Fractured Axel

I have never attempted to make a kite and with my lack of DIY skills I never will
I may get a Katana as a Christmas present to myself if I could get Jim B. at GWTW to send me a 'proper' review of the kite rather than bits and bobs that have been printed so far.

there are 2 holes to be stuffed in my bag maybe xmas pressies would do that, a sul/ul, like the surprise but then the sweety is a bargain, easy light looks nice too.

A vented kite also, not sure what though

Martin wrote:

MMMMMM Impact

Martin wrote:

easy light looks nice too.

Its easy, but not very light ! don't bother Sweety looks good value, and is a proper SUL (unlike the EL). I've never had one of those

jrharrold wrote:

I may get a Katana as a Christmas present to myself if I could get Jim B. at GWTW to send me a 'proper' review of the kite rather than bits and bobs that have been printed so far.

Just out of general interest, I'd like to read an objective, "deep" review of the Katana too (the one by rbjensen was pretty good in that regard, though) but it looks like one will be hard to come by at least at GWTW. One of the drawbacks of having a forum where the designers themselves are active participants, I guess... nobody wants to say anything negative, and thus everyone ends up saying nothing much at all except the fabulously informative "nice kite".

Juha

cbh wrote:

Sweety looks good value, and is a proper SUL

It is good value, and a proper SUL. It has a few quirks, though...

1) Ridiculous over-stability in fade

The Sweety is the hardest kite I've ever flown to get out of the fade once it really settles there. Forget simple lateral rolls - the kite can't do them at all. Give a tug (gentle or firm, no matter) to one of the wings while in the fade and the wing just moves towards you - in fact, you can hold the kite in a fade with the nose angled 45 degrees to the side. Nice, if that's your cup of tea, but I'd rather be able to exit the fade without it turning into an adventure every time.

There are a few ways to get out, mind, but they involve all sorts of strange, tug-right-tug-left-tug-quickly-left-again-and-give-slack combinations. Just very counter-intuitive, if you've learned to fly kites where this is not a problem.

2) The backflip

Like the fade, the backflip on the Sweety requires you to master a, err... different technique. The nose has to be really thrown back and then you have to tend the slack very carefully while the kite takes its sweet time (and space) falling to the turtle position. The Sweety wants to roll up from the backflip, and it must be stopped before it gets there by taking up the slack at just the right moment. The backflip itself is very deep and can be made to rise nicely. Lazy Susans are there for the taking as are Half-Lazy-To-Fade combos, but since the latter leads to the dreaded Fade Trap, I usually don't even bother trying it.

I could go on but it's getting late. By all means get a Sweety, it's very nice particularly indoors, but be prepared to re-learn some aspects of kite flying.

Juha

Interesting read on the Sweety...

I take it it won't backspin from the fade either?

h_i_r_0 wrote:

I take it it won't backspin from the fade either?

No it won't (which in itself is normal for SUL's that light - my Sweety weighs 98 grams). I have seen video of Daniel Flinkmann "sort of" backspinning it indoors for a few rotations, though... so nothing's impossible, apparently.

Juha