Offshore

Having started flying kites again this year with a rather nice pressie off my wife of a 2.5m Beamer(it was one of the first in the country!) I decided to go large. I test flew a number of kites ranging from Rebbles, Samurais and 5m Beamers - and ended up with a Radsail Pro 6m. How so? Well it was ex demo/secondhand = bargain. It was also deamed to be the odd one out in the Pro line up ie slower and not as fast as the 4m Pro. I've resisted the tempation to write a review until now. I've read bits and pieces by other folk a lot of which has been a little damning of the 6m until I read a snippet on Forces of Nature by Shem of KSW that he thought it a good kite compared to say the 5m Beamer. I've flown this beast in little or no air to 23knots as provided by the local coastal observatory. My findings are that it really needs 3 to 4knots to get going and less than that it is like trying to fly a duvet! low air speeds you do need to work it. I've tried it over 4 occassions on solid 11 - 13 knots and you can park the kite anywhere in the wind window and scudding is easy! 15 - 16 knots the acceleration is there and you know it. To prove a point with two guys who were struggling in 23 knots with a 3.5 bullet (they had plenty of face plants) I put up the 6m Pro. The power was rock solid and the kite very stable indeed I weigh in at 90kg and was quite happily swinginging underneath it! I have to say I did switch down soon after to the Beamer 2.5 to give my arms a rest!! I have to say that Andy at Prokites went over this kite to check the build quality as I believe their have been some quality control issues. I'm pleased to say my kite has no apparent flaws. The Line set is good, very beefy main lines! The handles are in a word pathetic - carpal tunnel syndrome here we come. I resigned them early on to the garden shed and replaced them with a set of Flexifoil grips. This has improved handling markedly - I would say by virtue of the extra length in the handles to put the brakes on you have to reduce the brake line length at the handle (the handle comes with two knots, my advice is put a third in). Conclusion Of the kites available at the time this one won because of budget constraints. Yep you could spend twice as much as I did - but what's the point! I've gained a great deal of experience from the two kites in my quiver, I'm fortunate to live 5 minutes from the beach and I've still got brass in my pocket toward that 9m+ kite I'd quite like!!!! Like it or hate it - who cares I'm having a blast!!!! By : offshore