Thanks guys. I have flown it on handles and apart from the backstall issue in light conditions, it flew tremendously well - as nice as any kite I've ever flown. It also liked a bit of brake input in the turns. If you keep it away from the edges of the window and under a bit of power, the backstall wasn't too much of an issue. As you feel the lines begin to lose tension, spin it round before it stalls. Having said that, it was only a single 15minute session with handles so take that for what it's worth. Steffen has said to me that it cannot be flown with handles but me being me, I'll have a few more goes with it under various conditions with handles just to see what it can do.

The Turbo Bar (with 5th line mod) was meh, not really enough bar travel to properly engage the depower and the Long Star felt a bit weird on the Turbo Bar. Still have to give the 3 line bar a whirl and I've also made up another 5 line bar to try - similar to the one I used with the 5m NS2 in the 'kiting at Shallow Inlet' vid with trapeze loop, both brake and power lines from the bar ends with brake strap plus a center depower line.....now that I think about it, it's exactly the same as the std 3 line bar with extra brake lines attached.....

I tried flying it yesterday morning (local weather bureau was saying 15 - 27 knots at the time but it was so gusty I quickly put it back down. It did sit firmly on the the brakes even in those gusty conditions and backed down with the brake strap fine. (whew! Just as well). I went back to the house and grabbed the 1.5 & 2.5m NS2's for a fly anyway.... I think the wind must have started dying off though (still very gusty). I ended up putting the 2.5m NS2 up but in comparison to the LS 3m, it felt like a toy kite.

It's a really interesting kite with huge potential as a buggy engine. The fact that I've had the LS go straight over my head and luff shows excellent promise for upwind ability. Should have some light southerly's tomorrow to give it a another spin, no wind for Saturday, and Sunday is the Dean Kite Festival so I should get some flying of the LS there too. A possible beach trip is on the cards mid next week if it's not too showery.

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interesting thing, if you look at the pictures John first posted of steffen flying these, he is only flying a 3 line set up typical of any nasa star.

Good pick, Sean. I hadn't noticed that but you're spot on.

Wow - very cool kite and informative, well done video!

My 7.0m LongStar left Jersey City last night!!!! :singing:

Slowly escaping the Vortex!

Sean got me thinking about the 3 line bar and I ended up adding some brake lines to it to make it a 5 line version. I tried relaunching from upside down without the brakes - couldn't do it. I think it does need a 5 line bar. But if you already have a 3 line bar, it's not hard to add a couple extra lines for the brakes and then it will work very nicely. Gusts of 12 knots today with lulls down to 4 knots but even in 9 - 10 knots, the LS 3m was making enough power to pull the buggy around the paddock and I couldn't hold my ground static flying it. I was left extremely impressed.

Sweet John! So... with the bar/line mods as shown you were able to reverse launch? If would certainly make sense that you would. I'm now curious how it will feel buggying with half the load on my arms and half through the harness. Not a bad thing necessarily in my view, giving the old popeyes a bit of a pump as I tool around!

No problems reverse launching with the extra lines added to the std 3 line setup. Bugging with 50% (rough estimate) load on bar is pretty easy - but you can't let go of the bar....although you could probably add a trapeze loop to that bar too.

Excellent video John! Informative as always!!

...Can't let go of the bar.... that's interesting. I look forward to trying this all out very soon.

More power than The Nasa Star....better upwind....?.....

Stability: Long Star vs. Nasa Star in 'janky' winds...?

This might be the new 'star' of the Born line.


I'm thinking a comparison of some sort between the Ultra Star and Peak might be interesting.... but maybe also this Long Star and the Peak too...
Sizes to compare for equivalent power with The Peak...?

Anyway, the Peak and Born line certainly making the scene for single skinners(that are not LEI). Quick unpack and go..crashable...safety features(over FB). They are making a viable niche in traction kiting and may be growing.

The loudest 'singing' of praise I seem to hear on PKF is on the Peaks, followed by the Born line- just behind.

I don't hear as much singing on PL Uniq kites.... so far. PL may need some time and more R & D and new models.



What open terrain you have there!

Fair dinkham mate...good video report/review.

@skimwashington - We are most certainly tracking along the same lines. I've got a complete quiver of Peak-2s, quite a number of NS3s and two LSs (OK, the LSs are somewhere in the postal Vortex, but they will be here eventually). I plan on doing some of these cross comparisons from my buggy during single sessions. I too want to know the wind ranges for the respective kites. From what I've read from John Holgate so far it seems the LSs may have a bit more pull per square meter than their cousins the NASA Stars.

As for the PL Uniq, I had one (4.5m Quad) but turned around and sold it. I was not pleased with it as a buggy engine. Lots and lots of grunt per square meter but a relatively narrow wind window and not much upwind pulling capacity. Others may feel differently, but I have yet to see anything even somewhat positive about the Uniq line from anyone not also selling them. Not taking anything away from those comments (or the people making them), but it's always nice to hear from folks not so skinned in the game so to speak.

For inland janky winds the DP aspect of the Peak-2 is pretty hard to beat, and at least to date (LEIs not withstanding) they appear to offer the best on-the-fly depowering of the currently available single skin kites. For us inland (and in my case, mountain) dwellers, this DP has saved my hide many, many times. Today, for example, I had the 9m P2 up in the air from my buggy thinking it was underpowered. Within a lap the wind was blowing so hard I had to pull the rip cord to keep from getting into trouble. Try that on a FB and strop. Better yet, don't try that.

A little more 'Born Porn' for you. :D Took the 5m out for it's maiden flight today in ridiculously light winds around 4 knots with gusts to 6.5 and lulls to well....nothing. There was a bit of standing around waiting for wind to turn up but not for long. I hope I'm not getting carried away with these kites, but I can't get over the solid pull all the way around the window in light winds. I couldn't hold my ground in 6 knots. Turns were almost on a wingtip and with a little tension on the depower line, you could hover them at the edge of the window in what couldn't have been more than 4 knots.

Sweet John! I'm digging how these LSs look. So sinister, so Batman-like, yet still beautiful. I particularly appreciated the slightly contrasting color look at the stitching around the orange star. When the fark is mine going to show up? :D