HQ Beamer II 2.5M

After going down to the local football fields with a mate and his 4m Blade III and getting myself thrown, lifted and generally manhandled by it in what were supposed to be 12 - 15mph winds (a visit to http://www.xcweather.co.uk/ showed the wind history to be 29mph), I decided that I had found my new sport having just given up karting.

I then spent days reading reviews and comparing prices, and decided that it was going to be a Beamer II 2.5 m. My mate got one as well with the idea of finally using his ATB.

It arrived, we packed the tent and kites into the car and of we set off in the torrential rain to Skeggy. Put up the tent in Beaufort 5 - 6 winds and even hevier rain. Next morning a miracle had happened - a clear sky and 20 - 30 mph winds. We got to the beach at 10 am set up one of the Beamers and the Blade and started to fly.

The Beamers were easy to set up although the colour coding on the power lines on one of them had a red braid at one end and a blue at the other. Started with the brake lines on the third knot which proved ok, but as the winds picked up (24mph upwards) we had to move them to the forth knot as they were proving difficult to land.

I know a lot of people complain about the handles, but having done 6 hour endurance racing in karts, I actually found them very comfortable and prefer them to the flexifoil affairs on the blade. The lines were all equal lengths and the overall construction is very good. We got sand in the pockets during the day as we skidded them horizontally accross the sand, and crashed them once or twice but they still flew wonderfully.

At the beginning of the day we were taking off at the edge of the window which just invloved releasing the break lines and away they went. They fly superbly are massively manouverable, and the power you get as you fly it though middle of the window is enough to drag a 12 stone bloke 20 feet on his arse in the sand or three or feet into the air. When they come down the wrong way up a quick pull on the break lies will have them the right way up and back in the air again. They will spin on there axis and happily float above you in the zenith when you need a rest. However, on occasion they will fold up at the edge of the window, but a quick pull on the opposite powerline nearly always sends it skywards again.

The Beamer is a superb Kite for those looking to get into powerkiting, it is relatively cheap, easy to fly, very manouverable, predictable and well made.I prefer their range of ability (being new to the sport) to the Blade, they don't have the same power but we spent ten hours on Skeggy beach and we all kept going back to the Beamers. I am waiting for my two new ones - 3.6 and 5m, and we are going Land Boarding (now we can balance on them) on Friday with them. I will let you know how it goes!

By : hammer