Fractured Axel
Sport, Trick and Freestyle Kite Flying Forum
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- Mark E Mark
- Posts: 1201
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Akuji comp update
Sorry, now I start to write i realise I'm a bit too pissed to write - will finish tommorrow
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- Mark E Mark
- Posts: 1201
- Joined:
-
- Mark E Mark
- Posts: 1201
- Joined:
Ok, here is my Akuji Comp update:
When I bought the Akuji I wanted it for two specific reasons; 1) I wanted it to easily do yo-yo tricks (as I wanted to learn these), and I wanted it to be able to fly in, occasional, high wind (relatively). Well I’ve flown my Akuji a lot now and confirm that both of my hopes have been realised. The Akuji does wrap up very easily (managed it on my first ever attempt) and, once in particular, it is possible to fly (and trick) it in 20 mph of wind. I knew it was that windy because I happened to have my wind meter with me that day. I found that rather than a lot of running to promote slack it needed very sudden slack with very sharp, positive inputs. When I changed my style to suit the conditions I found that I could do virtually everything I could in more moderate wind. As for rollups; I now seem to be able to do multiple roll-ups reasonably consistently – 2 quite often, 3 occasionally and four a few times now. The kite flies fine when rolled up and seems (to me) quite easy to trick whilst rolled up. In particular, Lazy Susan whilst rolled (even multi wrap) to unroll is very easy (as long as you let the nose of the kite settle sufficiently). Recently, in addition to working on my yo-yo tricks, I have been working on JL’s and have found that I can do them very quickly on the Akuji; if done quickly very little height is lost.
An interesting comparison I did was to go directly from my Akuji to a friends DS (thanks Dave). Whilst it was essentially similar, it did have a quite different character to the inputs required. The Akuji feels like it has a bigger turning circle and the same inputs transferred to the DS results in over steer. In contrast the Akuji requires less input to put it onto its back, front or roll-up. Perhaps these qualities are reflections of the relatively high aspect the Akjui sail posses.
The roll bar conversion I made seems to have made no difference at all to the Akuji’s flying characteristics. Certainly it wraps up as easily as it did before and still feels easy to flick-flack etc. If anything it feels more solid on the lines when wrapped now and it’s possible to be a bit lazy with regard to line tension.
I hope these comments are of help/interest to anyone considering buying one of these kites. If mine were stolen or irrevocably damaged I would buy a replacement immediately – I can’t say fairer than that
When I bought the Akuji I wanted it for two specific reasons; 1) I wanted it to easily do yo-yo tricks (as I wanted to learn these), and I wanted it to be able to fly in, occasional, high wind (relatively). Well I’ve flown my Akuji a lot now and confirm that both of my hopes have been realised. The Akuji does wrap up very easily (managed it on my first ever attempt) and, once in particular, it is possible to fly (and trick) it in 20 mph of wind. I knew it was that windy because I happened to have my wind meter with me that day. I found that rather than a lot of running to promote slack it needed very sudden slack with very sharp, positive inputs. When I changed my style to suit the conditions I found that I could do virtually everything I could in more moderate wind. As for rollups; I now seem to be able to do multiple roll-ups reasonably consistently – 2 quite often, 3 occasionally and four a few times now. The kite flies fine when rolled up and seems (to me) quite easy to trick whilst rolled up. In particular, Lazy Susan whilst rolled (even multi wrap) to unroll is very easy (as long as you let the nose of the kite settle sufficiently). Recently, in addition to working on my yo-yo tricks, I have been working on JL’s and have found that I can do them very quickly on the Akuji; if done quickly very little height is lost.
An interesting comparison I did was to go directly from my Akuji to a friends DS (thanks Dave). Whilst it was essentially similar, it did have a quite different character to the inputs required. The Akuji feels like it has a bigger turning circle and the same inputs transferred to the DS results in over steer. In contrast the Akuji requires less input to put it onto its back, front or roll-up. Perhaps these qualities are reflections of the relatively high aspect the Akjui sail posses.
The roll bar conversion I made seems to have made no difference at all to the Akuji’s flying characteristics. Certainly it wraps up as easily as it did before and still feels easy to flick-flack etc. If anything it feels more solid on the lines when wrapped now and it’s possible to be a bit lazy with regard to line tension.
I hope these comments are of help/interest to anyone considering buying one of these kites. If mine were stolen or irrevocably damaged I would buy a replacement immediately – I can’t say fairer than that