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another new space ship has landed

Our excellent local air conditioner expert miraculously brought our system back to life yesterday. It was so quickly repaired that I suddenly found myself sitting at home with a few hours to kill and breeze pushing the trees around, so off to the kite field I headed.

With earbuds connected and music playing the Revolution B-series was launched on one hundred twenty foot lines. The wind was smooth and constant at about eight miles per hour.

Flying the Rev is a blast, plain and simple. Most of my time was spent just enjoying the wind window from edge to edge, spinning and tumbling about the sky. IT was a very relaxing time playing in the wind.

At times if too much reverse is given the kite will fold up and try to roll, which usually means it will have to land and fix lines. This seems to happen more with the B-series than the SLE, most likely due to the handle setup, but I am not certain of that.

But today correcting the folded sail seemed easily accomplished while in the air. In fact the kite completly rolled and fluttered on time but that was corrected with just a bit tug and release.

The wind was great for quite a while and I must have flown the Rev for almost an a hour and a half before the breeze mellowed for the end of the day.

But I still wanted to fly and there was some daylight left. So, out came the new 4D from Prism. (it arrived last wednesday, btw)

The 4D is a sharp looking dual line ultra light delta stunt kite. Constructed with Icarex Polyester and some Mylar laminate to add a bit of a rainbow shimmered see through middle section

Officially listed at two point four ounces or sixty eight grams with a wingspan of fifty eight inches this kite is remarkably light for its size. Just Assemble the kite, lay it on its back, walk back fifty feet and with a quick tug on the lines the kite jumps in the air.

Assembly is straightforward but there are more details to stay aware of than you might think. The wing spars are two piece carbon tubes that need to be connected inside the kite fabric for flight. There are end caps for those rods that are cleverly attached to the kite rigging so they cannot be lost. And there are three loose carbon rods that make up the spreaders, two for the lower spreader, one for the upper. Fittings, rods, fabric and bridle all fit together very well connections seating nicely and creating a strong structure for the aircraft.

They suggest flying in five mile per hour wind for the first timer and my wind was already at around three and iffy. Getting the kite to climb was easy but I did find my back against the fence more than a few times. I tended to walk back a bit but could usually regain forward ground when the wind would peak.

Flying in no wind or even very light wind is a challenge for sure and I kept using up all my potential flight energy by pulling too hard. Flying slower with a soft steady pull is what will be needed to keep this kite in the air when the wind is weak.

After about 40 minutes it was time to pack up and go. The 4D is a fun kite and I look forward to getting it back in the air soon.