gentle pulls on the bar and the kite picked me up without too much fuss, so all signs were looking good for trying the kite with the board. That afternoon and several outings later I was able to try the diablo out landboarding. Whatever the wind, the overriding impression is of grunt. Effortless grunt. Working the kite below 10 mph unhooked boarding and small jumps are possible, the kite responding accurately to control inputs, turning tightly on its tips with the bar cranked over. The kite seems to specialise in maximising apparent wind. At around 10mph, depower can be used, and the character of the kite changes somewhat. The problem lies in that above this windspeed, the amount of lift the kite generates makes it difficult to hold an edge on your landboard. This wouldn't be a problem if the kite had better low speed ability, but unfortunately the Diablo doesn't handle as well near the bottom of its windrange. With the frenzy for example, there is a comfortable 'grey area' in the wind range where the kite performs well and can be flown in either 2 or 4 line mode (depower/unhooked), the Diablo doesn't have this. It feels sweet 2 line up to around 10 mph, but at this point its physically difficult to hold down so a switch to depower seems a good idea. Around this speed the kite is very sensitive in pitch on the bar, and can nose over and luff easily, not the greatest thing on an 11.5m kite on land I can tell you. The stalling point seems very close to what you can manage power wise on land, so the window of usability on land depower wise is very narrow. Also discovered at this point is that if slowed at zenith the tips fold and the battens can tangle, leading to a reopening in the centre of the window. This was genuinely unsettling and could be a more regular occurrence in dirtier air, the Diablo did not seem to like lumpy winds at all, and was easily unsettled into a nose down situation. The kite needs to be kept moving all the time, as during a drop in line tension it cannot support the weight of its battens. This can cause problems during gybes (particularly jumping/spinning ones) and if not redirected enough on a jump. Then you have to get out. Fast. Water use Initial kitesurfing was done down at Hayle, Cornwall in an ideal 15mph cross onshore breeze. Launching has to be done hooked in due to the arrangement of the safety on the bar. There is no 'chicken loop', but a webbing strap which has to be larks headed over your harness hook. To this the bar attaches, but its near impossible to reconnect on the move. Once up and out, its apparent that this is the kites forte. Power is there all the time, the kite flying far forward in the window, edging upwind easily. Available depower is very good, the kite manageable up to its maximum range. Its interesting to note though that when turned really hard its possible to stall the kite, there seemingly being too much of the turn done on the mainlines. The kite can still overfly very easily if not checked regularly, and if you suffer a crash it takes a certain knack (blame the lack of instructions) to relaunch well, releasing the bar on the safety and grabbing one side of the Y line. Its not as effective as the system from flysurfer et al as it needs more imput, but its okay. The kite floats for a long time, as I found out after relaunching after 3 hours on the water (the joys of being an beginner kitesurfer) and drains the water in about 5 mins or so once airborne. But the exiciting bit, jumping.. takeoff is very smooth, there is no sudden jerk or pop but lots of instant height and long float times. Power delivery really is very linear, and the added resistance of the water lets you boost some very large airs. The overriding impression is of smoothness encompassing a very fast and direct package. On the water its faster than the average foil but everything just feels speeded up, a little sharper and more sensitive than most other kites. Personally I found the bar pressure a little too light, as it was difficult to feel the kites responses in pitch at times. But the jumping... wonderful, with lots of height and floatiness. Takeoff is not the usual sudden jerk, but very smooth and controlled. This does not however mean that is slow, far from it. The general feeling is that of flying 10% faster than you usually do. Conclusion Advance ownership has proved to be a bit of a mixed bag. The kite has not proved to be the all surface weapon it was originally marketed. I have to say I have reservations about snowkiting with it in turbulent mountain air. There was also an issue with premature wear on the bridle lines, both near the batten attachment points and further up with fraying and splitting on the bridles. This was after less than half a dozen flights. While all credit must go to my suppier, Airborn for looking into the matter Advance were not exactly helpful with their flagship kite and were slow to respond, meaning I was stuck with a broken kite for quite some time. And no instructions means no troubleshooting advice, setting up/trimming info and so on, leaving unanswered questions. This isn't to say I don't like the kite. When it works, it works very well but isn't a practical everyday landboarding kite (it needs clean air to work well) and requires you to keep an eye on it all the time. For my personal flying style, I like to be able to take my eyes off the kite to do other things, like board-offs, but on land you don't have the confidence to do this. For those that like technical flying kites this kite would be ideal but I cant help feeling that for 90% of us, a small drop in absolute performance would be well worth it for an increase in low speed stability and lighter weight. Then the kite could tap into the potential of its design. By : bushflyer