Revolution 1.5 SLE (Custom)

Revolution 1.5 SLE (Custom) version 1.0

I first made a new Revolution sail in 2003 (red and white) strips, then the same design in purple and white, followed in 2007 by a more elaborate green, yellow and blue sail, then finally in 2018 a multi-coloured sail based on my custom Vented sail pattern. To all intents and purposes they are the same kite - I'm just now flying version 4 of it in 2021. Examples of all can be found in the Gallery page.

The sail area is very slightly larger than the older sails to try and prevent the spars sticking out too much and to increase the surface area to give a little bit extra at the low end of it's wind range. To be honest I'm not sure how successful this has been - but it's certainly no worse than the other ones.

Made: February 2003 (v1)

Details

Width : 234 cm Height : 80 cm Depth : - Weight : 300 g

Spars : Revolution Wrapped Carbon Sail : Ripstop Nylon

Wind Range : Medium

Pack up Size : 83cm x 5cm

Cost : About £10 for the ripstop fabric and about £50 if I had to buy the spars (which I didn't since I already had them).

Pictures

Good Things

Does all the usual Revolution things.
Good accuracy.
Eye catching sail design.
Good wind range.

Bad Things

The open end caps pick up mud and stuff when flying (common on all the home made end caps).
Because its only ripstop nylon it will fade within a year or two.
Wrinkles on the sail behind the vertical spars after a few flights.
Stitching errors makes the sail slightly baggy, which in turn slightly reduces it's low wind performance.

Final Thoughts

Still very pleased with it - this is now the third sail for the Custom Revolution and is still my main kite. One day I might make a sail in Icarex/Ventex - but until that day I'm very happy with this one. I have no doubt that I will make another version in a years time - hopefully each time it will get easier and the end result get better!

Update February 2021

As mentioned in the introduction I did make another sail, then another and yet another. I've found that the cheap ripstop nylon I've made these out of does degrade after a couple of years of heavy use (especially in the sun and on the beach) - the fabric becomes very saggy and soft. Over the years I have come completely used to flying these and are in fact my primary kite (along with the vented and lightweight versions) so any design "features" I have introduced I've got used to. I did have the chance to fly one on of the more modern "revolution like" kites at a festival and it was somehow more "snappy" and responsive in flight than mine, but I think mine stood up rather well.

I use one of the older sail (version 3) as my travel kite - the spars are all internally ferruled so the kite can pack down into a smaller size for storing in a suitcase. In fact the spars are all recycled broken spars from other Revolution kites.

Links

Revolution Gallery
Original Custom Revolution Info