Widow Maker, Mini review of the Widow Maker Options

[tpatter]

Folks,

I went to the Longbeach Windless Kite Festival this last weekend and my entire family had a great time! As icing on the cake, Theresa gave me a demo Window Maker to take back with me to Seattle for another flyer to try out. I have been waiting for a chance to fly this kite, so I took Monday off from work and headed to Kite Hill with my son to check it out.

The winds were VERY light, around 1-3 mph, so we were a little disappointed when we got to the field. There were 2 other flyers on the field and they had their Prism Ozones out. I was amazed how the kite took to the air in this light wind. I've never flown a standard that flew this well in such light wind.

The WM is a VERY FUN kite to fly and was eager and forgiving in doing tricks. We haven't been working on tricks for too long, but can do all the basics fairly reliably - axels, half-axels, 540s, flic flacs, cascades, flap jacks, multi-lazys, backspins, rollups, and a few rungs of a jacobs ladder. On the whole, tricks were all MUCH easier on this kite than the kites that we regularly fly. The WM has a smooth feel to it when flying - you never feel out of control or disconnected from the kite and you can readily provide input with nice feedback while combining tricks - it makes transitions easy to handle.

Some items of note:
- The kite flapjacks like a machine - easier than my other kites for sure. My son was really able to make it cook and did some of the best looking flapjacks I've ever seen.
- 540s - WOW, this kite flattens right out and floats around almost like an indoor kite. None of our other kites look quite this good doing a 540. They are also easy to do. The first one I tried was picture perfect and they just kept coming. This "flattening out" also helps with pancakes, fades, and smooth axels.
- Cascades - solid and stable, can easily make them rise or fall and the speed the kite best likes to do them looks great.
- Yoyos - the weight works VERY well. We were even able to do some doubles. The WM also eagerly jumps onto its back and waits for your next input; as a relatively new flyer, this is a feature that I really like in a sport kite. This also makes multi-lazys a snap - we got it to go around 3 times on a single pull once. Also makes JLs easier (we are still working on getting these presentable for all 3 rungs, but they were better on this kite already than any of our others).
- The kite is very well made - the sail seams are sewn so nicely (rolled), almost like clothing. Its refreshing to see such fine detail - no exposed edges to fray or come loose over time. It should last a very long time.

The only negative I noticed was that there was no leader line installed on the kite, but thats easy to fix by just adding a segment of line. Don't be fooled into thinking that the kite is not pitch friendly because it doesn't have one - it loves to rollup. I personally preferred flic/flacs on my regular kite - but thats probably just me getting used to a different timing, my son liked the way that the WM flic/flacs and fades just fine. He liked it so much in fact that I had a hard time prying the lines away from him in order to fly it myself.

In summary, I would say that we both had great results in flying this kite right from the beginning and felt that its an easy kite to quickly get "in tune" and trick with. For example, the video link at the end of this post was shot after only having flown the kite for less than 10 minutes. The WM combines the capabilities of precision and trick with a result that is more fun than any kite that I've recently flown. We both enjoyed the kite MUCH more than many that we have in the bag, and it will FOR SURE become one of our go-to kites once we save up for it!

I took a little video which you can see at the link below. Nothing fancy, the battery ran dead before we could record much, but its worth seeing the kite in flight. Its my eight year old son flying and he's been working on cascades, so thats mostly what you'll see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGdubvQdAtE


-Tom

[Theresa]

Folks,

I went to the Longbeach Windless Kite Festival this last weekend and my entire family had a great time! As icing on the cake, Theresa gave me a demo Window Maker to take back with me to Seattle for another flyer to try out. I have been waiting for a chance to fly this kite, so I took Monday off from work and headed to Kite Hill with my son to check it out.

The winds were VERY light, around 1-3 mph, so we were a little disappointed when we got to the field. There were 2 other flyers on the field and they had their Prism Ozones out. I was amazed how the kite took to the air in this light wind. I've never flown a standard that flew this well in such light wind.

The WM is a VERY FUN kite to fly and was eager and forgiving in doing tricks. We haven't been working on tricks for too long, but can do all the basics fairly reliably - axels, half-axels, 540s, flic flacs, cascades, flap jacks, multi-lazys, backspins, rollups, and a few rungs of a jacobs ladder. On the whole, tricks were all MUCH easier on this kite than the kites that we regularly fly. The WM has a smooth feel to it when flying - you never feel out of control or disconnected from the kite and you can readily provide input with nice feedback while combining tricks - it makes transitions easy to handle.

Some items of note:
- The kite flapjacks like a machine - easier than my other kites for sure. My son was really able to make it cook and did some of the best looking flapjacks I've ever seen.
- 540s - WOW, this kite flattens right out and floats around almost like an indoor kite. None of our other kites look quite this good doing a 540. They are also easy to do. The first one I tried was picture perfect and they just kept coming. This "flattening out" also helps with pancakes, fades, and smooth axels.
- Cascades - solid and stable, can easily make them rise or fall and the speed the kite best likes to do them looks great.
- Yoyos - the weight works VERY well. We were even able to do some doubles. The WM also eagerly jumps onto its back and waits for your next input; as a relatively new flyer, this is a feature that I really like in a sport kite. This also makes multi-lazys a snap - we got it to go around 3 times on a single pull once. Also makes JLs easier (we are still working on getting these presentable for all 3 rungs, but they were better on this kite already than any of our others).
- The kite is very well made - the sail seams are sewn so nicely (rolled), almost like clothing. Its refreshing to see such fine detail - no exposed edges to fray or come loose over time. It should last a very long time.

The only negative I noticed was that there was no leader line installed on the kite, but thats easy to fix by just adding a segment of line. Don't be fooled into thinking that the kite is not pitch friendly because it doesn't have one - it loves to rollup. I personally preferred flic/flacs on my regular kite - but thats probably just me getting used to a different timing, my son liked the way that the WM flic/flacs and fades just fine. He liked it so much in fact that I had a hard time prying the lines away from him in order to fly it myself.

In summary, I would say that we both had great results in flying this kite right from the beginning and felt that its an easy kite to quickly get "in tune" and trick with. For example, the video link at the end of this post was shot after only having flown the kite for less than 10 minutes. The WM combines the capabilities of precision and trick with a result that is more fun than any kite that I've recently flown. We both enjoyed the kite MUCH more than many that we have in the bag, and it will FOR SURE become one of our go-to kites once we save up for it!

I took a little video which you can see at the link below. Nothing fancy, the battery ran dead before we could record much, but its worth seeing the kite in flight. Its my eight year old son flying and he's been working on cascades, so thats mostly what you'll see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGdubvQdAtE


-Tom

Hi Tom,

It was great to meet you and the family at the Windless Indoor event in Long Beach, WA.

Glad you are having fun with the Widow Maker! At 8 years old, Eli sure has a natural talent, both indoor and outdoor.

Thanks for sharing the video and your thoughts on the kite.

T

[jaybett]

I recently had an opportunity to fly the Widow Maker demo. I spent approximately an hour and a half, with it. Winds were roughly between 8mph and over 18mph. A typical stormy day on the Northwest coast.

Sky Burner Kites, just look sharp. Simple geometric patterns, primary colors, make for a great presence in the sky. The Widow Maker is no exception with its spider design. Construction like all Sky Burner Kites is excellent. It is easily up there with all the leading makers. It won an award as best in its class, for construction, at the 2007 AKA Grand Nationals.

Bill Rogers has a AKA Nationals limited run Widow Maker that was just stunning. Silver thread had been sewn close to the leading edges to give the appearance of a spider's web. Their were plenty of aws and uws when he brought it out.

The first thing I look for in any kite that I try, is how does it fly? Speed Control is important to me. I flew the Widow Maker across the window a number of times. It stayed in control the whole time. No sudden bursts of acceleration. The pull was not as light as a Sea Devil, but not as heavy as a Quantum Pro, which I consider to be about medium.

Everybody mentions in passing that a kite has good to great precision and then go on to trick ability. I must be missing something. My understanding of precision is that a kite will fly a straight line, until it is given an input. The other side of precision is how well does the kite cut a corner?

The Fury by Carl Robertshaw is the best precision kite that I've flown. It will hold a line, and cut extremely sharp corners.
Down side is the kite has a lot of pull. It's not the type of kite that one goes out to learn tricks on or spend the afternoon having fun in the sun. It is a competition kite, that when you have to perform it will handle almost anything thrown at it, like variable winds, in the upper twenties with gusts into the forties.

The Widow Maker is no Fury in the precision department. From this flight, I'd say it's was a little less then the Quantum Pro, and a bit ahead of the Sea Devil.

When it comes to tricks, I'm looking to see how well a kite spins. I really like flat Axels. The Window Maker does very flat Axels. It didn't take much effort to get them flat, even in the higher winds. Half Axel and Cascade looked nice and were easy to do.

After the Axel stuff, I'm curious to see well a kite turtles. Does it want to stay in the turtle, or come out? The Window Maker lays flat in the turtle and comes out with a little tension. I wasn't expecting the Widow Maker to do well with the Lazies, but surprisingly, it was easy to get Multi-Lazies and the kite didn't want to pop out of them.

If you have a flown a kite that sits deep in the turtle, getting it out at times, can take a bit of an effort. Such as doing a Lazy to get it out of turtle.

I also like to check out how well a kite will snap stall and side slide. I got some okay Snap Stall with the Widow Maker. I couldn't hold them very long in the wind, but in nicer winds, I think it would be an easier kite to snap stall.

The winds really limited being able to do the side slide. I got bits and pieces. The Widow Maker felt like other modern kites, with deep sails, that takes a light touch to work through the window.

It was tough, to get an idea of how well the Widow Maker gets into and holds a Fade, when the wind speeds were constantly changing. I tried Half Axel to Fade, but the kite was kept falling out of the fade. On the side of the window, I tried Pancake to Fade. The Widow Maker would slide towards the middle of the window and then fall out. Any kite would do something similar under those conditions.

A few times when I was attempting Pancake to Fade, the nose would flare up, past horizontal or one wing was higher then the other. Typically in those situations I don't even bother to pull the kite into a fade, I just let the nose drop and fly away. A few times while trying to get the nose down, the Widow Maker went into a fade. I don't know if it was the wind or the kite, but it was one of those things that make you say cool and wonder what else the kite can do?

When I'm trying out a new kite, often I found myself ready to hand the kite back to its owner after 15 or 20 minutes. If a kite doesn't have good speed control I quickly lose interest. I don't like a kite that lurches. The Window Maker has very good speed control. Lam's kites are the only ones that I've flown that had better speed control. Pull is light to moderate, even in high winds the Widow Maker was always manageable. There was no time I felt like I was holding on until a gust passed or the wind died down. Good speed control and moderate pull even in high winds is a huge plus for the Widow Maker.

Ease of trick ability and how gracefully the kite performs tricks is almost as important as speed control to me. While I appreciate how the old school kites fly, they were not as easy to trick or as tolerant of sloppy technique as the new kites. The Widow Maker was easy to trick and looked good performing them. I really liked the flat Axels.

The biggest compliment that I can pay the Widow Maker is that even after an hour and a half, of flying, is that I wasn't feeling the urge to go fly my main kite. The Widow Maker was more then meeting my needs.

Jay