Blade III 10.5

by Brine Boy on Thursday 07 October 2004

I was after more power and more lift!!!! I have a Blade III 6.6 and love it!! Why not try a 10.5 someone said so I did!!!
After picking the kite up from Airboss, I was desperate to have a play, mainly to see if the bad reports I had heard were true, things like it lufts a lot, turns like a bus, is too slow for land boarding.

The wind was 8mph when I got to the field which was great for a first fly.
When unpacking the kite you realise how big it is: huge! Kite killers on and sitting down not knowing what to expect, I give the handles a firm tug to inflate and up it goes. I was amazed, even my 6.6 does not launch straight to the zenith in one tug.

The power is immense. It’s not just a tug, it feels like your lines are connected to something solid and when you pull on the lines, you move not the kite – it just sits there. Turning the kite is very slow: I had to use the brakes to turn just so I didn’t clip the ground.

However 8mph is towards the lowest wind you would want to fly the 10.5 in. As the wind got up to around 12mph it did turn slightly quicker. I also started planning my moves a few seconds earlier which helped. I think with a few hours of flying it will fly just like any other kite. I clearly remember flying my 6.6 for the first time after a Bullet 3.5 and thought that turned like a bus! Now I don’t think about it, it goes and does exactly what I want when I want. I am amazed how stable the 10.5 is, it just sits where ever you put it. Power it up to the top of the window and the lift is immense.

Jumps on my board were so easy but I felt safe, a lot safer than a smaller kite due to the kite being so large when you jumped you stay up for longer and come down a lot slower.

Upwind performance is excellent, flying with two other boarders with different 12 & 12.5 kites the 10.5 excelled itself tacking upwind.

As the wind dropped off it did luft once or twice but only because a kite that large has a fair weight, the bridal alone must weigh around the same as a 3m complete kite!

My recommendation would be don’t fly it in less than 8mph.

My first impression? Wow I’m getting one!!

KIT USED ON THE DAY
Flexifoil Blade III 10.5
MBS Comp 16 Pro Board
Maui Magic Dragon Shield Seat Harness
Cebe Lid

Bullet Review by Brine Boy on Sunday 21 November 2004

When ever you get a new kite to play with it’s so easy to rip open the packaging, attach the lines and show your flying companions what your latest toy can do without paying any attention to the instructions or bag just because it’s something you have done many times before. For this review I have tried to remember how daunting it is when you get your first ever kite. How easy are the instructions? How easy is it to set up? Having not flown a Bullet for several months when the Bullet 5.5m and 7.0m arrived on my front doorstep from Flexifoil, I was eager to fly them but due to typical British weather they sat teasing me every time I walked past them for nearly two weeks.

When unpacking the Bullet you can’t help noticing the quality of the bag. It’s a good size so you don’t have to fight it when repacking; there is a handle and shoulder straps so it can be carried in the hand or on your back. A side pouch with a strap which is great for your handles, or as I prefer, all important ground stake. The best thing about the bag is the mesh section on the front. Firstly it allows your kite to breath if its damp and secondly allows you to see what colour the kite is should there be more than one of you out with a Bullet the same size. There is something about the Flexifoil bags that makes you feel kind of special when walking across your flying field with a couple in your hand. The only thing that’s missing is a pocket to put your phone and car keys in! In the bag is your kite, handles or bar, safety system, lines, instruction book, sticker and a free repair voucher. I am a big fan of the repair voucher. I think any company that will repair or replace your kite should you damage it within one month, for free, in a day and age where nothing is free must truly believe in their product.

I spent a while going through the instruction book due to the fact power kiting is becoming a huge sport. Although I think it is safe to say I don’t think any store would sell a large kite to someone who has never flown one, unfortunately a lot of kites are being bought over the internet where there are no questions asked by the seller into the experience the buyer has. With a lot of councils banning and reducing the areas of which we can fly, safety, although sometimes boring, has to be something we must all participate in.
The instruction book is clean and tidy starting with the basic do’s and don’ts. After an insight into wind strengths and the wind window, it runs through what all the various parts of the kite are called and what they do. It’s nice to see things explained easily with diagrams showing exactly how the kite should look once all the lines are attached. Some clear pictures show how to launch and fly your new kite, and after showing how to pack away the kite and lines there is a very handy section on how to tune your kite to various wind conditions. All in all I think the instruction book if full of all the stuff we need to know without going over the top making you feel like it’s just too much and giving up after the first page.

If you are anything like I was opening a kite for the very first time, it is a slightly scary moment constantly thinking what if I knot or tangle that mass of lines the guys down the field call a bridal? It’s a relaxing feeling when you see that the guys at Flexi have attached the ends of the bridal to a piece of card that is also attached to the trailing edge of the kite. The card is clearly labelled as to what each line is called and where to connect it regardless of whether you are using handles or a bar. There is also a handy four step diagram on how to tie the lines to your kite using the all important larks head knot.

Down to the flying field at last and after nearly two weeks of no wind it was blowing around 10-12mph. First I tried the 5.5: it launched very easily and climbed straight to the top of the window and just sat there. I was impressed that it didn’t over fly and collapse when it was gusty. After a few minutes of static flying it was time to get on the board. The kite is very stable when over your head making it ideal for boarding or bugging for those times when you need to take your eyes off the kite. It is quick through the air, turns amazingly quickly and you can spin the kite on one line. The bullet has very little lift, however if you really power it up and send it straight to the top of the window you can generate lift for jumping. After an hour with the 5.5m I was desperate to have a play with the 7.0m. It has the same characteristics as the 5.5 and other Bullets I have flown in the past, yet they just seem to get better the bigger they go. It has so much power it’s awesome although they don’t have a huge amount of lift. If you power the 7.0m up it’s easy to jump with and due to the size of kite over your head it’s a nice slow landing. For me the 7.0 is the best by far. It’s very deceiving as it does not look like a 7.0m kite when it’s in the air. So many kites on the market slow down both in speed and turn rate which is a huge drawback with larger kites, however the 7.0 seems just as fast as the 5.5. Again, you can spin it within its width allowing you to work every ounce of pull out of the kite. It is extremely stable making one handed transitions nice and easy and the balance of the kite is close to perfect. With a bit of practice you can fly the kite slowly backwards without it collapsing: great for those occasions when you let your kite go that little bit too far to the edge of the window

Personally I think all of the Bullets are pretty close to perfect. They have the build quality, speed, manoeuvrability and loads of power perfect for newbies, buggiers and experienced boarders that don’t want to jump high all day. Also a great choice for a first kite as you will never grow out of it. Start off with a small bullet then as you get more experienced move onto a larger one. The small bullet you started off with will become your high wind kite.

KIT USED ON THE DAY
Flexifoil Bullet 5.0m & 7.0m
MBS Comp 16 Pro Board
Maui Magic Dragon Shield Seat Harness
Cebe Lid

Here’s a write-up from the old KiteAir site by Steve.

 

Airbossworld Freestyle Landboarding Competition.
Steve Saturday 08 January 2005

First, Let’s set the scene

As usual, we’re all there in the no-wind, hoping that just a little bit of a breeze might get our kites airborne, when someone says ‘Did you know: Airboss are having a boarding competition.’

‘WHAT?’ Goes up the cry, unanimously. ‘You’re joking! Us lot? What are we gonna do?’

So, feeling mildly panicked and knowing full well that we shall all be expected to enter (peer pressure and all that), we set about in earnest trying to get some tricks sorted. At the time, I was flying a 6.6 Blade III most of the time, others were flying various kites, including a Bego 600, 5.5 Bullet, a Frenzy or two, and to be honest, none of us were pulling anything remotely impressive in the trick department. A few jumps and slides, the odd tweak, maybe a switch to toeside, but, come on, a freestyle competition? Others might do alright, but I was just going to make a fool of myself.

But, the gauntlet was down and the pressure was on. Over the summer, most of us realised that, not only were we somewhat lacking in tricks, but our kites weren’t really up to the job either. We began to experiment, and that meant spending money. Between us, we bought Begos, Viokites, 04 Frenzys, bigger Blades,……… A little progress was made, some improved more than others (personally, I was struggling to get off the ground more than a foot or two, not being the lightest of riders, and still persevering with my 6.6 Blade in never enough wind). Then, someone tried a Peter Lynn Phantom. Wow. This was it. This was the kite I needed. A real kite, designed with freestyle land use in mind. Over the space of about a month, most of our regular crew had been in to see the kite pimp that is Gary at Airbossworld, and sorted themselves out with a shiny new Phantom (or two, or three….).

It was now September. The competition was on October 17th – I still wasn’t feeling anywhere near good enough, but I’d put my name down for a Landboard clinic to be run by Airboss and ‘celebrity landboarder’ Glen Butcher – the infamous Butch. It was a mental wind day, but the Phantoms did us proud and suddenly confidence was building. Tricks were getting better, higher; more rotations, grabs, even an invert or two – it was starting to look like game on. Whilst I had improved (18m of Phantom certainly builds your confidence, but I still had no grabs and only 180 degrees of rotating), I was still not too sure about the whole thing. Oh well – someone’s got to bring up the rear. At least I’ll make up the numbers come competition day.

1 week to go. I’d just been into the shop and registered for the competition. Paid my money and signed my dignity away. Throughout the coming days I went through various ups and downs, and following a disastrous session with the worst, lumpiest , most turbulent wind I’d ever experienced , I was getting ridiculously stressed about the whole thing. Was it worth this? No, I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to make a pratt of myself and come last…….. Or should I? Practice. That’s what I needed, practice. Get out there all I can. But no time! Work. Family. No wind. Rain. No light (bloody dark evenings). It’s no good, I’ll just not do it. I’ll just make my excuses and drop out and leave it to those who can.

The day before of the comp, and a strange calm settled over me. I’d got nothing to lose; keep my head held high: maintain my dignity and give it all I’d got. What’s the worst that could happen? I’d come last? Or, strangely preferable: get stretchered off by the St. John’s ambulance guys booked for the day, so surely I’d be a front runner for the best wipeout award.

Competition day.

Here it was. The big day. I packed the car with my board, all my pads and helmet, a 12m and 18m Phantom as my weapons of choice, and drove towards my fate. Still feeling quite calm, I approached Rushcliffe Country Park, watching the roadside tree tops as I went. Hmmmm. Not much wind, but probably enough. Maybe 8-12 mph? I didn’t think we were going to have any huge airtime from anyone if the wind stayed like this. As I left the car, kites on my back (and front – have you seen the size of Phantom bags?!), pulling my board along, I walked to towards the flying area. The Airboss crew had been hard at work already – it was only just after 9am and already there was a large competition arena marked out by corner flags, with a stage in and stage out area clearly marked. St John’s ambulance were on hand to administer to any wounded, a burger van had thoughtfully positioned itself on the edge of the field and the Airboss tent was up. Hey, this looked organised! There were also voluntary marshals and helpers on hand made up of various kindly Club Boss members who were not competing. However, we all felt a little puzzled by the large crowd that was gathering at the end of the field – wow, they’d all come to see us and witness first hand some extreme kiteboarding action (little did they know) – the word had obviously got around! But sadly, no: there was a fun run on in the park and they were there to cheer on the runners. We had about an hour to play and get in a last warm up and practice before the riders meeting.

Gary Grayston, head judge for the day, and head dude at Airbossworld, got us all together to explain how the day was going to work. Riders were to be drawn in heats of 3 at a time. A repocharge system was used, meaning no one faced instant dismissal (and the resultant instant shame and ridicule) – the losing two of each heat got to go again against losers of the other heats, in round two; the winners going straight through to round three. Everybody was guaranteed at least two heats, each heat lasting 10 minutes.
The girls would have a slightly different system, as there were only three of them competing. Instead, they were to have a best of three to decide the winner. The flag system was explained, the red and green flags used to indicate the start and end of heats and a black flag for indicating a halt to the proceedings, accompanied by a blast of the airhorn. The judges for the day were Gary Grayston, Elly Grayston and Neil Retti.
They would be marking contestants on the moves they pulled, the judging criteria being technical ability: difficulty and execution, and that all too elusive factor: style. Riders would score progressively less for any repetition of tricks. This latter put me in something of a tricky position: with such a limited repertoire of tricks to call on, how do I fill my ten minutes? Too late to worry about that now. Still, the atmosphere was all good, everybody was pumped up and there were enthusiastic and genuinely warm wishes of good luck and encouragement. There was no harsh rivalry, just a common wish for us all to push for our best, and for the best rider to win.

The heats were drawn, and wouldn’t you know it, I was up first. I was drawn against Tom on a 6.6 Blade and Nick on a 6m Slingshot. Both were unknown quantities to me – I’d seen Tom ride a few times but a long time ago, and I’d never met Nick before. We wished each other luck, a quick handshake and off went the air horn. Not a massive amount of wind, but I pointed all 18m of my Phantom at the floor and shot off down wind to get some speed up – a couple of small jumps, and a powerslide at the far side of the arena and I made the transition to come back. A quick glance at the other two, and they seemed to be struggling to get moving in the low wind. At the far side if the field, all the fun run spectators were watching us, not the runners – this was obviously more exciting than watching people puff and pant their way round on foot.
Hey, this might actually be going in my favour! All I had to do was keep it moving and throw in everything I had – trying to keep some semblance of style about what I was doing. In reality, this amounted to pretending to be relaxed, leaning back and riding across one handed in attempt to look cool. Yeah, right. A couple of switches to toeside, landed quite nicely and a big carve transition. Damn – not enough wind! I’m too far downwind and riding on the edge of the scoring area, with not enough power to ride back upwind.
The rules said I could walk back into the area, so a quick jump off the board and running frantically back to the middle, I got back on and carried on. The red flag came up meaning I had seconds to go before the end of the heat, so I got all the speed and power I could muster and sent the kite back and up – up I went, and for the first time I took my hand off the bar in the air, practically waving to the judges to make sure they spotted it – nothing so advanced as a grab, but hey, every little counts. I landed cleanly and powered off, just in time for the horn to sound. Rushing over to the stage out area, to hand my kite over to Kai who was up next and using my Phantom (there was a lot of kindly kite lending going on, so at least everyone was suitably powered) – I walked back to the rest of the crew to be told that it was in the bag – I’d won my heat!! That was it – if I did nothing else now in the rest of the comp, I could go home happy and proud. And knowing who I would have to ride against in later heats, I kind of knew this was going to be my highpoint.

The heats progressed, some pretty cool moves being pulled in the low winds – some low 360’s and grabs, but as time went on, the wind was getting less and less. After one particlularly fruitless heat, a halt was called to the proceedings for an hour or so to give the wind a chance to sort itself out. Apparently, with all the organisation in the world, no one could put in a request for decent wind, and we had to continue in less than 10mph. Still, at least it was a level playing field.

Due to the delay, the heats got reduced to 7 minutes in length and the breaks in between down to 3 minutes. The ladies had their three heats back to back, and they were pretty closely matched – a tricky job for the judges to determine a winner. I had my second heat and got drawn against my mate Barney, my regular flying partner and one of the widely regarded favourites to win. We were both on 18m Phantoms and Barney’s superior skills easily won out – I managed very little, but he got in some low wind technical tricks to see me lose: some long manuals, smooth switches and even a few low level grabs. As a loser of a heat, I still had another go, and straight away, with barely time to draw breath, the horn sounded again and I was off, up against Wes, one of the Airboss store riders…… so, that was the end of my competing then! Well and truly trounced by both, I took up my place as a spectator to see who would be victorious.

Finally, we had ourselves a, errr, final!. Geoff, flying a 10.5 Blade, Wes on an 18m Phantom, and Kai on another 18m Phantom (hey! MY 18m Phantom! – I wasn’t in the final, but my kite certainly was!). The wind was at it’s lowest of the day, and to put it mildly, it wasn’t exactly hardcore kiteboarding we were watching here. With barely enough wind to even get a downwind burst of power by looping the kite, the phantoms hung around the sky, not being much use. The low wind superiority of the big Blade won out, and despite Kai trying to impress the judges with some comedy handstands, Geoff got in a few jumps and even a low 360. It looked to be in the bag for Geoff.

Just in time, we gathered together in the Airboss tent for the final results and prize giving, as the heavens opened and the rain hammered down. Indeed, Geoff had deservedly won the men’s competition, Wes second and Kai, even with what were admittedly very impressive handstands, got placed third; the ladies winner was Charlotte. Other awards went to Wes for best trick of the competition (a 180 shifty) and Kai for best wipeout – an attempted 360 that resulted in a pretty hefty back slam. Ouch. Honourable mentions must go to Barney and Corey and Sam, who we all know to be excellent riders, but today wasn’t to be their day – next time, next time……… (hey, but you’ll have me to beat – ha!)

Well done to everyone who took part, it was a great day, superbly organised by Gary and Elly and all the Airboss helpers and supportive partners on the day. Thanks must go to Charlie from Flexifoil too for coming down and donating prizes. Prizes were donated too by Scrub, Dakine and Airbossworld. In the end, the old cliché was proven: it’s not the winning, it’s the taking part that counts. Everyone came away with something, even if it was just a bit more knowledge and experience, and the pure satisfaction of having done your best.

Me? I found out later that I came fifth!!!!!! What a result………..

And another from a guy called Donnie Darko??

Tyler and Judge G ! When r you two going to get married your like a couple of fighting pussy cats.

And as for you Judge G your buggy skills or should I say buggy crashes are great you need some kite lessons maybe that Tyler guy or girl could help you.

The end is near .

I will leave you with this thought !

Where is the wind from ! Is it from the Earth or maybe the sea  not to sure lets wait and see

Donnie Darko

A cracking post by Cory, found on a backup of the old kite-Air site from 2005.

Went down the race track today with the guys Mark, Kez, Barny and Steve. Got there and realized that I only had the g13 with me in the bag which was a bit of a downer but it would give me some time to set it up properly.

We’d been flying for a bit when a big weather front came through the kite was just hoisting me up into the air and down wind on full depower (no big deal) then steve came to give me a hand and pull me in.

Most of the way in steve was flying me like a kite holding my harrness we got back to the bags and I pulled my safety,

Steve put my board on my kite; Kez pulled his safety as well just as it started to blow big time 30mph+.

I looked round to see mark being lofted high on his 15metre I shouted to him to pull his safety as he does.

I ran over to help him not thinking that my kite was not pegged down the wind gets under my kite and starts to take it across the field towards the white fence that goes round the field.
It wraps its self round this so I run for the bar as I get to the bar the safety is tangled all round it so I just dive on the lot with the bar behind me and the kite in front, at this point the barrier gives way the kite shoots straight up for twelve o’clock the bar goes under me and raps around my leg at which point I start to take off across the field by my leg towards a 8 foot fence with barb wire on it.

Luckily I manage to free my leg and the kite shoots up and over the fence and the road and into the hotel car park stopped only by the bar being tangled round a fence post we run over and manage to get the kite which is flapping with lots of power all over the carpark under control luckily my kite is all in good nick and I escaped with just a dirty back and arse.

Mark however ended up with a badly twisted or broken little finger.

Lessons learnt today.
Always peg your kite down the board on its own is not enough now winter is here.
Never put yourself in-between the bar and the kite.
Be well aware of weather fronts coming in and get your kite out of the sky well in time
Keep smiling
So all in all a good day to remember you are small and your kites are very big be careful
Courzz.

A quiet day at York race course I seem to remember.

Let’s stack some Phantoms…..

 

(Dobbo giving some well needed pulling assistance)