Fractured Axel

Hi Obi,
thanks a lot for your feedback and your video. i'm sorry you did not manage to fly the mondrian.

With regards to your feedback i would like to say a few things on mirò.
This kite was developed by Luca Guardigli and Chs as a team/pair kite, stack competition oriented. The main goals here were slow speed, big wind window, medium constant pull over the entire wind window and a comfortable flying with winds betweens 20 and 30 kmh. the kite also had to be easy to land considering the wing span. tracking and corners of course were also among the main goals. Once they thought they achieved all this they moved on on making this kite easier to trick, without spoiling the precision attitude. In particular old school tricks had to be slow and elegant, snap stalls and side slides had to be solid and all the flat spin tricks, ie axels taz slots 540, had to be slow and floaty. the very last modifications were made to let the kite handle rolling susans and insanes easier. They also tried to make it as pitchy as possible for a 2.6 kite (i have seen Luca doing crazy copters and yo-fades but that is just for a few i guess). On any trick the kite needs big movements.
The UL and SUL version are not just a lighter versions of the standard beign the sails design slightly different.
This was the genenis of mirò as far as i know having tested most of the prototipes.
Mirò std better performs on 42-45 m lines with winds above 16 kmh. The UL version with 3pt lower spreaders was developed to fly precision up to 13 kmh, the UL version with 5pt lower spreaders can fly precision up to 18-19. Flying the STD in less than 16-17 Kmh will make it much easier to trick but not very precise. In that conditions, with stock bridle settings, the pressure on the kite is not enough to give the "precision kite" feel. Tweaking the bridles might help.
I'm sure the demo tour will help Chs realise whether or not they achieved their goals.

Two more things:

Yoyo line vs yoyo stopper. yoyo was not a real goal on this kite even though they worked a lot on pitch stability. You can "easily" yoyo in light winds and 2 pop yoyo in stronger winds; the lack of yoyo stoppers is more of a reminder of what the kite is not. I personally replaced the yoyo line with yoyo stoppers on the standard version only.

Nose. the nose reinforcement is made of two layers: kevlar inside and micro cordura on the outside. cordura fabric is used on surf/kite surf sails on the main abrasion spots. I never had any worn out issue on my chs kites noses. As far as i am concerned i have been flying miròs only since last september pretty constantly and all the building features are still in place.

Thank you and Ms Kenobe a lot for your committment.

ciao
paolo

I am appreciative of the opportunity. Thanks, Paolo!

As far as my comments go, please take them with some salt. I am a pretty average flyer (who cut his chops in the lab grade AAA winds of the Netherlands), and I am flying in very choppy variable direction wind on top of a hill with trees and a fort behind me in that video (seriously, unless I drive...).

I really liked the kite. I have always been a fan of the bigger kites I have flown. I can say that the taz machine is slow and flat, as are the slots. I went out again today after the rain (without my camera crew), and had another go. The wind was coming from the more 'preferred' direction, so the conditions were a bit better. The backspin casade worked well a couple times for me, and I loved the Jacob's Ladder (which has only recently come into it's own for me). I think this kite and I really clicked with the JL, as I was unstoppable for a while today .

Funny you mention landings. I am all about landings lately, and I forgot to mention in the first post. These are almost elegant somehow.

Thanks again!
obi

landing is one of my favourite tricks. landing a big kite like a krystal or a mirò is what i enjoy most. the strongest the wind the better. and it does impress people !

your comments, as well as those made by any other flyer, will be taken in great consideration by chs. I'll pass them your feedbacks.

buon volo
paolo

Wow, can't wait to recieve them sometime this summer

The kites should now be on their way to merry olde Englande for you lot to peruse over the upcoming kite festival season.

If you do get some time behind the lines PLEASE post something in the relevant threads so that Challenger get something back from their generous loans.

And they have a revised websitetoo.

Mike.

Looking forward to these, they will be accompanying me to Stella plage for some hopefully stella (:wink:) beach weather

I've now received both the Miro and Mondrian, I must say I'm very impressed with the build of these

That Miro is BIG bugger

Gosh that was lightning fast for just sending it via post.

Right on.

obi

I shall be hunting Piero down in the next week or so, so that I can pass the baton on to him.........

It's been a really enjoyable experience with both the Challenger sails kites but my favourite was the Mondrian, many thanks to Challenger for putting this on

many thanks to you Craig on behalf of Chs.
looking forward to hearing more about the kites from Piero.

ciao
paolo

Well, I flew the Miro for the first time today. The jury is still out, I'd like to fly it in unreasonable winds before I decide.

First: build quality. It felt like is was built to last, & last, & last. Solid construction and a little heavier than I was expecting. It feels good, you touch it & you know you are holding a quality piece of kit on which a lot of thought & care has been spent. Interesting details like the extension of the leading edge dacron to almost beyond the spars and the winglets using stiffeners (doubled over dacron?) not spars.

First flight (6-8mph): hmm, slow and a bit woolly, very difficult to get any sharp corners out of the kite unless I used french turns, but no oversteer, nothing unexpected. Silent flight, unusual, possibly a bit of a drawback in a competition kite, now that the judges are used to hearing if turns are concurrent. Very good feedback from the kite,
You tell the kite: I want a rightish angle
The kite does a right angle
The kite tells you down the lines: I did a 87 degree angle and then corrected slightly on the out.
Lovely, but, it will also tell you in great detail about the lumps and bumps in the wind, no great visible difference: i.e. you'd need to be international standard for the tremors in your straight lines to worry you, but the kite does worry about them & tells you down the lines.
I cannot get a half axel out of it, but my half axels are still ropey. No tip wraps, thats a first for me, I did think I had one, but I mistook the extra bridle leg (a bit odd, but seems to work well enough) for the line.

(Swap with Keith to try the Krystal & the rev & do some line equalising, Gosh, how that improves the quality of the rev flying)

Second flight, half an hour later, wind now 8-10mph:
Wow, what a difference, no longer woolly and now faster than the Krystal, turns are sharper, still nicest when you use a french turn, but it is no longer compulsory, combi turns are sharp & snappy, push turns are accurate & fast (making "steps down" a possibility with the now much faster kite, without dislocating both wrists by the end of it).
I can half axel now, but it takes effort, definitely a two input move. The same for axels and lazy susans, this kite takes a lot of tending and some very good timing. One tip wrap, but that is still a very smooth session for me
The feedback from the kite is still there, unchanged.

In summary: this is really quite heavy for a standard, it only comes into it's own at the wind range where I'd normally be itching to change up. If you give it perfect inputs, it will reward you with a perfect performance, but I'm not perfect. The Miro's performance so far wouldn't convince me to use it for precision competition or even demonstrations, but I wouldn't laugh or scratch my head at anyone who did. The strong feedback makes it a kite that is difficult to fly for a long period of time, but it is very good at teaching you to do something right. A kite for someone who wants to elevate their flying from good enough to excellent, but doesn't want the kite to do it for them

Hi everyone,
first of all i would like to thank Vee (sorry if this comes a bit late but unfortunately i have'n been into the kiting businness recently) for his review.
I do agree with you: Mirò is pretty demanding and you need to be there and do things properly all the time to get the right response from the kite.

The feedback from this thread on both kites was taken into great consideration by CHS and based on your comments a new polyvalent kite
has been developed. A new entry level kite is also in production now; both new kites on www.challengerkites.com/stuntkites/


Where are we up to with the demo tour ? Are there any new test flying scheduled for the near future ? Please let me know what is going to happen next.

Thanks again to all of you,
ciao
paolo

mistert wrote:

a new polyvalent kite has been developed

There are certain traditionalist elements within the USA that will not take kindly to the name of your new kite


Aerie K2.

Aerie being what came before Blue Moon Kites.

Just FYI.

Mike.

azz...
thank you mike for let me know that. i named the kite but unfortunately i was not aware of another kite called k2 (untill now).
i will tell chs about all this.

thanks
paolo

I think Mike was referring to Aerie having been used before by Ken McNeill in the form of Aerie Kiteworks, the forerunner to Blue Moon Kites.

However the K2 has also been used before - by Kitecraft, a now defunct German kite maker.