Power Kite Forum - Pansh Blaze II depowerable kite

Blaze II…the truth!

This is going to be a long read, but worth it if you are considering buying a Blaze II kite.

Ok guys, after playing with several different sizes of Blaze kites, both the non-depower Blaze and the depowerable Blaze II here are my findings…..

Physical kite

The overall build of the Pansh kites is more than acceptable for the kite’s intended use, sail material is light, strong and not very porous, decent stitching on all kites tested with good edge distance and nice straight seam runs, the reinforced seams are done properly i.e. industry standard, sewn bridles, and the bridle/rib attachment points properly executed. All in all, just like the high end manufactures do it.

Bridles

I have noticed a difference in the bridle materials but this seems to be kite size related more than anything. The larger test kites, 7m, 12m had finer bridle material than the smaller 3m Blaze. This had no effect on the flight performance so I don’t think it is anything to bother worrying about. The sewn ends were well done on all kites and no problems were ever encountered in tangling of the bridles once set up on the line sets.

Handles and Lines

Quality lines these are not, but they do the job. I wouldn’t jump with these lines but they are fine for sport flying. I actually liked the older lines with the knotted ends because they are easier to adjust for the inevitable length differences, but the newer sewn ends are definitely cleaner in appearance.
The lines are not consistent in matched lengths, on several of the kites, the lines were found to be all over the place in length and bang on some other kites. Kite size doesn’t seem to matter in this area, as one of the 7m kites had perfect line lengths and one of the 5m kites was also supplied with a perfectly matched set of lines. Where as one of the 3m kites had a difference of over 3” in two of the lines!
I found the handles to be perfectly acceptable, but these tend to be more of a user’s personal preference, either you like them or you don’t. From what I can see, the Pansh handles mimic the Radsail handles. Some people complain about the handle padding to be too hard, again personal preference, as I find them to be fine.
Overall I wouldn’t say getting these handles and lines detract from the kite’s purchase appeal, especially for a newbie.

Trimming the kites to fly

The handled kites, Blaze were obviously easier to get flying properly than the Blaze 11 depowerables. I didn’t find any angle of attack problems with any of the Blaze kites, just brake line lengths had to be adjusted, but this is true for most other four line kites. All kites flew right up to the zenith and went right out to the edge of the wind window. One good trait that all the Blazes( Blazii?) exhibited was the ability to avoid tip tangles when really pushed to the side of the windwindow. When the tip would tuck under because of the way the bridle is constructed, it creates a “wall” that prevents the folded portion of the kite tips from laying flat on the underside of the kite. When the kites regained speed, the tips popped back open with no tangles at all, every time.

Depowerable Blazes

First things first…. at the time of this test, I still had to adjust the front power attachment point knots on the bridle to bring down the leading edge of the kites. This change brings the camber line of the airfoil more inline to what it should have been in the first place. Without this change, when flying the kite you will see that the underside of the kite has a “bump” at approx 25% aft of the leading edge. This fix (when combined with lengthening of the brake lines) lowers the angle of attack (AoA), which is the main problem the Blaze II kites. I hope that Pansh has been proactive and made a running change in the production of new kites? The control bar used was a 60cm Radsail EVO bar which is a copy of the Ozone Frenzy bar. Total depower travel available on this bar is 9.5” or 24cm’s, stop to stop. This bar has a trimmer strap, a quick release “tophat” on the front lines and a “parking brake handle” between the two outer lines. This is exactly the type of bar you need for flying depowerable foils, works perfectly.

Lines were 25m and of equal length and strength, 250kg’s.

3m Blaze converted to depower
I had to adjust the depower bridle to fit the 3m Blaze by moving the front attach point up 2.5 “ closer to the A-B cascade. The brake lines(black lines) had to be lengthened by approx 2” as well. After an initial flight in lower winds and not finding the kite to perform with the depower bridle installed, I had to think for a minute then realized that you would not be flying such a small foil on a bar in light winds. When I flew the 3m in much higher winds 30km-40+ the kite came alive, and exhibited the performance and handling I was looking for. Lots of depower available and easy handling right out to the edge of the wind window. Bar pressure was extremely light (to be expected for such a small kite on a bar) with very little feedback. Because the kite is so small and quick, it was a handful keeping track of it during the test flights. No tip tuck at all, and amazingly quick response, easy to park on the ground with the brake line pulled in and reverse launching off the snow was no problem at all.

5m Blaze converted to depower
The depower bridle was installed on a Blaze model, thus converting it to a Blaze II depowerable configuration. The conversion took only a few minutes and with no adjustment needed the kite flew perfectly, right from the first launch. Wind speed was 20km’s during the first series of flights and the 5m was solid throughout all aspects of the flight tests. Available depower was even more pronounced than that available on the 3m Blaze 11 test. Turning speed was very quick with no tendency to tip tuck at all. Later tests in higher winds 30-40km’s revealed a kite that was well behaved and didn’t dart all over the place. Speed through out the wind window was very high and the depower available was very pronounced. One problem was encountered with this kite during the testing period. During a high wind session the kite hit he ground quite hard causing two of the rib/bridle tabs to be torn from the kite. A quick sew job and all is well again. During a subsequent detailed investigation, it was noted that there was a difference in the construction of the kites between the Blaze non-depowerable and the Blaze II. Namely the bridle rib tabs are not as robust on the Blaze when compared to those found on the Blaze II. Please keep this in mind if you are considering converting a Blaze into a depowerable Blaze II.

7m Blaze II report
Once the bridle adjustment was made, the kite was flown in light winds of approx 15km’s. The 7m flew perfectly, straight up to the zenith with no tendency to over fly and luff. Flown over to the edge of the wind window, the kite turned perfectly and had PLENTY of depower available. The kite never back stalled once from over sheeting the bar, the bar travel was a perfect match for the kite with no adjustments at all. In higher winds 30-40+km’s the trimmer was tried and found to effectively reduce the amount of power available. Nice smooth power delivery throughout the envelope and even when it settled back into the power zone from mishandling there was no explosive power burst, just a controlled delivery of manageable power through the bar. Bar pressure was found to be nice and light with enough feedback to let you know where the kite was at all times. Reverse launch off the snow was no problem and can be easily done by novice flyers.

12m Blaze II as set up from the factory

Disregarding anything else I have read about this kite, I proceeded to set this kite up and fly it stock, as from the factory without changing anything in the bridle. This would give me a benchmark to work from if any other adjustments were needed?

Again set up with the Radsail EVO bar and lineset., stock bridle setting from the factory.
Flying the 12m in this configuration resulted in a kite that would only fly with bar fully depowered, when the bar was pulled in (more power) the kite stalled and fell to the ground. Typical over sheeting response as the kite is flying at too high AoA (angle of attack) Again by moving the front attach point up 2.5 “ closer to the A-B cascade the kite flew properly and responded to normal bar positioning i.e. pull bar in for more power and push it away for less power. I played with the black brake line to achieve the best
possible turning response/depower setting. Flights in light winds of approx. 15km’s demonstrated a kite that would fly comfortably at the edge of the powerzone and still be controllable. The kite flew right up to the zenith with no hesitation at all and didn’t luff when the bar was released. Flying from the edge of the wind through to the centre of the powerzone revealed a steady linear increase of pull with no sudden burst of power, very controllable. Flights in higher winds showed that the depower available was more than adequate, which is a good thing, as trying to fly statically with such a large kite is quite a challenge!
Overall, I found the 12m Blaze II to be a good kite when set up properly on the right bar system and the bridle adjustment implemented. A great kite for buggying and Snow kiting.

Conclusions

All of the test kites flew well, some needed tuning and some didn’t, and that my friend is the main problem with Pansh. It has been said before on this forum, Pansh needs to sell a complete package i.e. kite, bar, lines and INSTRUCTIONS!

The market that Pansh was/is targeting with some of their models and their aggressive pricing is the newcomer to the sport. This is the kind of things I see on the forums, new kiters that have purchased Pansh kites looking for help for the kites that won’t fly properly. You can’t expect a newcomer to the sport to be able to trim out a kite to fly well, if he/she has no previous experience! Sometimes things are great and sometimes things are not so great.

Presently there is a video on You Tube that was posted by a gentleman who demonstrates a “reverse” depower Blaze II, I think he just needs to adjust the bridle as I have described above, to get a normally behaving depower response from his kite, a five minute fix.

The 7m Blaze II is in my opinion, the “sweet size” of the depowerable Blaze II range of kites. It just works properly, in that it has lots of power, very nice handling, is extremely stable, and has plenty of available depower range.
I ended up using this kite a fair bit more than I thought I would for snowkiting all last winter. It turned into my “go to” kite for just about all conditions.

Final Conclusion

I like the kites when properly set up, they rock, look cool, and I can afford them!
Enough said……..I will now step down from my soapbox.

Just to let you know…I paid retail for all of the kites used in the test, and I am not affiliated with Pansh in any way at all.

If any readers want more info/photos/measurements or have any questions not answered above, feel free to PM me, and I will help in any way I can.

Thanks for your time

Blake Moran
Campbellford, Ontario
Canada

Reviewers Kiting experience…..I have been involved in power kiting for about 7 years now, starting with small stunt kits, then moving onto small foils, leading up to larger four line foils, into buggies, onto the snow(snowboard), and ending up on the water (kiteboarding). Kite brands owned and flown over the years are; Flexifoil, Naish, Cabrinha, HQ, Ozone, Radsail, Ocean Rodeo, Best, and Pansh.

Reviewers Professional experience…..Presently employed as a Mechanical Engineering Technologist with the Canadian military, 24 years of Aircraft design and manufacturing experience, certified ultralight flight instructor 20+ years both three axis and weight shift, 30+ years soaring/gliding experience.