PKD Buster 5.5M

I look at the PKD Buster 5.5 metres squared.

Firstly I try to explain how the kite works. The PKD Buster is unusual in that it has adjustment that no other fixed bridle kite has. Then I look at what I feel are the bad points. Following this, I look at its good points; this is definitely in the flying of the kite. Finally this I draw a conclusion.

To begin I will try to explain how the kite works, this centres on the unusual knots on the bridle, which allow for the adjustment.

I have been in contact with the UK rep for PKD and the information given was as follows in my own words and my understanding of how it works:

There are a set of 4 knots on the bridle, which can be used to alter the angle of attack. There is a good explanation of angle of attack here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angle_of_attack

Here is my explanation:

If you have ever put your hand out of the window when you are driving, you will have a good idea of how this angle of attack works. I have done this mostly when driving through France in the Summer, as I have often found myself driving down long, even, steady, roads with little or other traffic – fantastic! What you do is face your thumb in the direction that you are travelling. The wind created, has quite a force, particularly at higher speeds. If you keep your hand level, it will, more or less cut through the air. You should be able to move it towards the car and away with relative ease. Now if you tilt your hand, thumb now moving upwards, you will immediately feel the drag of the air, your hand will try to slow, or move towards the back of the car. It will also try to rise. It also become more difficult to move your hand from side to side, towards the car and away, keeping your thumb facing forward. This is how aircraft get lift and this is how your kite gets lift. In a sense, you have to pay for the lift with drag and a slowing of movement. You get the drag because a larger surface area of your hand has been presented to the airflow.

For a kiter, this drag is good in the right wind, because, just as your hand tried to move towards the back of the car and rise, so a kite will, giving the kiter pull and lift. For a kiter to be able to alter this angle of attack is useful, and this is how the more expensive depowerabel kites work. You can use this facility as you are flying a depowerabel to take advantage of both extremes of angle.

The point about the buster is that you can alter this angle of attack to suit your needs. This is an unusual feature in a fixed bridal kite, but you have to set the angle of attack before you fly the kite, it is not like a depowerable, where you can alter it as you fly the kite.

So which angle should you choose? If you have the kite facing into the wind relatively level at the Zenith, as your hand initially was, you can move it about relatively easily, just as you can with your hand. However, because the drag is at a minimum, then power and lift you get out of the kite is also at a minimum. You also have a bigger wind window than when the kite is at an angle, but as you move to the edge of this you will find that the power falls off. This is the kite in its "depowered" state, and this is what the depowerable kites derive their name from, as fixed bridle kites have to be ready angled to fly

If you have the kite angled to the airflow, it is slower to move, but the power and lift is greater. The wind window that you have is smaller, but within this, the power will be greater than if the kite was in its depowered state.

How do you alter this angle on the Buster? Imagine the Buster in the air, and you are looking at it from the side, in profile. Looking at the bridle, you should see about 4 knots with in a couple of centimetres from each other. Attaching the main lines to the knot closest to the leading edge of the kite, that is the edge that faces the wind, will put it in its "depowered" state, giving you less power, but making the kite easier to move and a larger wind window. At the other end of the spectrum the knot furthest from the leading edge, and towards the trailing edge, will set the kite up in its powered up mode.

Which knots do you choose? Speaking for myself and from the people that I have spoken to the tendency is to go for a compromise and thread two of the knots, say 2 and 3, counting from the front to the back, through the Lark’s Head knot. However experimentation is a good way to find out how you like to fly.

I have talked about lift and power. The buster is undoubtedly a very stable kite, and rarely does anything unexpected. It is slower to move about, and therefore relatively predictable.

If you place it at the zenith, at the top of the wind window, it will pull, but it has not yet pulled me off my feet. Because of this I think that it is a good traction kite, I like predictability. You should always be aware of the pulling power it might develop as you launch the kite, or any kite for that matter, and when you bring it down. Don’t do what my son and I did with our 2.5 Bullet and launch it in the power range of the wind window in stronger winds. You will find that an ability to roll helps at this point! The buster definitely gives you a good upper body work out. The pull can be quite strong, bear in mind that I am talking about a Buster 5.5. I use it for boarding and in the right winds, Say 12 to 15 mph, it is fantastic. I can place it in a position in the sky and it just stays there.

The disadvantages;

Gripe 1

ARRRGGGG the lines and bridles often look like, and tangle like several balls of string. I have spent ages untangling the bridles and lines. The lines and bridles are the same colour – white. They are not of the same quality as for example, Flexifoil. You might not be aware of this, but good quality lines take a lot of the frustration out of kiting. If they have some body to them, they tend to stay in one place, and don’t have a habit of looking incredibly tangled, even when they are not. Lying the kite on the living room floor and holding the bridles up whilst untangling them has at least given me a good understanding of how the kite is rigged! I have invented ways of overcoming this problem, I have had to, otherwise my son and I were never going to fly it!

Gripe 2

The lines tend to stretch, so after a few flights you have to get involved in an "evening the lines up session". Great! The way to do this is to undo the Double Overhand knot in the line sleeves at one end of the longest line, run the sleeve up the line to taste and redo the knot. If you have difficulty doing the knot again, a Figure of Eight knot is a good one to use. If the lines become uneven, it runes the flight. It will do all sorts of odd things, like after launching it will just slip back to the ground backwards. What ever you do there is no control over this. You just have to spend an hour or so and even the lines!

From a reply to my question to the Buster dealers about the lines, the main lines are slightly longer than the break lines on some kites, so as long as the Main lines are both even and the Break lines are both even, you are ok. You should be flying the kite with the break lines slack, but not so slack that you cannot apply them. Having messed around with the line lengths though, I have found that, the main lines do seem to stretch, so I have now evened them up so all the lines are the same length.

I did not note comparative line lengths when I first got the buster, so I don’t know how they came out of the factory. Nor did I note the position of the lines on the knots. This was because my son opened the kite when it first came. The postal worker knocked, and Jonny opened the door. I was a bit slow off the mark. The words "Its ok dad I have undone all the lines!" drifted up the stairs. Great, I thought I will never know how it was set-up.

The good points:

When it flies well, it flies well. The first time we had it out was in a low wind, not much more than 6mph. It seemed to me that all the other kites were having problems, but our buster flew like a huge and graceful bird. The first few sessions of static flying were great, they were mostly in low winds. It’s turning is not quick like a Flexifoil kite, but this is what I wanted. It felt slow and deliberate. Akin to the feeling of a depowerable kite. It did not deliver any surprises. As we took it out in stronger winds, it became apparent that the power delivery was pretty even. Again no surprises, if it felt too powerful, it pulled strongly, but evenly. All you had to do was to land it out of the wind window. There would be no sudden unexpected tugs. Any tugs were expected. It has quite a strong pull at the Zenith, so good upper body workout, but when you put it to the side of the wind window, it feels steady. We bought it for landboarding, and we have some good sessions with it. It is a bit powerful for Jonny, he weighs 6 stone, but is is fine for me, 12.5 stone. The site http://www.pkdkites.co.uk/docs/buster_windrange.pdf

gives you the wind strength set against weight in Kg. I don’t like to fly it in winds much over 16mph. In a clean wind, it does everything you want it to do. It will just hang in the sky at the angle you want for boarding. This is not a lifty kite, but you can get some jumps with it, especially in stronger winds. It is great for scudding as well. Funny watching my son scud off down a football pitch.

In conclusion, I would say frustrating lines but a great kite for static flying, scudding, boarding, and some jumping in the right conditions. It flies well within the wind range as suggested by http://www.pkdkites.co.uk and we get a lot of fun out of it, but the lines have to be set up properly. Definitely value for money. The expense has gone into the kite. The bag is just a white oversized cagoule bag, and the handles are fine, no frills. I find that the lines at the handles do rub your fingers a bit, but this can be overcome with something like cycling mittens. It is built well. We have accidentally dumped it down onto the ground several times, leading edge first, with no problem. I have actually seen one flying with a burst cell, where someone did this one too many times. It was flying well, despite two cells converging into one. I would say that this is a beginner to intermediate kite. If you want to start doing tricks and jumps to any competitive level, then you will have to move on, but personally, I am happy with what I can do with it.

Author : gammajonnysdad