After almost 2 weeks of waiting my Blade, it finally arrived today.
Took it out in winds around 6-9 mph with some gusts around 10mph.
After fiddling with the lines for a bit I quickly realized that at winds less than 10mph this kite is going to take some serious effort to get into
the air. 15 minutes into the flight I was already dripping sweat from my nose (it was close to 90 degrees today
My previous kite was a 5m Beamer and in comparison the blade takes like 10x the time to do a turn. Now this might just be due to the lack of wind
however I'm sure all those people who said it turns like a tank played around with it in higher winds as well. Also the kite did fluff a lot around
the edges however I think that will go away in good time and good wind.
A few times I did get a decent gust and turned the kite at the right angle and the kite did do some nice lifting. A couple of times I got lifted a few
feet and stayed in the air for a few seconds and had smooth landings without any trouble. One thing that's nice about this kite is that you don't need
any wind to get smooth lifts. Therefore in low winds I would safe it's safer for me to do any type of jumping than trying to take a smaller kite in
higher winds since there is more room for injury.
All in all I'm very pleased with the first run with this kite. Turning could be a bit faster for my liking since it would help with the lofting on the
edges but its not a huge drawback and the nice lifting makes up for it :D
Tune in tomorrow for some more feedback and maybe some videos. My camera man is on vacation for now.
This kite should fly in well less than 10, but it pulls like a truck so you will sweat. If you are arm wrangling the kite then expect your shoulders
and arms to be very sore too. It's a 10m kite, and they're all slow, so it's not going to turn fast, wind won't really help with that much. Your
best bet is pulley handles or to just use more brake input.furbowski - 5-7-2011 at 09:15 PM
Quote:
Therefore in low winds I would safe it's safer for me to do any type of jumping than trying to take a smaller kite in higher winds since there is
more room for injury.
very true, 6.5 to 8 is the sweet spot for me at 155 #. 5 is fast, below that I'm nervous and keep the jumps head-high max.
Try fine-tuning the brakes so that you have maximum amount of possible line you can take in but can still fly OK on powers with brakes off.
Glad you survived! Be careful with your choice of winds! Thanks for checking back....
Where's dat video, eh?viperkid181 - 5-7-2011 at 09:25 PM
The video is coming soon I hope. A few things that I would like to know is can I make a knot between knots? And also whats a 10.5 in good condition
worth without lines and handles. I'm already keeping my eyes peeled on a 6.6 and would like to know if I over paid under paid or if I paid the right
price.furbowski - 5-7-2011 at 09:44 PM
You can tie and untie knots all you want in the brake and power leader lines coming out from the handles. Never tie knots in your flying lines tho,
that will kill strength by at least 30%, likely more. If you need more adjustment room, then add leaders to the kite and adjust up there.
6.6 will be good! A fun size!
$200-300 US is my ballpark figure. I've seen them sit on the for sale list here for months at $300 RTF, but for the right guy they are worth more.viperkid181 - 5-7-2011 at 10:00 PM
Awesome thanks furb for the quick answers.Bladerunner - 6-7-2011 at 05:39 AM
I paid $200 complete for my 9m Blade 3+ years ago.
What you say about a larger kite and lower wind being easier to jump with is true. You just seem to have taken that logic to the extreme.
I think I mentioned how a large kite mostly creates power in motion through apparent wind. As you see this kite will perk up at about 10 . Problem is
it will be too much almost right away.B-Roc - 6-7-2011 at 05:56 AM
I sold my kite only 8.5 blade III in close to mint condition (some of the mesh of the outer cells was fouled but that's it) for $300 two years ago. I
would expect a 10.5 B3 complete would be worth about that today. Because of the narrow range of the 8.5 and 10.5 I would expect the smaller, more
versatile 6.6 to go for close to the same as the larger kites (if not more).tridude - 6-7-2011 at 06:09 PM
you should able to fly this kite in a gnats fart and power rings will help her turn quicker....................you def have the Super Tanker of the
Blades..................Drewculous - 6-7-2011 at 07:09 PM
