HQ Crossfire 6.3M

Interestingly I have found myself as a flyer of other people’s kites; whether demo, prototype or pre-production. All by accident and good fortune!!

As many will have read in the forum I have had the pleasure of flying the AT 4m (Crossfire) in its prototype form – courtesy Alex and Jerry. The kite was a lot faster than comparable sized kites and felt very that it had bags of lift available. I however didn’t have the air I needed to explore it’s vertical limits – nor mine!!! The prototype was well put together and in flight very stable!! The ability to park, ride and cruise was all there!!

January came and I had to say farewell to AT4… Time elapsed and I had to make do with my Frenzy 04 7.3m which I’d bought in October but not really flown until the AT4 disappeared!!! Last Thursday a parcel arrived; not one but two kites (both pre production) a 6.3m Crossfire in its very sexy colour way design!! (Albeit that it was per the new 4m colours). Rolled out the kite and wow (red) – gorgeous, the second kite was a 5m in teal blue. Swoosh but no logo!

Do they fly as well as they look. I must have had a premonition that HQ required them back to cover a show – so immediately set off for the sand with the 6.3m under my arm!! I have to say that the airspeed was marginal as the island’s weather site was hitting anywhere between 15kts and 37kts! I managed to get a window of between 18 and 23kts – I wouldn’t normally be so cavalier with a new kite but I wanted a fly!! I had flown the Rad Pro1 6m in 23kts without any problem. OK the findings.

This baby launches well from the side of the window – it is very stable indeed. (Do not try and fly this with brakes on in the middle of the window and keep it stationary and walk backwards unless you want time off work!! – it’s dangerous, as an aside I don't know why anyone would want to!!). It flies quickly up to the zenith and even in moderately gusty winds does not over fly or luff. No collapsing here!! Move the kite around and LIFT is generated – it isn’t snappy tho’ the power increase is gradual so that you gently rise and fall. The most inspiring thing about this kite is its speed. If you fly a Rad Pro 6m version 1 you’ll know that the Pro is a little slow, well OK not that slow. This darling is blisteringly quick tho’, fast across the sky and so responsive in turns; turning on the proverbial sixpence – for a big kite that is some going.

I decided that my window was closing when the big wind filled in again starting to pump up above 25kts so kite killers to the rescue. Marvellous - acres of depowered nylon!! Nice landing. After thoughts – apart from wow and doesn’t it pack well!!! This kite has loads of potential totally untapped in my 15 – 20 minutes flying but sufficient to say that this is one hell of a kite – it isn’t a brash animal waiting to snap your hands off (but it could). More of a kitten to tiger and you get to see the growth as it happens not a sudden psychotic burst as some kites provide!!

This kite would be an obvious kite to have in my quiver on lighter wind days (not light wind days I’ll have the 7.7m or even the 12m for then!) and so much faster than the Frenzy, but still manageable in the upper end of the wind window. (A note here tho’ talking to Jerry, depower babies have to be slowed down for depower to work effectively as I understand – although he may wish to correct me on that (I’m sure he would).)

Of the 5m – well it looks nice and it doesn’t take up as much space as the 6.3m!! Sadly I got an email from Jerry and they had to go back today – bah humbug!!!! All I can say is he misses his babies pretty quick!!

If I get these babes back I’ll do a more in depth report – in the meantime we’ll all have to wait!!!!