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Power Blast Review

Recently I got a chance to sit down with Joe Hadzicki of Revolution Kites to talk about their Power Kites.


dj. I know you love single surface skins, can you tell us more about your take on them.

A. In many aspects the single surface kite is superior to the foils. In others, the foils are better. One problem in particular that causes problems for both foils and single surfaced kites is the luffing of the sail when approaching zero angle of attack (over head flight, for example). Once the single surfaced kite luffs, it dives in toward the flyer making recovery all but impossible. When a foil luffs it often floats like a cloud back into the center of the wind window (the most powerful wind position) and then re-launches, often with explosive power! Hence the dangers of power flying. On the Revolution Power Blast, the kite is designed to slowly glide forward, almost floating, virtually eliminating luff and stall problems. As the Power Blast floats down and back into the window, you simply de-power the kite and fly back to any position you want, and re-power the kite as much as you want. The most common luff scenario for the Power Blast is to instantly pop back up into controlled flight. Ask any one who has flown the Power Blast. Another problem with virtually all kites is de-powering. The most effective method to de-power is to "sheet" the sail, or tilt the kite almost parallel to the wind. The problem is, if you get too close to parallel, again the kite will luff (a problem with all kite designs including foils) and you can easily loose control. Again, because of the anti-luff and float-like glide of the Power Blast, this problem is completely eliminated. In fact, you can instantly de-power and re-power the Power Blast just like the throttle on a car. For me, the biggest advantage of the Power Blast 2-4 (2 square meters that generates the power of a 4 square meter foil) and Power Blast 4-8 (4 square meters that generates the power of an 8 square meter foil) is safety! With the instant power control, and no fear of luffing, I feel I can handle a large range of flying conditions and stay in total control! The confidence that the kite will not overfly, luff, and fall out of the sky allows me to relax and fly more aggressively in a wider range of conditions. I'm only 165 Lbs. and I've flown the Power Blast 4-8 from 2 mph wind up to over 20 mph. Also, since the power to size is about twice that of a foil, your flying a much smaller kite, which is much easier to control. This kite finally allows those people standing on the sidelines who want to try power kiting but fear the dangers inherent in the sport, to safely enter the sport. You can take the Power Blast out in as little as 2 mph wind and get a feel for the power and control. Especially the Power Blast 2-4 which makes an incredible sport / stunt kite in winds below 8 mph! In general, power foils are not very interesting to fly as stunt kites.

dj. How would you rate the speed of the Revolution Power Blast?

A. Like most single surfaced kites with a relatively flat sail, it's very fast. We have a customer in Texas who has gone 50+ mph on a buggy without outrunning his Power Blast 4-8 (By the way, he's over 6 feet tall and 220 Lbs). But the real difference for the experienced foil flier is that you can reduce the lift (pull), and drag (speed) to virtually zero or anywhere in between with a simple handle rotation. I often fly around obstacles (street lights) while on a skateboard. As I fly past the post, I dump all the power and fly the Power Blast up, over and down around the post. Then when I get the kite back out in front of me exactly where I want it, I throttle the power, only as much as I want. The amazing part is how fast you can turn the power on and off. There is really no lag time!

dj. How is the upwind performance?

A. The upwind performance is phenomenal! In theory, the lift to drag ratio (L/D) is the defining characteristic for up wind performance, but this assumes a fixed wing shape! Remember, With the Power Blast you can INSTANTLY change from highly curved sail shape (high lift), to a flat, non-luffing sail (almost zero drag). Also you can fly much closer to the wind (virtually up against it and even past it) because you don't have to worry about over flying and collapsing the wing.

dj. When I flew the Blast I had to fly just from handles. Is there a way to use a harness?

A. Absolutely. The easiest way to harness the Power Blast is to attach a single line between the handles approximately at the bottom curve of the handle using a larkshead. The exact position is left to the flyer's preference, but our experience suggests that the attachment point should balance the kite in a forward flying, powered up position.
People who see me fly often ask how I can fly all day long without a harness system. The trick I use is the instant power control of the Power Blast. I usually start out with a huge blast of power (pun intended) right in the middle of the power window. It's kinda like "peddle to the metal". Now if you try this trick with an eight meter foil you better know what your doing if you want to live to see the morning sun! But with the Power Blast I know I can instantly dump the power, I mean INSTANTLY, with just a flick of the wrist! Now the second part of the trick is to stay on the power for about two or three seconds to gain speed and then decrease the power to 20% or 30% and start hunting for the perfect lift to drag for efficient racing. This is similar to methods used by foil flyers but there is no comparison to the speed and accuracy that the power and position of the kite can be controlled. For instance, If I overfly the sweet spot I simply hit the brakes with a wrist rotation, drop the kite straight back twenty feet and reapply power. That move will take about 1.5 seconds! One of the reasons why this type of move is so fast with the Power Blast is because a single surfaced kite will reattach laminar flow much faster than a double surfaced wing. Again, when you take off from a stand still, the instant burst of power is also characteristic of a single surfaced wing which can generate lift at much higher angles of attack of 30 to 35 degrees and more. Often I hover the Power Blast in the middle of the power window as I get into my buggy. There's very little pull since the kite is not moving. Then when I'm ready to go... BOOM, POWER ON! So, at the end of the day I think I've flown about 80% of the time with very little power on and, when I have the power on, since I have total control over the power and position of the Power Blast, I only apply the power where I can use it to pull me forward and increase my speed and not sidewise wearing out my tires. That's another plus, my tires almost last forever because when I'm getting a big side load on the buggy, I just dump the power, fly forward and reapply in a more forward pulling direction, or, just sheet the kite to zero degrees and virtually no drag, and relax and cruise for 50 feet before hitting the gas again.

dj. One of the things that caught my eye at the event, was you flying in almost no wind, and going really fast on the buggy. Care to comment on that? Also what to me seemed an almost magical or impossible feat, no one else seemed to noticing.

A. There are a bunch of reasons why the Power Blast is the ultimate light wind power kite.

1) The Power Blast generates more power, faster than foils because it has a higher stall angle than foils do.
2) As the Power Blast generates power, the curve of the sail increases, causing the power to increase even faster.
3) In light wind conditions, the wind power is much less and the wind window is much smaller. For these reasons, a highly maneuverable kite is critical to light wind power flying. The Power Blast out maneuvers all comparable foils for three reasons:
a) It's a Revolution which by definition is total control. Forward, reverse, left, right, spin, and hover...Instantly. This means it's much easier to keep the Power Blast in the wind window.
b) It's half the size of a comparable foil. That makes it easy to handle and way more responsive.
c) Sharp edged, single surfaced kites detach and reattach laminar flow much faster than two surfaced foils. This means faster de-power, reposition, and re-power.
4) Since the Power Blast can fly at 0 degrees and beyond (fully sheeted), without fear of leafing the sail, you can precisely tune for maximum lift to drag which means more efficiency, which means more speed and better all around performance in light winds.
5) Single surface kites out perform foils in light conditions because drag has less effect. And, they generate higher lift at higher angles of attack.
The Power Blast flies faster from stand still than a foil (partly because the air flow attaches sooner). As soon as the Power Blast begins to load up, the sail curvature increases and the lift increases even faster (hence "the pedal to the metal"). Now remember, we're talking about light wind conditions. The foil has to fly faster (and therefore longer) before it reaches it's "lift producing" angle of attack. Since the wind window is much smaller in light conditions you can easily fly your foil out of the window before you can produce any useful power (hence the up and down zigzag flight paths)! Since the Power Blast can turn so fast, or quickly back up, it's much easier to stay in the wind window.

dj. I've often thought the single surface skin had the most potential for setting the top speed record, due to it's seemingly endless acceleration. Do you think the Blast could surpass the 72.8 mph set out here by Luk Stanek. If so would you need more wind speed? (Luk had 30mph+)

A. The Power Blast was designed to produce safe, efficient, power. It wasn't specifically designed for speed. It's speed is just a result of it's efficiency. With some slight modifications to the sail design, size, and structure, I believe we could make a significantly faster kite. I'll tell you one thing, we've got 'em beat in luff stability and virtually instant, complete de-powering. And both of those are key safety features no matter whether you're going for a speed record or just cruising.

dj. Could you tell us Joe, what you liked most about our event?

A. I've got three reasons why your event is so good. Location, location, location! Actually the location is just one of the reasons. The real reason is the people. After all, without the people to share your experiences with, it's just another day of kite flying! Which come to think of it, that's not so bad either.

dj. Thanks Joe!

dean jordan

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