Krystal 0.9/mini review

Krystal 0.9 - Did you say Old School?

(Skyshark version)

Build:

The kite look to be build top notch, and the sail is beautifully sewn, with

reinforcement where you expect to find them and todays standard covered
leading edge connectors and yo-yo stoppers. I have found no unusal snag points yet ;-)

The bridle is the usual R-sky static three points affair, with in- and up-haul in

one piece, and a pig tail on the connection to the upper spreader for angle

of attack adjustments. The bridle does not snag on the keel.

A cylinder formed weight of 19 g. is inserted onto the bottom of the spine
and heald in place by the velcro closing.

Looks:

I think it looks very nice, even better in real life than from R-Sk's homepage. As

it is a big kite, it leaves a good impression in the sky.

In Flight:

This is what counts, isn'it? ;-)

It is a big kite and certainly feels like it. It is very present on the lines and

needs a firm input to get things done. It is quoted as 240 cm in wing span, as my

Quantum Pro (which is maller in fact), but my measuring says just below 250cm.

It is NOT a dead easy kite to fly. But when you get to know her, she is very

rewarding:

The Krystal 0.9 flies slowly, and to my eye majestically, and has excellent speed

control. Precision is very good, as you expect it to be from a polyvalent from R-

sky. Cascades gives you the nicest FLOP sound from the sail, and are easy to

control. A fountain is possible even in lower winds ;-). Flat spins are also slow

and easy, there is quite some mass/inertia at work here. Roll ups are harder the

usual way (rock 'n roll?), as the kite needs a lot of slack (read footwork) to
go around, where the two method (pop to backflip, then small pop and release
to go around) is a much easier way to get her around. Backflips/turtles can be
hard to recover from, especially in lower winds, where a pull often doesn't lead
to recovery. Best thing to do is to give input for a half lazy, and then pull to recover.

Tazs machines are stunning, and rather flat spinning (compared to Nirvana). Flic

flac is not given away on this kite, as they need quite a lot of slack in the flare

part, and a smooth movement to pull back into fade. If you miss giving enough slack

you won't reach the flare, and if you pull back into fade to abrupt, you semi stall

the kite and loose control.

All in all I think it is a very special kite, and a pleasure to fly in lower to

medium winds (have not tried higher winds yet, but I guess they will produce a lot

of pull given the size of the sail). You have to work with her, small wrist movements
will not cut the mustard, but when you give her some arm, you are rewarded with
graceful movements in the sky.

Byt the way, a nice bonus is that it tolerates bumpy wind very good (on level with

the Blue Moon Exile).

I am happy ;-)

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