From: jburka@Glue.umd.edu (Jeffrey C. Burka) Subject: Air Master Vanishing Point Gold Date: Mon, 8 Apr 1996 17:10:38 -1000 Organization: Project GLUE, University of Maryland, College Park, MD Message-ID: <4kckfe$12a@gis.umd.edu> Well, I seem to have found another indoor kite I really like in addition to Dean Jordan's Millenium, the VP Gold. I had a chance to fly one quite a bit at Lakehurst last weekend, and I've gotta say, it's way spiff. I'm not sure I like it better than the Millenium, but it certainly does all the tricks, and with it's super light weight, the VP Gold does it with less work. In all fairness to Dean, the stock Millenium is framed quite a bit heavier, and there's no reason one couldn't be made to the same weight specs as the VP Gold. Axels are a lot slower with the VP than the Millenium, due to the lack of mass. Personally, I prefer the snappiness of Dean's kite, but the slow-mo, graceful nature of the Gold certainly has its charms. It's kinda neat doing a slow, graceful cascade indoors on 15-ish foot lines. The SkyShark Response Zero Gold sticks are surprisingly sturdy; many folks flew this kite at Lakehurst, including some who had never flown indoors (and one of these folk's dual line experience is probably under an hour, all told!). The kite held up quite well. My biggest complaint about the kite, in comparison to the Millenium, is probably the Really Boring Sail. Peter does some nice applique, but not on the stock version of these kites! I'm curious about the orientation of the spine. It's been a while since I looked at the back of a Millenium, but I know that on my X-1 Micro-Lite, the tapered spar is oriented with the small side down, which will have the effect of moving the center of gravity up on the kite. The spine of the VP Gold is oriented in the opposite direction. I wonder if Peter has tried orienting the spine with the heavy side up, and if so, how this effects handling, particularly in axels. Though I'm pretty sure I wouldn't personally spend the extra money to buy a VP Gold over a Millenium, the kite is certainly worthy of a recommendation. Peter Bettencourt owes a lot to Dean Jordan, amongst others, but his kites have definitely taken on a life and style of their own. The VP Gold is a great indoor kite. No, of course I don't have any affiliation with either manufacturer, though I've known both of 'em for quite some time. Jeff -- |Jeffrey C. Burka | Pithy, insightful quote to be inserted when one | |jburka@glue.umd.edu | occurs to me. *If* one occurs to me. | |http://www.wam.umd.edu/~jeffy/html/home.html | = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = From: Jason Robbins Subject: Re: Air Master Vanishing Point Gold Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 11:35:13 -1000 Organization: Robbins 8th & Walnut Wedding Band Center Message-ID: <3172C111.1838@r8w.com> Jeffrey C. Burka wrote: > > Well, I seem to have found another indoor kite I really like in addition to > Dean Jordan's Millenium, the VP Gold. > > I had a chance to fly one quite a bit at Lakehurst last weekend, and I've > gotta say, it's way spiff. I'm not sure I like it better than the > Millenium, but it certainly does all the tricks, and with it's super light > weight, the VP Gold does it with less work. In all fairness to Dean, the > stock Millenium is framed quite a bit heavier, and there's no reason one > couldn't be made to the same weight specs as the VP Gold. > > Axels are a lot slower with the VP than the Millenium, due to the lack of > mass. Personally, I prefer the snappiness of Dean's kite, but the slow-mo, > graceful nature of the Gold certainly has its charms. It's kinda neat > doing a slow, graceful cascade indoors on 15-ish foot lines. > > The SkyShark Response Zero Gold sticks are surprisingly sturdy; many folks > flew this kite at Lakehurst, including some who had never flown indoors > (and one of these folk's dual line experience is probably under an hour, > all told!). The kite held up quite well. > > My biggest complaint about the kite, in comparison to the Millenium, is > probably the Really Boring Sail. Peter does some nice applique, but > not on the stock version of these kites! > > I'm curious about the orientation of the spine. It's been a while since I > looked at the back of a Millenium, but I know that on my X-1 Micro-Lite, > the tapered spar is oriented with the small side down, which will have the > effect of moving the center of gravity up on the kite. The spine of the VP > Gold is oriented in the opposite direction. I wonder if Peter has tried > orienting the spine with the heavy side up, and if so, how this effects > handling, particularly in axels. > > Though I'm pretty sure I wouldn't personally spend the extra money to buy a > VP Gold over a Millenium, the kite is certainly worthy of a recommendation. > Peter Bettencourt owes a lot to Dean Jordan, amongst others, but his kites > have definitely taken on a life and style of their own. The VP Gold is a > great indoor kite. > > No, of course I don't have any affiliation with either manufacturer, though > I've known both of 'em for quite some time. > > Jeff > > -- > |Jeffrey C. Burka | Pithy, insightful quote to be inserted when one | > |jburka@glue.umd.edu | occurs to me. *If* one occurs to me. | > |http://www.wam.umd.edu/~jeffy/html/home.html |Jeff, Sorry I missed you at Lakehurst, I had to be in Nebraska...Go figure. I have the regular Vanishing Point and have had some fun with it outdoors, under 5mph, and think the spine is fine, but needs to be changed for sure. I have experienced too much "flex" with the skyshark...Peter tells me that it should be changed for a Avia G-force spine. It seems that this will make it more sstiff and save a little weight. I think I prefer the bottom of the spine to be heavier. This kite is also really slow and precise with no oversteer as Dean's kites seem to have. Can't wait for MASKC...see you there. -- Jason Robbins ROBBINS 8th & WALNUT 801 Walnut St. Phila., PA 19107 WEDDING BAND CENTER (215)925-5120 ext. 151 (215)923-0662 Fax World Wide Web- http://www.r8w.com e-mail robbins@r8w.com = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =