got my symphony out today kite arrived yesterday they sent kite no lines or handles though (which should have been included} got them today took the kite out bloody hell was i surprised that thing has some power. lines handled it no bother great kite overall very impressed. wind was only around 10mph

I have in my collection of kites a HQ Symphony Beach 1.7 on a little bar. I sell these kites to kids and people just looking for something to play with. I make it clear that it is not a "trainer" kite, but a beginner level sportkite. That being said, I have this story:

The winds were perfect one morning blowing steady between 15 and 20ish mph. Near my house, I have this field about the size of 4 soccer fields. There are large trees in one corner that mess with the wind when it blows from the north and smaller trees lining the edge of the field to do not interfere with the wind at all. The wind was blowing from the south. The only problem with this field on this day was that the snow was pretty well settled in. It wasn't quite boilerplate (I'm in Utah, we never get boilerplate), but it was a far cry from being soft. I could walk on it and not sink more than about 1/2 an inch if at all.

My wife, my daughter and I had dropped my son off at school and my plan was to take them to the field and let them fly one of these HQ Symphony Beach 1.7s on the bar while I flew my trusty HQ Apex III 7.5. I figured I could get a 1/2 hour session in before they got bored and wanted to go home.

I got them set up with the kite and my wife was helping my daughter to fly the Symphony Beach while I got my boots on and skis ready. Just as I had my boots on, my wife told me that her back was hurting and she wasn't having much fun. I took over flying the Symphony Beach with my daughter until she was tired of it. At this point, I figured that I wanted to see just what that little kite could do. I got my skis on and skated out the middle of the field. I dropped the kite into a power stroke and took off...fast...ish.

Now, I'm not a light person. I tip the scales at around 215 pounds. I was very impressed at the power the Symphony Beach was able to generate. Don't get me wrong. I couldn't go upwind at all and I had to keep the kite mostly in the power zone to move with any speed. After about 5 minutes of playing around, I packed the kite up and went home.

It was a good reminder that in the right conditions even the small kites can be fun. The session that I had 30 minutes later at Strawberry was a lot more fun, but for a "little sportkite," it is hard to beat any of the Symphony kites.

-Mike