Revolution Kites Revolution I

This I realize is not your typical "racekite" but it does assist the avid kiter in understanding what a four line kite does while it is in the air.

I bought this kite about ten years ago and have since moved aroudn and indeed back to foil kites - I wasn't looking for the funky aerobatic thing all the time. But, as stated above, I do think it is worth it to take this type of kite out once in a while to hone some skills in four line kiting.

The kit was very basic but included a video tape (probably a DVD nowadays) which was very helpful (setting up, starting, flying, tips). The kite consists of the fabric (looks like a large W) and five spars, four of them are identical, which makes replacement graphite spars less costly. I damaged one end of a spar on the leading edge (3 spars joined together) and easily swapped it with a vertical spar (2 single spars) which poses no requirements to an undamaged end of the spar. Neat feature, but I was kinda proud I thought of that.

In comparison to anything like a Buster or other handle driven four line traction kite, this looks and behaves much like a piece of paper in the air. You will definitely NOT get lift out of this kite, and you will immediately notice when you shouldn't pull the brakes. If you do, this kite will do one (or several) of the following: (a) it will flip up one wing and crash ( it will flip over completely and crash or © you will end up spending most of your time with the kite on the ground. It is very important to keep the top ends of the handles toward you always, this takes some initial getting used to but will help keep the kite up and in motion.

Once in the air, the kite is like a post it pad. As long as there is at least a low 3bft wind going, this kite is easily placed anywhere on the sky and can be kept in any location within the power zone. Pull top end of handles - forward flight. Push top end (or tap the bottom) - stop and back up (much rather down). Tap one handle down - turn in that direction. Now these movements can be combined any which way. The most entertaining move being a straight start to the top - a 180 - a spectacular dive - and stop a foot off the ground - a 180 - landing. done. applause. It's really easy.

The kite can also be shifted to the side by pulling an entire handle. This is needed to stabilize the kite when going slowly from left to right in a sweep, in order to keep the kite from touching ground. Also can be used to hover over water and do a funky touch on the surface.

-- SUMMARY --

This kite can be stacked (I've seen a train of about 8 of these) and then you can use this kite for traction. Otherwise, keep to the technical aspects with a Rev I and then go rip around with your big foils!

By : jensh