OK.... some of you might have read my review of LAST years hotshot Arc kite... the Phantom... well.... I got bored, a new model was launched and "Oh please yourself" DOES mean " go and buy those expensive new toys my love!"
So there we are.. the kites hit the importers, I turn off my mobile phone and go on a "mercy dash" for my local kite store!!
My poor car takes a beating as the Satnav fails miserably to find the God forsaken fenland backwater where my new toys sit forlornly in brightly coloured bags awaiting my inept ministrations.
At long last I decide that MUST be the place and dive in.... sure enough the door is answered by the Kite Keeper and I am ushered in to the inner sanctum of UK arc flying!!
There they are a huge (ish) pile of bags marked "Venom"!!
Our allocation is passed over to me and NO amount of begging will get an extra 19m one thrown onto the pile.... 3 in the country it seems and we get ONE!
The 100 miles back home takes an eternity. The car is filled with the smell of new kite... my excitement levels are raised... the clouds grow darker and more worrisome by the mile.
Sure enough.... raindrops smear my windscreen as I get within miles of home!
The magical bounty is unloaded and the first owners in Nottinghamshire rush away from the shop in a state of extreme anticipation!!
On arrival at adamski towers the boy is summoned to inspect our new kites... he grunts in teenage..... a rough translation would seem to be... "nice!"
We check all NON flying aspects of the "new toys" (she really should get more involved!) out.
The bag...and this pleases us greatly, expands AND has a handy "tube" bag inside for carrying the kite in fixed pole mode. Pockets.. yup plenty! PLUS the Spars fit in a pocket at the back of the pack stopping last years "oh there they are" moments as a carbon fibre splinter shoots up behind a fingernail!!
The instructional video is now a DVD and it has a few extra bits on it. We are tight so went for kite only deals... we are running on 03 bars rather than 04s so need to add knottage to the front pigtails.
Upon unfurling the kites we were startled by the extreme redness and blueness of the colour schemes.... some seem cursed with an attack of the pink foppishness... happily not ours!!
Please be aware that these kites seem to be made VERY well just not with hidden seams and double thickness stuff. not worse than Ozone or Flysurfer just slightly more "agricultural"!
Spar removal is better due to the eezee out system... just pull the white ribbon and they slide up the pocket and out of the kite! (please take GREAT care of these spars, they break far too easily!)
After much looking, stroking and general kite worship we put them away and my boy decides they will stop in his room until flight day.
Saturday comes , the wind sitting at about 13-17mph..... the 13m Venom comes out and is set up! The zip at each tip trick is great, MUCH easier to inflate fully than the zip in the middle one.
We set the internal strap to half way and leave it there! It DOES take an hour or so of faffing about to get the pigtails at the correct length.... about 20cm from the end seems best.
So.... come on adamski..spill the beans.... what they like?
We have been flying them for 4 months or so now and REALLY can't believe what a leap forward these are.
OK, setting up and packing them away is a total arseache sometimes!! NO easy out and tug the centrelines with ANY arc kite (yet!) but other than this .....
Launching.... they have more cells than previous Arcs.... this makes them stiffer. NO more of the Phantomesque bow-tie and death spin launches.... get it 75% full and up she goes!! The Venom WILL steer on max depower too, quite an eye opener that one... going back to an earlier Arc can seem VERY fluffy!
Flying.... LOVELY! depower and the "oh my GOD where did that lofting come from!!" moments are cut RIGHT back.... two so far and that was down to stupidly gusty and turbulent conditions! The venoms are MUCH faster flying and turning than the Phantoms, our 60 cm bar is almost in retirement.. the 16 flies on 40 or 50 bar!
Bar feel is GREATLY improved too, Phantoms and G's could feel a little too remote for some, the venoms are still nice and light but react more quickly and precisely than earlier Peter Lynns.
I have a guilty secret.... I am deeply crap on my board! My Son is amazing... I try not ot be too upset by this!! I have been mainly looking after the safety side for my boy and doing some static flying.
I got going on the Phantoms and got some static jumps going on but much more was beyond me, I just couldn't get it sorted. The Boy had huge jumps down and was improving.
His first run on the Venoms and he gets one of the highest jumps I have seen him do!
He comes back in ALL smiles and teen jabber.... again the translation seems to be "nice!"
The Venoms are different to the phantoms in that they DON'T need huge speed to get jumping high! PLUS the float is vastly improved... he spends much longer sat in the air doing stuff.....in fact just last week he did a jump, got nice and high..... then sat there! He looked up at the kite, down at the floor, did a quick board off then waited to come down!
He is quite good at this kiting lark though.
I did mention that I am not too hot on a board?
Well..... can I recommend Venoms to anyone wanting to improve. My son got sick of looking at me flailing about then falling over at the end of the run and took pity long enough to give me a quick lesson! I went from upright with straight legs to nice bent knees, taking my weight through the harness and getting decent speed in an hour or so. An hour later and I was sending the kite and doing (very small) jumps! I am now happy tootling about and doing my own Meta freestyle tricks (just like real freestyle only much smaller and kind of unpredictable).
ALSO for the learner, providing you have a big enough kite/enough wind you will benefit from the Venom safety system...when you do something too stupid for even an Arc to protect you they float you down! I was trundling along, did a "jump" and landed sort of mankily...highsided my board and waited for the "thump" of adamski whacking the floor..... didn't happen.... i just touched down and lay there with the kite gently bobbing me up and down as it sat at the Zenith waiting for the stupid bloke to try again!!
So... who would I recommend gets one or two of these?
ANYONE doing a board sport that can live with the set up and pack down routine!
ARE they better than earlier models?
Yes, they are stiffer, more responsive and even MORE idiot proof.
We will be out on the water in the next week or two so an update of the wet side will be forthcoming once I stop drinking sea water and can get splashing about!
By : adamski
Recommended Comments
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.