Wolkenstuermer Electra 4.6m

I gotta say... Very impressed!!!

I think this kite is one of the most stable open cell foils I have ever flown... compares to a LEI in that I can rest the kite above my head and catch my breath, holding both handles with one hand and it stays put...

This kite also turns faster than any kite in its size that I've come across on powers only... tap the breaks and it turns like a crazy 1.5m...

Power was good and expected for the size... lift was low but could be adjusted to create more, I did not have enough wind to determine the possible amount... A few 3 foot pendulum jumps were had that day when the flight pattern was manipulated to do so... It came up in light wind and flew very well in it for its size also, with great feed back at the handles it was easy to tell where it was at, at all times...

I played with the AOA some but didn't have the wind and space to see much of a difference, but was very impressed at the wide range of adjustment... I'd like to see some sort of ring or pulley instead of the lines sliding through other line, as I noticed a small amount of discoloration in the lines to show the start of wear...

AOA bridaling


Nice and solid due to the cross bracing... although the tips did not seem as solid as they would fold here and there, nothing that seemed to be of concern or noticeably affected the flight...



Very well constructed and seem to be top quality materials...




Photo1 2 3 4

The bag was of good quality materials and folded down to a compact size, but not of my choice of bags... it had an enormous stuff sack that went into a squarish bag that the top folded down like a bag of coffee and buckled at each end... soon I'll try and get photos of it...

I would rate this kite in the beginner to intermediate class, and I'd highly recommended it due to the ease of use and predictability of flight also great fun factor... great for getting newbies into our sport and be able to use it for a long time after...

ALL COMMENTS ABOVE ARE "MY" PERSONAL OPINIONS AND EXPERIENCE WITH FLYING THIS KITE... AND TO BE TAKEN ONLY AS SUCH!!!

This is the "Pass The Wolkenstuermer Electra 4.6" that's on this forum...
Thanx ripsessionkites...
I have to get it to Dakitez and sthrasher so they can play with it as I can not for apx. 4 weeks, for I fractured my left wrist (nasty lil Ace 2m) and will be out for this time but hope to play with it again at NABX...

thanx guys!!!
it was a combo of mother nature, the 2m ace and falling wrong... its just a small hairline fracture, more inconvenient than anything... just took a bail and fell wrong on my wrist, thought it was a sprain but the wife insisted that the Dr. check it... I hate when she's right ... them 2m aces are very snatchy lil F'ers in gusty winds...

sorry for the typing, it's all with the right hand...

Thanx rip,
Not as hardcore as all that... I flew this kite on Thurs and broke myself on Fri... I do get a fiberglass cast on fri so I should be able to hold onto a handle then don't tell my wife though she thinks I'll be out taking photos...

Quote:

and we need to talk. =)

I'm not in trouble am I :saint: Any time... more kites :tumble::wee: I'll U2U my info to you...

Thanx again for all the demos...

Dr. Screwy removed the cast last Sun. and have been wearing a sling since and get checked tomorrow...

As for this Electra 4.6m, as promised I'm posting photos of the bags...

Electra 4.6 bag all rapped up...


Electra 4.6m bag open


Here's the stuff sack... My thought, it's too big!!!


Kite wrapped up and para-packed ready for a windy day...


My thoughts;
Pro's- Made of great quality material and very well built... The size of the bag would be great for more than one kite... Also I liked the way it rolled up to make it semi water resistant (dbl edge sword)...

Con's- The bag and sack where a bit too much bag for one kite (great for two)... The the bag rolled up might keep moisture in as it would keep it out (dbl edge sword)...

One thing to remember is that, "we don't fly the bags"

A "BIG THANX" to RIP!!!

So, I received the kite from Screwyfits this past Friday. And I gotta say I was like a little kid at Christmas as I opened the box. Of course I didn’t get it till late in the afternoon, so flying on Friday was out.

Saturday was spent watching constant waves of rain showers move in.

Today I set out early at 8:00 am to my favorite spot that has about the most consistent winds here. Winds were 11-14 knots out of the S-SSW, gusting upwards of 20knots.

So, my first experience with parapacking was not good. Screwy thanks for the info, but didn’t work out to well. So, after untangling the lines I was good to go.

Construction:
Very nice- Sail looks to be of high quality material. Stitching was well done and reinforced in areas of obvious high stress.

I like the pull outs on the dirt outs. I flew with the dirt outs closed and opened, and with them open it seemed to take some of the bite out of the wind gusts.

The bridals are on par with HQ in quality. Although like Screwy I would have liked to see pulleys instead of line on line. I can see where this will become an issue after awhile.

I really don’t care for the handles. They just weren’t heavy enough for me. But, they work.

Takeoff:
Had the kite set approx 45 degrees off wind. The kite had plenty of power at take off for scudding, boarding, or buggying. I was using my sand skis today, and was moving from the beginning.
Didn’t have a chance to take off with the kite directly facing the wind.

Flight:
Wow, from the beginning this kite just flew great. The kite reacted well to my inputs on the handles. Considering that this kite is about a good one foot deeper then my 3.6M, I thought it would turn slower. However this kite turned tighter and faster. Using right and left pulls with the braking inputs sets this kite on end, very impressed.

Didn’t get a chance to attempt a forward flight, hover and transition to backward flight to much wind for that. I believe however this will not be a problem for this kite in lighter winds.

Braking was good. A light touch on the handles produced a noticeable change in forward speed.
Was able to produce some nice center axis spins with a moderate amount of braking from one side. Even managed to bow tie the goofy thing once.

Didn’t experience any wingtip folding.
I was not able to test the upwind flight characteristics since I was on skis.

Switched out the lines that came with the kite for my 300/200 line set and did a few pendulum jumps, and static jumps. I got plenty of lift from the kite, five to six feet.
Didn’t play with the AOA due to weather, and I was having too much fun.

As far as the bag is concerned, I got lost inside it once. In my opinion a bag of this size really needs to be a backpack just for ease of transport. I carry all my gear in my Montana pack. This bag screams for company on the inside, so a shoulder strap at a minimum is needed.

Only got to fly for about an hour, so I’m hoping to fly this wing again on Monday or Tuesday before I send it along to the next.

Finally, in light of my ability to tangle the parapacking job that Screwyfits did (looked nice by the way) I’ve parted ways with a figure eight winder.

Big thanks to ripsessionkites.

I had a little time with the Wolfenwhatsit on the board and blades.
Personally I thought it looked and flew most like my Bullets but Dirtslide didn't agree ? I'm not sure what setting it was on but I found it responded to brakes a lot like the bullet with just a bit more lift. The profile of the sail also looks similar to me ?

I found backing it down was a bit touchy ? Something you could get used to without much trouble.

I agree. The bag is different and good in some ways. I would like to see a shoulder strap and some venting.

This and the Cooper that Rip passed around both get my Both are a good choice for entry and intermediate level at a competetive price. I would recommend this kite to anyone and the Cooper to someone who is interested in moving to race kites.

It came on Thur. ,no one home . Made arrangements for some one to be here on Fri., mailman forgets to bring it.
So I make sure that I stay home all day Sat. waiting for it. He forgot it again
He must not like the NOBAMA sticker on my truck!!


Guess I'm gonna have to file a" scrimination " lawsuit!

I got it! Out of the huge bag... came a pretty good lookin kite. Tomorrow is Veterans Day and I have the day off w/ pay. I'm goin lookin for wind!! :wee: Looks alot like a flexi rage/bullet,but w/ a different bridal.
( This looks promising) we'll see if it can deliver!

mmmm...

Is wolkenstuermer German for Flexifoil?

I love this kite. Kite quality is top notch! As good as my flexis any day.
It is just like my 4.7M Rage w/AAA kit! I always thought it should have been an AOAkite, like the blade or blurr, but flexi thought better. So I spent my cash and bought one for it. It made a huge difference in the wind range I could use that one kite!
Wolkenstuermer has made a good decision to make the electra AOA, it makes it such a more used kite! And if I close my eyes it feels just like my 4.7rage. It handles and flies just like my 4.7. Speed seems to be similar through the window. Flies reverse very well,turns on a dime. I love the AAA , but I agree , some metal / ceramic ring is gonna be required( major failure eventually!!). But I really liked all the knots for the adjuster . Flexi only gave ya 4 or 5 knots.

I couldn't really buggy up and down the beach, so I did 45 ft tacks .and I tried to stay in about a 50 ft box, pretty much. Harder to do than you think it would be. But the sprint/ powerslide/repeats that I did, let me have just a little taste of what I think is gonna be a great begginer/ intermediate buggy engine. It really has manners,which for a newby would be great to start buggyin with. I'll have to let ya know how it does at speed. I hope the wind blows this wknd. so I can do some real buggyin before I pass to clintopher.

Clint ,where ya at?

Rip ,this kite rocks dude! Thanks for lettin' me try it out!
Many good karma wind pts. for you my friend.

This is confirmation of my opinion when trying this kite.

I only had my Bullets to draw from but felt this kite was a Poor mans Rage / Blurr.

Good kite at a good price ! I hope they ( and Cooper ) make a go of it in North America ! I'm not so sure about Mr. Kitesurf ?

2 out of 3 isn't Bad ! Thanks Rip' for an opportunity at 3 kites I wouldn't have otherwise gotten my hands on !

Quote:

Originally posted by WELDNGOD I love this kite. Kite quality is top notch! As good as my flexis any day. It is just like my 4.7M Rage w/AAA kit! I always thought it should have been an AOAkite, Rip ,this kite rocks dude! Thanks for lettin' me try it out! Many good karma wind pts. for you my friend.

the AOA adjustment is a bit funky

not sure if anyone saw the picture before

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o7/ripsessionkites/Wolken...

you have to larks head power line to both the AOA Red and the Power Pig Tail.

i'm a bit old school and like setting all my knots on the brake bridle only. mind you i like a LOT of brake on my kites to the point no one here locally likes to fly them. ROFL.

PS. how is the healing going? get well soon.

woops!! Sorry about not getting back to you. U2U sent! I just haven't been looking at this thread .

Duuude, I got the kite Friday and opened it up tonight. The bag/kite/HANDLES! all look GREAT! I can't wait to get this badboy out there. I'm hoping tomorrow(monday) or maybe tuesday will be a day I can give it a shot. My friend (tbone on here) and I will get out there to give it a run for its money. I'll post some pics . :bigok:

I had my first chance to fly the Electra last night. It was in extremely dirty winds, the wind was stop/go and gusts up to 14mph down to nothing. First thing I noticed was the quality of this kite, WOW. The bridle is stiffer than what i'm used to (Pansh/HQ as my reference) and also the material was very impressive. There are dirt-outs on the sides. I noticed that it has a similar shape to the hq beamer so to me it seems like it would be a low aspect ratio kite? However, even in the lower winds I had yesterday it definitely felt lifty up towards 10-2. I had a couple little jumps with it.

One interesting thing is it can handle brakes, you put the brakes as it's flying across the window and it will slow down! Not touchy at all when it comes to the brakes.

I had it collapse on me a couple times (because of the finicky winds) and that was a little interesting on how it handled that, the tips flipped over some of the bridle lines:this happened 3/4 times that the kite collapsed at the edge of the window.

Solid control and amazing stability even so! It was quite fast through the window, and even in the lull's it stayed inflated and flew for a long time. I'd like to point out it was so stable that i flew it over zenith once or twice just for the heck of it, I had to arch my neck to watch the kite! It STAYED inflated and never died on me!

I hope to get the kite out in some higher winds to see what it will feel in the perfect winds for this kite. Thanks so much Rip for giving me the opportunity to fly this kite, I was walking back feeling so privileged!!! Awesome to try out some different kites that are available .

Oh! I have some pics, but they're at home on the camera. I will upload some pictures tonight. I'm hoping to get a great flight with it this weekend, maybe Friday.