Back during the Summer, I met Jim Cosca of Skydog Kites down at the Wright Memorial. I spoke with him at length about different kites and controls for kites as well as getting a few pointers that I use nearly every time I fly. After flying my Symphony, Jim offered to let me try his Skydog 2.8 SDT. It being a bit of a windy day and this being way outside my comfort range at the time, I passed but promised him I would try one sometime and would also put the word out on my experience if I could.

Well, recently, I had the good fortune of obtaining a Skydog SDT 2.8 here on the forums (thanks rtz) and got the opportunity to put it through its paces today. Winds were 5-10MPH and everything was flown static.

My first impression, this thing has some surprising pull for its size. It builds energy quickly but smoothly and will react to your input very predictably every time. I agree with rtz that the make and material of the sail feels very much like many of the HQ Kites foils. It's nicely constructed with a pleasing design and sturdy handles. This kite flies fine with front line input only and reacts like it's on rails when you start adding a bit of brake to your control. This kite was stable to the extreme edges of the wind window but was not lacking in speed at all. It flew like a medium/high aspect ratio kite without the stability issues commonly associated with the higher aspect ratio foils. I flew it past apex several times and intentionally collapsed the kite to test recovery. It reacted to my inputs perfectly and re-stabilized exactly where I intended it to nearly every time. There was no uncertainty when flying this kite, it never over reacted or under reacted to the brake input. It just responded to control and brake input as expected every time. I can't wait to get this kite in gear pulling a buggy. It will nicely fill the space between my 2M & 4M Crossfires.

If you haven't had the opportunity to try a Skydog Traction kite, you should make the effort. You're missing out on an excellent and stable performer that's on par with some of the finest kites I've flown. For those looking for that first "real" traction kite, look no further. The Skydog 2.8 is a great place to start and at least for me, it's a keeper for sure.

Does sd still make foils? They seem to be few and far between online.

While I did purchase mine from rtz, mine came from Big Mike's Kites originally and from what I can tell, he still stocks them.

http://www.bigmikeskites.com/SkyDog/SkyDogTraction.html

They still make them. Slow movers, but great kites. Price wise, they are in the same ballpark of many of the larger manufacturers or even slightly more. So they hold up their own sales slightly. I can certainly get you one if desired. They are like a suped up hornet or beamer and do better in a buggy than either of those two. But not near what a typical buggy kite can do.